Laos in July/August

Intend going to Laos at end July/early August - can%26#39;t go any other season! Has anyone been there at this time? We hope to visit LP, Plain of Jars, VV and Vientiane and have about 2 weeks. Can one travel by road? Does it rain every day? All day??!! Is there anything or anywhere that someone would NOT recommend because of the time of year? Would we need to book accomodation in advance at that time of year? Are the rivers flooded? Any help at all would be appreciated. Thanks - Marie

Laos in July/August

Its the wet season and it pretty much does rain every day. expect a few hours rain, sometimes but not frequently, all day.

Whether you can travel by road depends on whether the Mekong floods. It did last year and you couldnt travel from Vang Vieng to Luang prabang because of some rock slides. this was for about a week or so.

No, you won%26#39;t need to book accomodation. The 4 places that you mention should be ok, but you might be better off flying to the Plain of Jars from vientiane.

Laos in July/August

Thanks for the reply.

Had hoped to fly into LP and head to Plain of Jars from there by air and do the rest by road. Seems there is no longer a flight. Might still start in LP, then fly to Vientiane and do a loop from there - flying to Plain of Jars as you suggest and then road to VV and back to Vientiane. Can%26#39;t think of any other way. Even in dry season didn%26#39;t fancy doing it all by bus. Thanks again - Marie

Hi Marie,

I am pretty sure there is no flight from LP to Phonsavahn, (POJ). I%26#39;ll pop into Lao Air and check today as I am in town anyway to pay some bills. If there is a flight, I%26#39;ll post and let you know.

thanks. That would be great

No direct flight.

We visited Pakse, did a 2 night river cruise, then Vientiane and Luang Prabang this past August and the rainy season did not pose a problem. Surprisingly, we only had one or two days where the rain affected our touring. Usually it rained for a few hours and we worked around it. There was some flooding but again, I expected slogging through days long deluges and that was not the case at all.

It was really hot and humid, but not unbearable. The Mekong was high around Pakse but no major flooding. It had just receded from flood levels in Vientiane but we were told that was unusually high that year.

One caution, We were encouraged to wade through the flooded Buddha Park outside Vientiane but it was clear that raw sewage is mixed in the floodwaters so it is clearly not a healthy situation to wade into standing flood water. That was an issue that locals could not understand our concern with.

On the flip side, everything is really very lush at this time of the year and the dust is kept to a minimum.

Thanks for that. Its a pity the flight is gone. But sure its no fun if travel plans work out the first time!!!!

Thanks for your reply. Hadn%26#39;t really considered Pakse but would like a short river cruise. Did you organise it when you got there? How did you get to LP from Vientiane? Marie