Great 400km bikers road

[AllanB]

Just got back from Laos and found a great bikers road, Phonsavanh to the Nam Theun 2 reservoir. With a number of great mountain sections, peaking at around 1,200 metres (cool), full of twisties and hairpins, with mainly good road surfaces throughout. Generally Laos road are not that great..... potholes are currently in fashion there.

 

Now getting to Phonsavanh is not than simple, the shortest route from Vientiane via Paksan will take you through a 20-30km section of dirt road, some of it very rough, which may challenge the sports bike guys running slicks. So the longer up and over route may be preferred, but once in Phonsavanh the 400km+ run is really pleasant

 

Along this route there are quite a few villages where some care in needed, with small kids, dogs and goats roaming, the latter stages there are herds of cattle to contend with on the road, but the scenery is fabulous and varied.  

 

If you wish to do the trip, a group (caravan) is a good idea, enter via Nong Khia and exiting Muhugdahan, which we were told will allow bikes in a "caravan", or single expedition prepared bikes. Perhaps doing the trip around the other way may be a better option, since we know that Nong Khai is not a problem for big bikes (above 250cc).

 

This is our 3rd trip to Laos and this route has easily the best roads we have found. We discovered the road between Ben Vang An and Pakha, not shown on our map, when we missed the turning to Paksan. Easily done since the maps shows it as being a straight continuation of the road from Phonsavanh, whereas Paksan is a right turn straight onto the (obvious) aforementioned dirt section. 

 

Getting your bike into Laos (and out) is best done with a bike passport, with insurance obtained on the Laos side and if you intend exiting Laos using a different crossing you need to inform the border guys at the time of entry.

 

This is information I obtained asking a number of staff at the border, so it is by no means gospel.