Vang Vieng has to be my favourite place to visit in Laos due to the beautiful landscapes and range of adventurous activities on offer here. It is a small but very chilled place with great places to eat, a wide variety of hotels/hostels and lots of things to do.

I ended up staying here for around 7 days before having to leave to Vientiane before the lockdown began. If circumstances had been different, I would have stayed longer to enjoy more of the activities.

Check out my 5 top things to do whilst in Vang Vieng.

1. Nam Xay viewpoint

Nam Xay viewpoint is a very short and easy hike that offers the most spectacular views over the mountains, rice fields and forests of Vang Vieng. The hike itself will only take you around 20-30 minutes to get to the top. Most of the path is flat and well paved, however the last 10 minutes involves some climbing up boulders and rocks. The 360 degree views at the top are breathtaking and the motorbike is an excellent photo opportunity.

You do not need to organise a guide to visit this viewpoint, it is very simple and easy to get to and entrance fee is only 10,000 kip which is less than £1 – $2 dollars. We visited Nam Xay viewpoint just before sunset so were able to enjoy the views and experience the sun setting over the mountains. It was very quiet at the top with only a couple of other tourists there making it an excellent spot to relax and enjoy the views.  

2. Go tubing in Tham Nam cave and visit the blue lagoon

What a funny and unique experience in the water cave! You rent a tube and go through the cave whilst holding onto a rope. It is pitch black so you need to use a flashlight to light the route ahead. You can rent a tube, helmet and flashlight for 10,000 LAK ($1.15 USD) and use the lockers provided to store your belongings or take a dry bag. When entering the area, we ended up meeting a local who told us about the cave and took us on a tour with him for a very cheap price, it was a very random but fun experience. The cave goes on for several km and will take around 30-45 minutes.

The water cave is a short walk from the elephant cave and the blue lagoon 4 so you can combine all three places in one morning/afternoon.

3. Visit the blue lagoons

A trip to Vang Vieng is not complete without visiting the blue lagoons. I read several blogs before coming here and a lot of people said that the lagoons were more of a greyish/brown colour. I think this must depend on the time of year and the rain fall because when we visited the lagoons in March, they were bright turquoise and very inviting. I think the best time to visit is between October-March. There are 5 lagoons in total in different areas around Vang Vieng. Blue lagoon one is the most popular with it being the closest to Vang Vieng centre and therefore it can get quite busy with tourists and locals. At most of the lagoons there are zip lines, platforms to jump of, rafts and tubes to enjoy and cabanas to relax in.

If the weather is nice you can easily spend a whole day swimming and enjoying the activities in the lagoon and relaxing on the loungers. There are also restaurants and bars so you can purchase food and drinks if you wish. If you fancy visiting the lagoons, you can either book tours, rent a buggy or hire a scooter. We hired a scooter for a few days and a buggy for one and used the application maps me to locate each lagoon. Some of the roads were more like rocky dirt paths so were a bit more of a challenge on a scooter but it all added to the adventure!

4. Rent an ATV dune buggy and explore Vang Vieng.

Enjoy a thrilling off road experience by renting a buggy for the day. We rented a buggy for 3 hours and ended up extending for 6 because we were having such an awesome time. There are a range of tour operators in the town offering different deals and different sized buggies. We paid around 90,000 kip (£8.50) ($10.00) per hour including fuel.

We spent the day enjoying the gorgeous landscapes of Vang Vieng, exploring the lagoons, caves and visiting another viewpoint.

The buggy included a map of Vang Vieng showing the main places to visit.

5. Pha Ngeun viewpoint.

Another great hike in Vang Vieng is the ‘Pha Ngern’ silver cliff viewpoint. It is approximately a 1km hike and should take around 45 minutes depending on your fitness level. The entrance fee for the hike is 10,000 kip (£1- less than $2). The climb is quite steep and can be tiring in the heat of the day so I would suggest going late afternoon when it becomes slightly cooler. In some parts the hike involves some climbing up rocks and boulders to reach the peak. There are two viewpoints so make sure you visit both. The second viewpoint is the best as it is located at the top and offers panoramic views of Vang Vieng.

Other fun things to do whilst in Vang Vieng:

• Go rock climbing
• Take a hot air balloon ride
• Enjoy a sunset yoga class at the Silver Naga hotel.
• Tubing along the river
• Kayaking
• Experience the nightlife.

If you have any other suggestions or great things to do in Vang Vieng please let me know in the comments below. Thanks 😊