Road conditions in Laos?

The road conditions are variable in Laos. I didn't bike on the road west of Luang Prabang that you specifically asked about, but I biked between Vientiane up to Luang Prabang continuing up to Pakmong (near the Chinese border). Those roads were excellent, but it is quite mountainous between Vang Vieng & Luang Prabang but it's gorgeous and had little traffic. West of Pakmong through Luang Namtha and on to Houay Xai (where I crossed the border), the road was sometimes rougher but never terrible.

Laos has nothing on the hills in Yunnan.

280km in 4 days should be OK.

From the border to L/P could easily be done in 3 days (1st day to Udom Xai quite big) but with the distances you're currently doing you will smash it!

I think the road West of L/P to the Thai border is a lot of dirt but not 100% sure.

Cheers,

Stacky

you'll have some hills between odom xai and luang prabang, but definitely doable in 3 days.
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i went that route in 2010, terrible road due to repaving. destroyed rear wheel managed to
get to odom xai, rest of the way to LP by bus. the road will have been repaved by now.
hills aren't that bad, newly engineered to chinese standards. anyway, there are buses if
you want to skip a section. fixed the wheel in LP, than took the western route.
.
LP to xayaboury (110 km) nice pavement on hwy 13, hwy 4 is nicely packed smooth dirt.
you get a short, steep grade at silalek (on asphalt section) then descend to na fei. once
you cross the river (small auto ferry) the road turned to complete crap. rough construction
and cobbles lasted about 30 km (maybe paved/repaired by now?). last bit into xayaboury
was paved.
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xayaboury-hongsa (95 km) paved to the river. then hell. hot and dusty, not many villages
to restock water. road very rough, and lots of climbs. 16%, some 18%. following a ridge
so up-down all day. lots of stuff came loose that day. bits falling off or breaking.
it was an adventure.
.
hongsa-pakbeng (90km) decent gravel road heading out of hongsa, but very confusing.
it's a maze of unsigned gravel roads, locals don't know the way to the next big town,
only to the next village not marked on your map. still had some climbing, not as much
as last section though. midway through this section reached MUANG NGEUN with
small restaurant/shoppette. at this point headed north to pak beng. here you would
continue west to cross into thailand.

PS...buy decent map before you get there..........i used the GT rider map which includes
some elevation profiles covering part of your route.

Edited by: choudoufu

Firstly, it may be worth asking on the Loa branch about the state of specific roads. In my experience good roads can become bad very quickly In Lao (and vice versa). The Huay Xai to Luan Nam Tha road went from heaven to hell in two years, back to heaven now I think.

The road from the Boten border to UdomXai is do-able in a day, About 100ish kms, one long climb, then ridge then descent. Last time I rode the descent the surface was chopped up every 10meters or so and made the descent very difficult. That was about 4 years ago so they may have fixed, but it was also awful about 14 years ago and I seem to remember some talk of a scam. Its not on the main Chinese building route so my be a Lao (get some) aid scam, like H 13 to Pakse was for years before the Koreans got stuck in.

From UdomXai to LP, one big climb then 30kms or so downhill to accom at Nong Kiaw /Highway 1C turnoff. Then easy 100ish bit boring flattish pedal into LP. So easily do-able in 3 days.

Good detail from Chou about the road from LP to Xayabouri but I know that it is currently being rebuilt. I don't know how it is progressing, but expect mud. You cross into Thai at yet another Friendship Bridge near Loei.

The trouble is that by going to LP from UdomXai you are going in the wrong direction for Chiang Mai. To get there by paved road from LP it is back to UdomXai. An alternative would be to take boat up to Huay Xai 2 days. Another way is to take boat to Pakbeng and pedal from there to UdomXai, then Luan Nam Tha to Huay Xai.

It is unlikely you would have time for H13 to Vientiane then all the way back across to Chaing Mai.

Don't underestimate the rode from Kunmi g to Boten, there are a few big hills on that route. I remember a 40 odd km climb out of the RedRiver valley!

Enjoy.

there's another choice here. instead of crossing the border at muang ngeun,
continue to pak beng that day, arriving to get a room before the tourist boats
arrive. it's nicely paved to the river, but only one village water stop that i recall,
and very tough hills. cross the river by auto ferry, and then about 10km or so
into pakbeng. that part under construction when i was there.

that cuts off one day of boring river cruise. sleep in pak beng, then take
your bike on the boat ride up the mekong, about 8 hours to huay xai.
cross the river next morning, catch a red bus from chiang khong to chiang mai.

or if you still have time, take a day or two thru the golden triangle; chaing
saen, mae sai, pop over to myanmar for a day. then catch a vip bus to
chiang mai.

alternatively, there's a dirt road from pak beng to huay xay that should be
doable in two days. from prior research, i found there is a guesthouse
somewhere around the halfway point. never did that route, so can't
provide the village name.

silly rabbit!!!!!
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swedes don't need a visa for thailand!!!!!!!!! y'all and 47 other countries get a visa waiver!!!
show your passport and they stamp your stinky old butt right in!!!!!!!!!!
.
read about it here: http://www.thaiembassy.com/thailand/changes-visa-exempt.php
.
flying in, you get 30 days, at land borders you get 15 days.

Hi all,
Lots of Thai cyclists are following us on the blog ( www.cyclinghome.nu ) and a week ago we put up a question to let our followers advice if we should go to Vientienne or to Hongsa and then Muang Ngeun. Some of our Thai cycling friends might join us in Luang Prabang and some at the border.

We were most attracted by going west and cross at Muang Ngeun, but the Thai embassy in Sweden has put an effective stop to that plan. Like many other travelers we have two passports. China recently changed its visa laws and we were unsure if we would get our extensions so we sent the extra passport back home to let a friend apply for a new chinese visa and send it to us in Hong Kong if extensions would have been denied. Fortunately we were granted extensions and with the passports already in Sweden and a friend on the way here I got the smart idea to apply for a Thai visa in Sweden and let the friend bring it to us.

This turned out to be a bad idea. In order to issue a tourist visa, the Thai embassy requires paid (not booked) air ticket IN AND OUT of the country. I am not interested in buying two flight tickets that I won't use so we have to skip applying in Sweden and apply in Vientiene instead where there are no such stupid requirements. This means that it looks like the plan to go west from Luang Prabang will fail and we will have to go via Vientienne instead. It's a pity because according to the posters' in this thread the western route sounds much more "wild" and it could have been the last bit of adventure of this trip before we finish it in Bangkok on November 30.

Thanks for all comments and facts. We might ride in Laos later on and then I will go back to use the info given in this thread - so a big thank you all :-)

I have previously lived and worked many years in Thailand, but now only visit as a tourist once ot twice per year and then stay less than 30 days. This time the visa waiver stamp will only give me 15 days which barely is enough for us to make it to Bankok. And after finishing this 15.000 km trip I need a loooooong rest :-) so 15 days won't be enough and I will need to get a thai tourist visa for the first time ever.

Maybe I should look for a cheap flight from Vientienne to Nong Khai. That flight across the Mekhong can't take more than 10 minutes and I can get 30 days. ;-). ;-)

Edited by: banankontakt