Visa Run To Laos From Pattaya

[KelCastro]

It was time for my husband and I to make the visa run to Laos. We normally go to Cambodia because we require only a new entrance stamp, but this time we actually needed a new visa. Make sure you know which you need before you head out.

Our details are from Pattaya.

1. Go a few days in advance to the bus station to make sure you get a ticket. There’s only 7 VIP seats per bus, so if that’s what you’re looking for – definitely go in advance. We went on a Saturday looking for the first available (2 tickets VIP) which wasn’t until Monday evening.

The bus is the 407 bus to NONGKHAI. Buses leave in the early morning and evening. The exact times vary by day. We caught a 7:11pm bus on Monday evening – which was an estimated 12hr bus ride.

Coach tickets cost about 550baht and VIP tickets cost about 680baht. The VIP tickets were well worth the extra 130baht in our opinion. More legroom, wider chairs, a mini “chair massager”, decent recline & foot pedestal thing.

Where is the bus station? Good question – you’ll need to know that.

Coming from Pattaya Klang Road (Road has major Big C center): make a left at the Sukhumvit intersection and proceed down for about 100meters. There will be a Petronas Gas Station on the left. Turn into the gas station and on your left will be a mini bus station.

Coming from South Pattaya: Go North on Sukhumvit and cross over Pattaya Klang Road intersection. Proceed down for about 100meters. There will be a Petronas Gas Station on the left. Turn into the gas station and on your left will be a mini bus station.

Get your ticket and make sure it is the right one. They sometimes make mistakes. After you do this, get the following things together before you leave:

- (3) 3.5 x 4.5 passport photos

- (2) pens – incase one dies

- (1) copy of the picture page of your passport

- (1) copy of the Vientiane Visa Application Form (for each person applying for a visa) – search "Vientaine Thai Visa Application" - it's a PDF file and should appear first on the search results.

- Name and Address of the Hotel you’ll be staying at in Vientiane. You will be staying the night while your visa application processes, and you will need the address for immigration and visa application.

- Clothes – I suggest traveling light as possible.

- Money – Thai visas are 2000 baht/person, the Laos Visa was about 1400 baht/person and there are plenty of tuk-tuks/buses you’ll need to travel on, food, hotel and your bus ticket home. We spent about 18,000 baht for two people. That included everything minus hotel. (This price will vary from person to person. We ate at Western restaurants, rented a motorbike, got massages, etc. I’ll give you the price break down as we go.) I also highly, highly recommend that you break atleast 2000-3000 baht into change – 20 baht & 100 baht bills. People in Laos obviously have a different currency and they don’t always have change.

Running Total/person: 680baht

2. Get to the bus station a little early. Get on your bus and get comfortable. It’s going to be a long ride. About two hours into the ride someone will come around and give you a water, juice box and pastry. The lights will go off then.

3. Between midnight – 1:00am the bus will stop at a huge bus station. There you can go inside, use the bathroom, get some food, grab some snacks, etc. If you have a VIP ticket, there’s a section that says VIP and I think you can eat there for free. We didn’t notice it until our way home, AFTER we ate. Anyways, you’ll be there for about 20 minutes. Make sure you get back to the bus. They won’t come looking for you if you aren’t there.

Added Cost/person: 60 baht

Running Total/person: 740 baht

4. Go back to your seat and get comfortable. You’re bus ride will finally end around 7:00am in NONGKHAI.

5. When your bus arrives in NONGKHAI, you will be greeted by many tuk-tuk drivers. Gather your things, and find the best looking driver. Tell him you want to go to the Laos border – he’ll already assume it. He will ask you if you need a Laos visa – SAY NO! Whatever he says, just tell him you want to go to the border. These guys are linked to private companies that sell visas, and you can do this very easily yourself.

Added Cost: 60-100 baht (depends on your driver’s mood.)

Running Total/person: 840 baht

6. When you get to the border, you’ll go through Thai immigration. Here you will pay overstay if you stayed too long in Thailand. (500baht/day or 20,000baht max.)

7. Get a 20 baht bus ticket. This will take you across the border into Laos.

Added Cost/person: 20 baht

Running Total/person: 860 baht

8. Get off the bus, and go to the “Visa on Arrival” window. (Yes, everyone is fighting for the same thing, so unless you want to wait a while, move quickly. Even grab a seat near the doors on the bus.) Someone will be handing out the entrance/departure form and Visa applications. Grab both. Sit down and fill them out. Take out one of your pictures and turn all your forms in with this picture, passport, and about 1380 baht. Move to the next window around the building a wait for them to call your name.

Added Cost/person: 1380 baht

Running Total/person: 2240 baht

9. Get your passport back and look for your stamped entrance into Laos. It should be there. Now you’re free to go on your merry way. Taxi drivers will already be scouting you out. Find the best price (we paid 200 baht I believe) and have them take you to the Thai embassy.

Added Cost: 200 baht

Running Total/person: 2440 baht

10. We arrived to the embassy right when it was opening (8:30am). Best time because it has the smallest crowd. I highly suggest you have your form filled out and your pictures glued at the top. If you live in Thailand or want to stay longer… on the upper right side it’ll ask you “Number of Entries Requested” – put big & clear “2” – also at the bottom left it’ll ask you “Duration of purposed stay” – put atleast 120 days to match your above request.

Everyone walks (or runs) to the front to get a number. Do this first! At some point, you’ll need to get a copy of the stamp you just received exiting Thailand & entering Laos. I think you can do this outside the embassy (if your early), if not, they have a copy machine on the 2^nd floor of the Thai embassy.

My husband and I were numbers 20 & 21. He was called almost immediately (hence why I say have your stuff ready, otherwise they’ll just keep going). And my number was called a few minutes after. Since we had all our stuff in order, it was easy breezy.

11. Go to the building next door and wait for your number to be called again. This is where you’ll pay for your visa (2000 baht/person) and you’ll get your receipt. DO NOT LOSE YOUR RECEIPT. This is what you need to pick up your passport tomorrow. We were now done this part of the visa application by 9:30am.

As a heads up – this part of the application is available from 8:30am – 12:00pm.

Added Cost/person: 2000 baht

Running Total/person: 4440 baht

12. Do whatever you feel like. We went to the morning market but didn’t find it impressive enough to stay longer than 20 minutes. We hopped on another tuk-tuk and headed to our hotel. We stayed right near the river, with the “famous” night market close by and tons of Western restaurants/coffee shops including the other “famous” Joma Cafe.

Joma was a bit “expensive” according to Thai prices. We had 2 sandwiches, 2 drinks and a soup for almost 1000 baht. – Oh, you’ll need to exchange money if you want to dine in these restaurants.

Added Cost/person: 500 baht

Running Total/person: 4940 baht

13. Later we rented a motorbike. If you only drive automatic, ask your hotel for directions to the nearest spot. Most rentals only have manual. We ended up getting a Fino for 80,000 kip, which is about 320 baht. They asked for our passport but we obviously didn’t have it. I gave them my Thai ID instead and they seemed okay with it.

Added Cost/person: 320 baht

Running Total/person: 5260 baht

14. Head to the night market (or not). If you’ve been to any Thai night market, this one wouldn’t seem like anything too special, but it was nice to see and you can get Lao souvenirs here. (Warning: make sure you’re doing the Kip to baht calculations. You are still a tourist.)

15. Enjoy your evening and rest.

16. Next day: around 11am-12pm get ready to head out. Passports are available for pick up from 1:00pm – 3:00pm at the same location – Thai embassy. (We went a little early and actually got a massage around the corner to the right. It had wooden décor and the Lao massage was great. 200 baht/person.) We got to the embassy again with perfect timing. As we walked in, we again had to grab a number (I think we were 15&16). Go next door to the building where you paid the day before.

17. Sit and wait for your number to be called. In the meantime, get out your receipt. When your number is called, give them your receipt and they’ll give you your passport. This only took us a few minutes. Literally.

18. Open your passport and see what you got! Now it’s time to head back to Thailand (unless you’re staying in Laos). Get one of the guys to take you to the embassy. They’ll try to say 200 baht/person. We got them down to 150 baht (but we couldn’t tell any of the other people on the van that – hahahaha).

Added Cost/person: 150 baht

Running Total/person: 5410 baht

19. You should have your departure card for Laos from yesterday’s paperwork. Get in line and go through immigration.

20. Catch the 20 baht bus across the border.

Added Cost/person: 20 baht

Running Total/person: 5430 baht

21. When you get off the bus, quickly go to the arrival area and grab an arrival/departure card. Fill it out and get in line. Get stamped back into Thailand.

22. Wah-la. You’re all done! Now, getting home - Catch a tuk-tuk driver to the NONGKHAI bus station. About 60 baht.

Added Cost/person: 60 baht

Running Total/person: 5490 baht

23. When you get to the bus station, look for the “407 Bus Shop”. It isn’t inside the main terminal where the buses park, but just across the street. If you get lost, just ask someone “Pattaya” – they’ll point you to it.

The hours going back to Pattaya are way different. Just ask for the next time, (VIP if you want) and get your ticket. The ticket costs the same.

If your have a lot of time to kill, I’d suggest going to the Tesco Lotus. It’s about a 60 baht tuk-tuk drive. It doesn’t have much, but it’s enough to keep occupied for a few hours. A few restaurants, a shopping center, Starbucks, banks (if your run out of money), etc.

Added Cost/person: 680 baht

Running Total/person: 6170 baht

24. Get to the bus station a few minutes before it leaves. Get on and relax!

25. A little while later someone will come around and give you the same snacks. The TV might play for a little bit, and then lights out (if it’s night time). About 5 hours into your ride, you’ll stop again at the same bus terminal, get 20 minutes to explore, and then you’re off again. We took a 7:20pm bus out and arrived back to Pattaya around 6:30am.

Added Cost/person: 60 baht

Running Total/person: 6230 baht

Remember this is just an estimated total, but I did try my best to be accurate. These numbers do not include your tuk-tuks in Laos, meals in Laos, and any additional spending you’ll do. All-in-all it was a good trip, but we were very organized.

Best of luck to you all!

[Boyce]

Nice report, what visa did you get ? a double entry Tourist Visa.

[Deerculler]

KelCastro,

Thank you very much for the report. Very clear and easy to understand.

[KelCastro]

Nice report, what visa did you get ? a double entry Tourist Visa.

We both got double entry Tourist Visa - stamped in for 60days.

[properperson]

having done the "VIP" bus journey once - two words "never again".....

[melvinmelvin]

Good account.

You said that when you rented your bike you couldn't give the shop your passport,

but they were happy with your Thai Id.

I wonder, if you have a Thai Id card do you still need these 2-entry tourist visas?

[D4ZZLER]

An excellent report from the OP but I must say I truly admire the effort they have gone to for this visa.

I believe it cost 18000 baht for the couple doing it themselves with the incidentals outside of the actual process bringing it up to this amount. I myself just returned from an organized trip with 5 star visa runs/the queen Vic which cost 7900 all in for 2 x 90 day visas , while I will definitely not repeat the trip as i found the travel time in the minibus way too long , I will say that none could have done anything to make the trip smoother.

We had a 9 seat minibus and relative comfort which picked us up from our individual houses and dropped us back home on completion . All the paperwork was done for us and we literally didn't have to do anything for the visa apart from be in the same room as our agent when he was handing in the visa application , this literally took 5 minutes.

Fair play to anyone attempting this run on their own but for what you will save (1000/1500 baht) it simply cannot be worth all the extra hassles.

[paz]

having done the "VIP" bus journey once - two words "never again".....

Ahaha! Second that!

[ubonjoe]

You could take the overnight train in 2nd class sleeper to Nong Kai from Bangkok. A lot more comfortable than a bus or van.

You can buy your train tickets in advance at the train station in Pattaya (to the left just before tracks on Siam Country Club road).

Then take bus to Bangkok.

[balo]

You can fly in to Vientiane for under 5000 baht with return trip to Bangkok , it saves you a lot of time only 1 hour flight time from Bangkok , maybe you pay 2-3000 baht more in total but its worth it .

[thaitero]

An excellent report from the OP but I must say I truly admire the effort they have gone to for this visa.

I believe it cost 18000 baht for the couple doing it themselves with the incidentals outside of the actual process bringing it up to this amount. I myself just returned from an organized trip with 5 star visa runs/the queen Vic which cost 7900 all in for 2 x 90 day visas , while I will definitely not repeat the trip as i found the travel time in the minibus way too long , I will say that none could have done anything to make the trip smoother.

We had a 9 seat minibus and relative comfort which picked us up from our individual houses and dropped us back home on completion . All the paperwork was done for us and we literally didn't have to do anything for the visa apart from be in the same room as our agent when he was handing in the visa application , this literally took 5 minutes.

Fair play to anyone attempting this run on their own but for what you will save (1000/1500 baht) it simply cannot be worth all the extra hassles.

Did queen vic had individual seats with Laos visa run like they have with cambodia visaruns?

If not who has?

I should do trip like this next week from Pattaya and i am already in bad mood because of..