How to Cross Borders From Laos to Thailand? Step by Step Guide & What You Need to Know

If you are planning to do a backpacking trip in Southeast Asia, this guide might help you! We recently visited Vang Vieng, a small town north of Vientiane and spent 3 days there before crossing to Thailand. If you are interested, you might want to check my travel guide: Vang Vieng Laos DIY Itinerary & Budget. (How to Cross Borders From Laos to Thailand)

In this blog, I will share the step by step process on how we crossed the Laos-Thailand borders and how we traveled from Vientiane, Laos to Bangkok, Thailand.

While there is an option to fly from Vientiane to Bangkok, the price was steep so we opted for sleeper bus instead. The experience in general was easy, we slept like a baby and the next thing we know we woke up in Bangkok.

Table of Contents

Step by Step Guide on How to Cross Borders From Laos to Thailand

Step 1: Buy Your Tickets Online

It is important to secure your tickets online at least 2 days before because seats can run out. We bought our tickets at 12GO website and picked the 12 hours travel time via double decker sleeper bus for PHP2,828/USD48.49 per person.

The price of our ticket includes an air conditioned bus, reclining chair, toilet, blanket, water and snacks. There was also a bus stewardess who guided us all throughout the immigration process.

Departure details:

ETD: 18:00 at TBS Bus Station, Vientiane
ETA: 06:00 Mochit 2 Bus Terminal, Bangkok

The total travel time took 11 hours and arrived Bangkok at 5AM. Traveling at night is faster and more convenient because there is less traffic and all you need to do is sleep.

Step 2: Be at the Terminal 30 Minutes Before Departure & Secure a Physical Ticket

After purchasing your tickets online, you can just save a screenshot of your receipt and exchange it for a physical ticket at the ticketing office. Make sure to be there 1 hour before your departure time. The bus leaves exactly 18:00 and no refund or reschedule available for late comers.

Step 3: Laos Immigration

After 40 minutes, we arrived at the Laos immigration. The bus stewardess will instruct you to go down the bus and bring only your personal bag and passport. Then we paid PHP50/USD1/20,000LAK at the immigration before they stamped our passports and then we went back to our bus.

Take note that the bus stewardess will also give you a departure card which you need to fill out and present to the immigration officer.

Important note: make sure to have extra cash in LAK with you. The Laos immigration only accepts cash in LAK when paying, they don’t accept credit card payment or bank transfer. In our case, we spent all out LAK, luckily there’s an ATM machine at the Laos border so we were able to withdraw some cash to pay for our fees.

Step 4: Thailand Immigration

In about 3 mins ride from the Laos immigration, you will reach Thailand immigration border. Go down again and carry all your bags including your luggage because it will be scanned at the border.

Subsequently, pay PHP50/USD1/20,000LAK per person and they will create your QR code (online entry pass) which you will present at the immigration officer. The immigration officer will then ask questions like the usual process and stamp your passport.

After the Thailand immigration, there are locals outside selling Thailand SIM card for 200THB 5GB data for 3 days. Don’t buy from them unless you really need one. The price is too expensive and not worth the money for a 5GB data. Instead, buy your sim card once you arrive Mochit Bus Terminal in Bangkok. We got ours at 7/11 and it was cheaper with higher data coverage.

Important note: make sure to have a copy of your hotel name and address in Bangkok in advance because the immigration officer asked it from us. Additionally, if you have a Laos number with internet, it will stop working the moment you leave Laos immigration so there is no signal when you reach Thailand immigration.

Help me improve my guide: How to Cross Borders From Laos to Thailand! By commenting suggestions in the comment section below, I am very open to new ideas. Drone shots by yours truly.
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