Vientiane to Luang Prabang by taxi, bus, van

A bumpy ride, but quite okay, through the mountains. The bus didn’t have so much space, but the beds were fine for sleeping. At the paper it said we were supposed to leave at 18 pm but the bus took off at 20.30 pm. It also said a ride for about 13 hours, and were supposed to be in Luang Prabang at 7.00am. But the bus came in at 12pm. At the bus station tuktuk’s are ready to pick you up, but be aware that they drive you to city center and not the accommodation, even though you tell them where to go.

The mini-van was in pretty good condition and the driver drove reasonably safely. The roads aren’t in great condition but the beautiful scenery en route compensates. Overall, I’d recommend this service, especially at busy times of the year where it’s worth paying the 12go. premium to secure a seat in advance.

Booked sleeper bus from Vientiane to Luang Prabang. Time on booking was 18.00 but not a real departure time. Mini van shuttle picked up me to northern bus terminal and real departure time was 20.00(same as another bus company) They gave a meal voucher that no staff speak english to tell how and where to use. The meal voucher are value 10k kip that can exchange some snack or drink, not enough for meal. Few passenger got only fucking sticky rice!!

The good: Someone picks you up from your hotel. GREAT scenery. Trip included lunch. The bad: Bus was fairly dirty, needed dusting and a good wipe down and vacuum. Driver played music for most of the trip, which seemed kind of weird. When it gets dark no lights are turned on, so you’re just sitting in the dark. This could have been a good opportunity for sleep, but the music was still playing. Near the end of the trip he made a lot of stops. Trip took about 13 hours

Amazing costumer service and excellent driver. Our ride to Luang Prabang from Vang Vieng was smooth sailing. Highly recommend!

Driver was very friendly, has good experience driving a bus in slippery conditions. Bravo !

It is not a tourist bus. Some locals bring live stocks on board. Seats are too small even for asian size. AC is not cold and I was even sweating. There was a landslide an hour drive near luang prabang and buses and lorries couldnt go as half of the road was covered with mud. Only small vans were able to go thru. Had to hitchhike a van to get to luang prabang.

Waited 2 hours to get on the bus, wasn't even told when it was leaving

Nice scenary. Bus ok-lah.

Comfortable van

The actual bus was absolutely fine - actually slightly better than expected. There was a complete mess up with my pick-up - it wasn't available from my hotel so I had to go to another hotel for pick-up which is fair enough, but it didn't arrive and the phone number I had didn't work. I was fortunate that the hotel I was being picked up from, although I wasn't their guest, were really helpful, found an alternative contact number, and sorted things out. The pick-up driver then got me to the bus station (still in good time) got my ticket sorted and got me to the right bus, which is why I have still given 3 stars as it was all sorted out in the end despite some stress.

Good, careful driver, spectacular scenery but a loooooong trip. Not for the vertiginous. You spend a LOT of time very close to a sheer drop. The A/c didn't work so bus was a sauna, windscreen wipers didn't work (and it was raining). No communication, no head count. A Spanish girl was left behind at the lunch stop.

It was cheap overnight bus travel and ok for the price, I guess. There wasn't much room for getting some good sleep though because the seats were not wide enough to turn on the side. But probably that's what comes at this price, I don't have much experience with overnight traveling in buses yet, so can't say anything for sure. One area where I probably would like some improvement though is providing more accurate departure times. In this case, the departure listed in the voucher was 6pm (so we all reached the ticket office before 6pm) but after we were dropped at the bus station we were told that the bus will depart at 8:30pm. That's over 2.5 hours of time that we could've used for sightseeing etc instead of spending it at the bus station. But then again, this was my first experience with overnight buses, so I don't know how it all realistically works.

Ticket printed 6am and asked me to appear 1 hr early, so I showed up at 5am... Turns out the actual bus is at 8am and the pickup only comes at about 6.30am. Other than that the pickup guy was helpful and spoke English, showed me where the bus was and explained that the ticket could be exchanged for a meal. It's more expensive than getting a ticket at the bus terminal yourself or through other sellers, but I felt that the premium for the service was worth it.