Vang Vieng Vibes
The closest to heaven that I’ve ever been.
- The Goo Goo Dolls
Vang Vieng is a town roughly halfway between Luang Prabang and Vientiane (the capital of Laos). It is connected to both cities via a new high speed railway that actually runs from China in the north to Vientiane in the south (and will even connect to Thailand soon!). It has opened up tourism in Laos considerably since its completion in 2021.
Vang Vieng is known as the adventure capital of Laos because it has a high concentration of outdoor/adventure activities. Everything including zip lining, rock climbing, kayaking and tubing, dune buggy and scooter rental, hot air ballooning, paramotoring, and much more.
Obviously we are on the adventure of a lifetime, but we don’t consider ourselves to be thrill seeking adventurers.
We compared Vang Vieng to New Braunfels in vibe and makeup (and the fact one main activity is tipsy tubing). There are some locals but there are a lot more visitors. Particularly young backpackers seeking many of their thrill seeking opportunities. There isn’t much outside of that. The town isn’t particularly charming (one thing NB has over VV), and the restaurants, streets, and most accommodations cater to the tourist crowd.
Most of VV is filled with hostels and guest houses. We liked our guest house experiences in LP but were looking for a little bit more on the amenities side for this experience (namely a pool) since we wouldn't participate in too many of the thrill seeking activities. There are a few upper end hotels that cater to older tourists, so we booked a slightly more “expensive” hotel that we thought we would like. Wow. That became an understatement. We cover our hotel stay below.
Most of our time in VV we spent lounging around the pool, our balcony, or any of the restaurants, cafes or bars that overlooked the river. We were there for peace and calm, and we got it. Some of the things we actually did in Vang Vieng when we weren’t lounging around the hotel included:
Walking around town: Like we said, the town wasn’t overly charming. Mostly tour companies and hostels, but there are some very nice cafes and chill spots. There are temples and stuff too but we have certainly seen a fair share of those so didn’t really prioritize them here.
Side note: We had a small but transformational experience while we were out to dinner one night in VV. We stopped into this empty restaurant and ordered some food (the whole meal for 2 with beer cost $5USD). The woman cooks and serves our food right there (some noodle dishes), then summons her family from the back. Out they all come with plates of their own food (their dinner) and they sit in the restaurant and eat their dinner right there. We have seen this several places but this particular experience really opened our eyes. Restaurants and stores in this part of the world are people's homes. They live in the back and run their business in the front. Mini-marts, restaurants, pharmacies. We have seen many like this. There is a lot to unpack here, but more on that when we get to Siem Reap.
Buggy Rental: Most of what VV has to offer actually lies outside of the main town. Adventuring requires moving off the beaten path so what better way to do that with a good ole fashion buggy. We rented the buggy for a day and drove around the scenic countryside. We visited Blue Lagoon 3, which was one of a few ice cold, spring fed watering holes around the area with rope swings, zip lines and tubes to chill in. We swam for a long while then ate lunch before enjoying our scenic ride back. It was more expensive than if we would have just taken a tuk tuk or taxi but it was way more fun!
Blue Lagoon(s): There are several (1-5). We visited #3. Because a bridge was “out” along the main route to Lagoon #2 we didn’t visit that one (and by out we mean washed out because that’s a normal occurrence), and #1 is the closest to town and the most visited. The lagoon was a fun time and popular amongst backpackers! #3 had food and drinks you could purchase as well as chairs, cabana like structures, and plenty of seating and tubes. You can catch some pictures in the album.
Here are some things we didn’t do but you might want to consider if you find yourself in VV.
Hot air balloon ride: We did try to do this (scheduled, paid, actually got to the site) but the weather wasn’t cooperating. Unfortunately, because we waited till the back end of our trip we didn’t have time to reschedule the ride so we will have to do it next time. There are a number of operators in VV but from our research and the advice of our hotel, we opted for using Above Laos. They are very well regarded for their expertise and safety, whereas other tour companies are less trained and have questionable safety records.
Tipsy tubing: Similar to the Texas hill country, you can rent tubes and float down the river. Unlike the hill country, most people don’t take coolers and gear down the river, you mostly just stop at the platforms built as bars along the river. Since it was low season (for tourists and the river height) we opted to skip this as we have ample river floating experience elsewhere.
Caves: There are several caves you can traverse via kayak or tube. Namely the Tham Chang and Tham Nan cave. The latter you actually tube into. Sounded cool but we were content.
Hiking: There are a number of cool (albeit steep) hikes in the area, including the famous Pha Ngern Silver Cliff with an old motorcycle on the peak to pose for pictures on. They were all pretty steep and with the daily rains setting in, a bit treacherous so we opted to pass on this.
Kayaking
Paramotoring
Rock Climbing
And even more!
Like we said, adventure capital.
Inthira Vang Vieng
It might be worth saying, that what we are writing is not at all a paid review, its just how awesome our stay was.
We can’t recommend the Inthira Vang Vieng enough. It was one of the best hotel stays we have had and was a firm reminder that hospitality is not dead, and there are some advantages to staying in hotels over Airbnbs. Some things we loved about this place:
Every room had the same excellent view. We didn’t have to pay more for it, it was just a gorgeous view from all around.
The on-site restaurant was top notch. A great mix of food (all delicious) and at reasonable prices (even affordable for the quality of the restaurant).
The infinity pool was fantastic and there was great patio seating all around for lounging and taking in the gorgeous view. It was never crowded either.
The most comfortable bed we have had in some time.
The staff was phenomenal. We became friendly with the manager, Charles, in particular and when we decided to extend our stay two days he upgraded our room to the penthouse “suite”. It wasn’t like a 5 star resort suite or anything but a very nice room with an even more amazing view.
Most strikingly to us though, while a lot of hotels tout their “green” initiatives, Inthira absolutely prioritized it, and we appreciated that tremendously. We have all seen it. Towels hung up aren’t supposed to be washed, beds won’t get remade unless you ask, all that for the environment. Well. What we have seen in practice is hotels that still waste a lot of resources. Even when we hang our towels they still get changed out every day and same with some beds. We mostly put the do not disturb sign out to avoid even having to contribute to this waste.
Side note: we were at a hotel recently that gave you bottled water. Mostly we have seen glass bottles that are reused, but in this case it was plastic bottles… as if it wasn’t bad enough they also sealed said bottle with a small plastic protector… And this was a place that suffers some of the worst plastic pollution we have seen thus far. Infuriating…and of course they still touted their green initiatives.
As people who try our hardest to live a more green life (we didn’t even use paper towels at home and switched to bamboo TP because it was more environmentally friendly) this aspect of the hotel really resonated with us. Of course they had the standard initiatives (towels and linens, that they actually abided by) but they also went above and beyond.
Breakfast was included in our stay, and on some days they had a buffet and others they had made to order breakfast. This was dependent on the number of guests at any given time to better prevent food waste (buffets can be a tremendous waste).
They had a Biogas digester on site to process organic waste into fertilizer and cooking gas.
They didn’t use single use plastic. All natural soap in reusable dispensers. Reusable glass bottles for water.
Landscaping all around was lush, green, natural vegetation that added to the environment and experience.
It was a lesson in how to run a hotel for sure.