{"id":35110,"date":"2026-06-17T15:30:55","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T15:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bordertobeach.com\/?st-import=f789418dd813adb42f47add541e05043"},"modified":"2026-07-24T00:58:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T00:58:24","slug":"chiang-mai-to-vientiane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bordertobeach.com\/es\/chiang-mai-to-vientiane\/","title":{"rendered":"Chiang Mai to Vientiane: Bus and Flight Guide (2026)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Chiang Mai to Vientiane is a popular route for travellers moving between northern Thailand and Laos. The overland bus via the Thai\u2013Lao Friendship Bridge at Nong Khai is a classic backpacker journey of around 12\u201314 hours. The flight takes under 2 hours. Both are well-established routes.<\/p>\n\n\n<script src=\"https:\/\/agent.12go.asia\/tools\/widget\/country_widget.js\"><\/script>\n<onetwogo-country-widget\n  country=\"LA\"\n   width=\"400\" agent=\"16173966\" lang=\"en\" fxcode=\"USD\" wl=\"12go.asia\">\n<\/onetwogo-country-widget>\n\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/12go.asia\/en\/travel\/Chiang-Mai\/Vientiane\/?z=16173966&#038;sub_id=chiang-mai-vientiane\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow sponsored noopener\">&#x1f39f;&#xfe0f; Search Chiang Mai \u2192 Vientiane tickets on 12Go \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Option 1: Flight<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lao Airlines operates direct flights between Chiang Mai (CNX) and Vientiane (VTE). Flight time is around 1 hour 20 minutes. Fares vary but are generally more expensive than the bus \u2014 the overland route is actually quite pleasant and worth considering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Journey time:<\/strong> ~1 hour 20 minutes<\/li>\n<li><strong>Price:<\/strong> from ~$80\u2013160 USD one way<\/li>\n<li><strong>Airlines:<\/strong> Lao Airlines<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/12go.asia\/en\/travel\/Chiang-Mai\/Vientiane\/?z=16173966&#038;sub_id=chiang-mai-vientiane\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow sponsored noopener\">&#x1f39f;&#xfe0f; Search Chiang Mai \u2192 Vientiane tickets on 12Go \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Option 2: Bus via Nong Khai \/ Friendship Bridge<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The overland route goes from Chiang Mai to Nong Khai (on the Thai side of the Mekong), across the 1st Thai\u2013Lao Friendship Bridge into Laos, and on to Vientiane. You can take a bus or train from Chiang Mai to Nong Khai, then a tuk-tuk to the border and shuttle across the bridge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Chiang Mai \u2192 Nong Khai<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>By overnight bus:<\/strong> ~11\u201312 hours, ~350\u2013500 THB<\/li>\n<li><strong>By overnight train:<\/strong> ~12\u201313 hours via Bangkok or direct, from ~500 THB<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Nong Khai \u2192 Vientiane (via Friendship Bridge)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Tuk-tuk to border:<\/strong> ~30 THB<\/li>\n<li><strong>Border shuttle bus:<\/strong> ~55 THB across the bridge<\/li>\n<li><strong>Laos visa on arrival:<\/strong> Available at the bridge ($30\u201342 USD)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Vientiane city from border:<\/strong> ~15 minutes by tuk-tuk<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/12go.asia\/en\/travel\/Chiang-Mai\/Nong-Khai\/?z=16173966&#038;sub_id=chiang-mai-nong-khai\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow sponsored noopener\">&#x1f39f;&#xfe0f; Search Chiang Mai \u2192 Nong Khai tickets on 12Go \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Journey Summary<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><thead><tr><th>Method<\/th><th>Time<\/th><th>Cost from<\/th><th>Best for<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td>Flight<\/td><td>~1.5 hours<\/td><td>$80 USD<\/td><td>Speed<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Bus via Nong Khai<\/td><td>13\u201315 hours<\/td><td>$15 USD<\/td><td>Budget \/ overland<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What is the Friendship Bridge?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 1st Thai\u2013Lao Friendship Bridge spans the Mekong River between Nong Khai (Thailand) and Tha Na Leng (Laos), about 20km from Vientiane. It\\&#8217;s one of the main border crossings between Thailand and Laos and is open daily. A shuttle bus runs across the bridge for a small fee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Related Guides<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Hanoi to Vientiane: Bus and Flight Guide<\/li>\n<li>Vientiane to Luang Prabang: Train Guide<\/li>\n<li>Nong Khai to Vientiane: Friendship Bridge Guide<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>This post contains affiliate links. When you book through them, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How to travel from Chiang Mai to Vientiane \u2014 by bus via the Friendship Bridge, or by flight. Journey times, border crossing tips and prices for 2026.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37958,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,5,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-laos","category-routes","category-thailand"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/bordertobeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/vientiane.jpg",940,627,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/bordertobeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/vientiane-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/bordertobeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/vientiane-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/bordertobeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/vientiane-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/bordertobeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/vientiane.jpg",940,627,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/bordertobeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/vientiane.jpg",940,627,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/bordertobeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/vientiane.jpg",940,627,false],"trp-custom-language-flag":["https:\/\/bordertobeach.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/vientiane.jpg",18,12,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"markylipu","author_link":"https:\/\/bordertobeach.com\/es\/author\/markylipu\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"How to travel from Chiang Mai to Vientiane \u2014 by bus via the Friendship Bridge, or by flight. Journey times, border crossing tips and prices for 2026.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bordertobeach.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bordertobeach.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bordertobeach.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bordertobeach.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bordertobeach.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35110"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bordertobeach.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37846,"href":"https:\/\/bordertobeach.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35110\/revisions\/37846"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bordertobeach.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bordertobeach.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bordertobeach.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bordertobeach.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}