Vang Vieng, Laos

4 days in Vang Vieng, Laos’ adventure hub has been filled with all sorts of activities including buggying, kayaking, cave walking and cave tubing, viewpoint trekking, ziplining, lagoon swimming and of course scooting around.

The town is connected to Luang Prabang via the new Chinese build railway so was only an hour journey compared to the 4-5 hour mountain bus drive pre 2020. On first impressions the town has a wild west feel with its bars set against mountainous backdrops.

We hired a scooter and took a ride to the west side of Vang Vieng into the valley. Here the roads turn into a dirt tracks and small villages are scattered around the many rice fields. We stopped off at the first blue lagoon to have a swim.

The next day we rented kayaks and a personal guide who took us down the fast flowing Mekong river stopping off at two caves along the way. The first was a walk through a lit up cave. The second was partly filled with water so we took a tube each and pull ourselves inside along a line. The cave quickly became dark, pitch black without head torches. We walked in further eventually seeing bats hanging and flying around. Afterwards we kayaked back, grabbed some lunch and went to pick up our buggy for the afternoon. We drove far into the valley, really off road stopping at more blue lagoons, including blue lagoon 5 where tourists rarely venture out to being how far off road it is. Presumably because of this, the lagoon was actually shut but still great to explore and the views just driving around were absolutely stunning. Driving through more rural villages we passed groups of cows mooching along the roads giving no care for oncoming vehicles and saw some larger bulls being pulled along by children - an interesting sight.

The next day we went ziplining consisting of 9 lines and the longest of 380m which was great fun although very hot so afterwards we decided to go back to one of the lagoons to cool off. Hoping to stay out for sunset we decided not to as dark clouds started to form. 10 minutes later lightning was seen not too far away. Rushing back we just missed the storm although 30 minutes later it passed so we left for drinks and dinner that evening.

The next day we rode around exploring more and trekked to a viewpoint. Again the heat and humidity was very high although the view looking into the valley over the rice fields was worth it. Having walked past a busy looking bar a few times we decided to try it out for the evening. We had great food, actual cider and played pool.

Vang Vieng is an interesting little place full of activities and beautiful scenery. Off to Vientiane, Laos’ capital, for a short stay before flying out to Vietnam next.Läs mer