Once little more than a bus stop on the long haul between Vientiane at the Thai border and the World Heritage Site of Luang Prabang, it has managed to become a destination in its own right. Still not much more than three streets and a bus station, the main attractions are the river, laid back countryside and cave-filled rock formations.
Anyone who has traveled in South East Asia will have heard about tubing, an activity that dominates the town and its visitors. Originally opened up by hedonistic backpackers, the atmosphere of the town itself is one of lethargy by day and debauchery by night: tourists sprawl out in the pillow-filled restaurants, termed "TV Bars", watching re-runs of US sitcoms, Friends and Family Guy episodes until the sun goes down, and then party heavily until the early hours.
A couple of kilometres upstream, the pulsating music, drinking games and drug-fuelled debauchery of the increasingly lively riverside "tubing" bars starts at lunch-time.
Vang Vieng may have established itself as the exception to the rule that Laos doesn't have nightlife. It does have potential as a base for adventure tourism which attracts a few more sedate foreign sightseers. However, most visitors seeking to experience something of the highly evolved Lao culture and stunning natural landscape, would do as well to skip Vang Vieng altogether or to use Vang Vieng as a base to explore the surrounding countryside lifestyle.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Vang Vieng
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Vang Vieng - updated May 2024
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Vang Vieng Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
