Bus Ride from Vang Vieng to Savannakhet

Hello Everybody,

Has anyone out there taken a bus departing from either Vang Vieng or Vientiane to Savannakhet? Is there such direct bus route from either location. Also, please provide comments as to whether it's better to take an overnight bus and sleep all the way or day bus to enjoy the scenery along the route. How was your experience? Would you do this again? Which bus company did you purchase your ticket from. Did the bus have reasonably clean toilet facilities aboard?

Thanks for your comments.

Certainly a bus from Vientianne but a while since I was there so will leave others to provide up to date info.

Personally I avoid night buses (dangerous and I can never sleep) and I like looking out of the window

No toilet facilities, although the bus will stop about a km before the lunch-stop to let everyone go on the side of the road.

I will not take night buses, with the exception of the sleeper bewteeren Pakse - Vte. It always makes the next day pretty much a waste, namely because I can't sleep given the very curvy and bumpy roads. Buses usually average about 25 km/hr. The views are often nice; local travel is an adventure in itself!

Go to the station to buy your ticket. In Laos, most buses are privately owned (very often by the driver) so choosing a "company" really is not relevant.

As for reasonably clean - hahahahaha! Before or after the woman next to you has barfed for the 14th time....

I have been on the Vientiane-Savannakhet bus half a dozen times. Most of the buses actually go to Seno, which is on Route 13, and then continue to Pakse. Savannakhet is 30km west of Route13, but there are always many songthaew waiting at the Seno bus station to take you onto Savannakhet (45 mins).

There are a couple of buses that go straight to Savannakhet but they are the minority, and one of them is the nightbus which leaves Vientiane southern bus station about 8-9pm. Another disadvantage of the nightbus, in addition to the info in posts above, is that they drop you at Savannakhet at 4.30 to 5am when everyone is still asleep, so you have to wander round the deserted streets for 2 hours till the first noodle shop opens.

Most of the buses stop in Thakhek bus station for 30 mins for a meal. The toilet at Thakhek bus station is the worst I have ever smelt, a year in India included, and you have to pay for the privilege of burning the hairs from your nostrils with the ammonia also.

So yes, I would take an early morning bus. If you are lucky it can take as little as 8 hours. The longest I ever took was 14 hours but that was over Pimai holiday.

Edited by: nabanga

Hi,

I caught the night bus before, saved on a nights accommodation.

Thank you all for your prompt response. I think I will forgo riding a long-distance bus in Laos that lasts for more than 7 or 8 hours. It doesn't sound like it's a pleasant experience. I'll probably just tour Thailand and Cambodia and skip Laos in my forthcoming trip.