Vientiane

By taxi

Tuk-tuks and their bigger cousins jumbos are ubiquitous in Vientiane. If chartering a tuk-tuk/jumbo, make sure the fare in advance. Short hops within the city shouldn't cost more than 10,000 kip per person. In most cases, foreigners are difficult such bargain price. All the tuk-tuk drivers carry a fare card for popular destinations but these fares are ridiculously inflated. Do not pay these bogus, published fares. Walking away can make the fare drop quickly. Share jumbos running on set routes, eg. Th Lan Xang to Pha That Luang, charge a fixed 10,000 Kip. Tuk-tuks lined in front the Mekong bank restaurants or other busy areas will try to charge you 30-50K even for short trips. It's not worth trying to bargain as they won't go anywhere with a normal 10K fare. Walk a few blocks and you bargain a much lower price.

By taxi

Vientiane has a small fleet of genuine taxis retired from Bangkok, usually found lurking at the Friendship Bridge, the airport or in front of large hotels. Fares are set by bargaining, so figure on around US$0.50 per km or US$20-40 to hire one for the day, depending on car type and distance.

Taxi Vientiane Capital Lao Group Co. Ltd. 21-454168, 21-454088, 90 Th Nongbone advertises 20,000 kip for the 1st km, then 2,000 kip every 300m.

Getting around Vientiane is generally easy, as the traffic is far less murderous than in larger Southeast Asian cities like Bangkok or Ho Chi Minh City. Street signage is, however, rather lacking though in the centre more and more signs are appearing. Where there are signs displaying street names these are bilingual Lao and French. The Lao word "thanon" on these signs is translated by "rue", "avenue" or "boulevard", in many cases without any apparent logic. Therefore the Lao word "thanon" is used throughout this article.

When asking for directions or streets with "r" in them, be aware that Laotians often pronounce them as "l". Example is Rue Setthathirat pronounced as "Lue Setthathilat".

Probably they are shy about their English skills or lack of it, but most locals are "dumb" on street directions, even people in police uniforms.

The map on the right, which is fully to scale, covers the centre only. Maps covering a larger area are available at bookshops and some mini-marts, but are not as detailed and not always to scale. Many storefronts feature addresses in Roman letters, and these are often the best way to determine the street one is walking. People navigate using landmarks, so name the nearest embassy, hotel or temple to where you want to go.

Since 2006 a major road upgrading project has been going on in the town centre and out of it up to way past the airport in the west and the Friendship Bridge in the east, financed by the Japanese government and planned and overseen by Japanese engineers. Largely gone are the hazards presented by missing drainage gully covers and sidewalks upturned by tree roots. Almost no trees have been cut - amazing! In the centre of Vientiane the through roads Thanons Setthathirat and Samsenthai and the side roads connecting them and down to the river now have sealed surfaces and sidewalks, and there is decent street lighting. A one-way traffic regime is in place but the police are not enforcing it, and parking regulations have also been introduced. Markings for pedestrian crossings have been painted on the new roads, but the local drivers regard them as decoration. Don't rely on them!

Vientiane's rainwater drainage system, which also takes care of "grey water" from baths, sinks, laundry, etc. consists of gullies on the roadside, usually covered by concrete slabs. These slabs are sometimes damaged and very precariously balanced, or even missing altogether; people rapidly learn to take care before stepping on anything that looks like a slab! Waste from toilets is or should be collected in septic tanks at every house, but those gullies can nevertheless smell abominably. In the centr things have improved markedly as a result of the road upgrading. The smell from the gullies is now no longer very noticeable.

Note: do not rely on the Google Earth view of Vientiane for locating the sights: many locations put there by well-meaning users the "Google Earth Community" are clearly in the wrong place, not just a block or so away but some even in a wrong part of the town!

On foot

The city centre can be quite comfortably covered on foot, at least in the cool season. Pha That Luang, however, is 4 km away from the centre and thus a bit of a hike. Out of the city centre there are few footpaths so walking can be uncomfortable.

By bus

Rattly old blue-and-white buses and newer white minibuses connect the centre to the suburban districts, but they are not equipped with air-con and have no signage in English, although route numbers are usually not always posted on the front. The only bus likely to be of use to the casual visitor is the bus to/from the Friendship Bridge, which continues on to Buddha Park for a fixed fare of 5000K. The bus to Wattay International Airport goes near the airport but not quite into it.

By bike

Bicycles are perhaps the best way to get around the city. Most guest houses and hotels can arrange bike rental for around 10,000 kip per day. The cheapest is apparently Douang Deuane Hotel, 8,000 kip, though their bikes aren't the best. Although the city's flat terrain makes for good biking, one-way streets can be difficult to identify. You can usually choose to leave your passport, your driver's licence, about 1,000 baht, or a comparable amount of kip or dollars as a deposit.

Despite the poor standard of local driving, cycling is fairly safe in the city because the traffic is quite slow maybe because of the condition of the roads. But take extra care when the roads are wet, because many are unsurfaced even in the city centre, and they can be muddy and slippery - innocent-looking puddles sometimes conceal deep potholes.