The cost of travel in Laos

I had originally planned on spending a month in Laos but in the end I was pretty much ready to get to Vietnam. The possibilities of exploring further north of Luang Prabang was on the cards but I spent most of the time recovering from a cold and just wanted some familiarity in terms of food and language.

In total I spent 17 days in Laos, only spending time in Vientiane, Vang Vieng, Phonsavan and Luang Prabang spending an average of $60 per day. It’s quite a lot mainly due to the transportation cost. Back in Australia when I was checking into the airport I had to book a flight from Cambodia to Vientiane as the requirements for entering is showing an onward ticket out of the country. I’ve since found out that this is bogus and in the end proved to be $380AUD lesson. If you take out the cost of the flight then my cost of travel in Laos comes down to significantly to $38.

As you know I’m a budget conscious traveller but it’s not really my priority. I spent my time in Vang Vieng, Phonsavan and Luang Prabang in a private room which cost $10 per night. With my constant coughing, I didn’t want to be”that guy” keeping everybody up. It could be done cheaper by staying in hostels at around $4-6 a night.

Room with a view in Vang Vieng

Food I found was a lot more expensive than I expected. Everything seemed to be in the $2-4 mark. The hostels there didn’t have kitchens so it’s not possible to cook any meals for yourself or buy food to be refrigerated. Apart from Phonsavan, there wasn’t a market within walking distance where you could buy super cheap meals or snacks. Sandwich stalls are quite common with simple filling combinations coming in at around $2-3 and a normal rice or noodle dish was around $3-5. Of course you can get cheaper hamburgers for less but why come to Laos to eat mystery meat hamburgers? Beers everywhere seem to be the standard $1-$1.50 everywhere. Fruit shakes were around $1.50.

Most of the tourism cost was the hot air balloon flight which was $78 but worth it. Most places around the world you’d expect to pay around $350+ for an hour flight. The other main contributing tourism cost is the cooking class at $27.

Hot air ballooning over Vang Vieng

LAOS	Spend ($US)	Avg spend per day	Percentage
Drinks	$38	$2	4%
Electronics	$3	$0.18	0%
Food	$191	$11	19%
Accommodation	$171	$10	17%
Utilities & Misc	$38	$2	4%
Personal	$7	$0	1%
Transportation	$418	$25	41%
Tourism	$152	$9	15%
Total	$1,018	$60	100%
Total days	17
Avg cost per day	60
Avg Without Flight	$38