Hiking In Vang Vieng: The Most Beautiful Place In Laos

Vang Vieng is a lovely village in Luang Prabang, famous for its bars and tubing. However, it's also one of the best spots in Laos for outdoor activities.

Hiking in Vang Vieng is amazing, as the surrounding scenery is absolutely breathtaking.

Hiking in Vang Vieng

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Vang Vieng hiking

We love hiking, being outside all day to enjoy nature beats any day of staring at a screen in the office.

I hiked a lot during my 5-month trip, I did a 3-day hike through the rice terraces of Batad in the Philippines and hiked many trails in New Zealand.

The major difference with the hike in Vang Vieng was the temperature. While the weather had been amazing for pretty much all our previous hikes, we hadn't been hiking in very hot weather (30+ degrees Celcius).

Even during the hike in Batad, the temperature was quite comfortable because the villages and rice terraces are about 1500 meters above sea level.

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Our Vang Vieng hiking tour

How very different was our Vang Vieng hiking trip… The day we arrived in this lovely little town in Laos, it wasn’t very hot and a little cloudy.

We enthusiastically booked a hiking tour at our hotel (Vang Vieng Boutique Hotel) and didn't give much thought to the weather.

Book your Vang Vieng hiking tour here

On the day of our Vang Vieng hike, the sky was blue and without even the smallest hint of a cloud. And even at 8 am, it was already pretty warm.

But we committed to this hiking tour and hopped into the van that picked us up to take us to the trail. There were lots of other people in the van, but none of them were wearing hiking boots.

After we drove for a while, the van pulled over at the start of a little dirt road and a friendly Lao called our names. It turned out this was our guide and we were the only hikers!

The other people in the van went kayaking and tubing, also fun activities, and definitely more suitable for the weather.

Book your Vang Vieng kayak and tubing experience here.

With two 1,5 liter bottles each (so 6 liters in total!) we set off and followed our guide over the dusty road.

The longer we hiked, the happier I was with our plentiful water supply, I don't think I ever sweated so much in my entire life (TMI, sorry;-).

Our guide told us a little about himself and his family. We learned that he was just two years older than us and the father of 4 children.

Such a different life than our own! He also told us more about the schooling system in Laos which was very interesting.

After a while we reached a concrete construction, our guide told us this was supposed to become a bridge but there wasn't enough money to finish the project. Until money was available again, the project was suspended.

He then made a call to someone who usually ferried people across the river in a little boat but that person didn't pick up.

Our guide ensured us that wasn't a problem, we could cross the river a little further downstream where it wasn't very deep.

We walked a little further and while the river wasn't deep, it wasn't easy to get across. The stones were sharp and slippery and the water was streaming quite fast.

With the help of our friendly guide, we both make it across without falling into the water. However, I recommend bringing a waterproof dry bag to store your valuables just in case.

The trail inclined steadily and the views kept getting better.

Along the way our guide told us about our beautiful surroundings and showed us how the local people find some of their food in nature, you just have to know where to look…

In the picture above you can see steps that are attached to the tree, these are used to get to the beehives hanging in the massive tree.

We walked between the steep limestone cliffs until we reached a tiny trail through the dense green jungle leading to a waterfall! We both immediately jumped into the water, it was so nice to cool off.

While our guide prepared a delicious barbecue lunch we jumped from the rocks into our private pool, splashed around, and reveled in our little piece of paradise.

We had a delicious lunch with BBQ chicken, vegetables, rice, and baguette and reluctantly left this piece of paradise to start the journey back.

On our way back we mostly descended and looked down on the beautiful valleys.

The hike ended at a small bamboo bridge which, just like the bamboo bridge in Luang Prabang, is rebuilt after every rainy season, only to be washed away by the water during the next one.

The circle of life in Laos, what an amazing country!

Where to stay in Vang Vieng: Boutique Hotel

In Vang Vieng, we stayed at the lovely Boutique Hotel. The hotel has modern rooms with ensuite bathrooms and an extensive complimentary breakfast.

The staff is incredibly helpful and friendly. Manager Joy speaks English very well and went out of her way to make us feel welcome and at home.

Click here to book

Vang Vieng hiking: in conclusion

I hope you've enjoyed reading about our hike in Vang Vieng. If you love the outdoors and have a reasonable level of fitness, I highly recommend this Vang Vieng activity.

Also read my other posts about Laos:

• 2-week Laos itinerary 
• Laos travel budget

This post was updated in August 2022.