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Travel and Tourism in Laos
Travel alerts, currency, climate, transit, health, and safety information for visitors to Laos.
Practical Information
Travel alert status, currency, climate, and transit details.
- Travel Alert Status
- Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution
- Time Difference
- UTC+7 (12 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)
- Currency
- kip (LAK)
- Climate
- Laos has a monsoon climate with three overlapping seasons. The rainy season is about 5 months, June-September. In October, rains start to taper off, and the cool season begins in November, lasting through February. In March "mango rains" occur. March, April, and May are hot and humid. In April, the hottest month, temperatures in Vientiane range from 72°F to 93°F, and in January, the coolest month, 52°F to 83°F. Temperature extremes of 103°F (April) and 39°F (January) have been recorded.
- Language(s) Spoken
- <p>Some ethnic minority languages have never been codified in written form. A small percentage of older people and those who attended high school prior to 1975 speak French, which has been the language of international commerce in the past. Some English is spoken.</p><p> The official language is Lao, the native language of the lowland Lao which is used in all official communications and taught in schools. Other main languages include Thai, Hmong, and midland Lao.</P
- Ethnic Groups
- Lao Loum (lowland) 68%, Lao Theung (upland) 22%, Lao Soung (highland) including the Hmong and the Yao 9%, ethnic Vietnamese/Chinese 1%
- National Holiday
- Republic Day (National Day), 2 December (1975)
- Geographic Coordinates
- 18 00 N, 105 00 E
- Location
- Southeastern Asia, northeast of Thailand, west of Vietnam
- Airports
- 46
Destinations
Regions and cities, top sights, national parks, UNESCO sites, and festivals for visitors.
South Laos: Champasak, Vat Phou, and the Four Thousand Islands
The south of Laos is the least visited region of the country by most international tourists, who tend to concentrate their time in Luang Prabang and Vientiane before crossing into Thailand or Vietnam. This is the south's great advantage. The provinces of Champasak, Savannakhet, Sekong, and Attapeu offer a version of Laos that is even less touched by the tourist economy than the north, with landscapes of extraordinary beauty, archaeological sites of world significance, and an unhurried pace of life that feels genuinely remote from the concerns of the wider world.
Pakse, the capital of Champasak province, is the main gateway to the south, a bustling provincial city at the confluence of the Mekong and the Xe Don rivers that serves primarily as a staging post for travelers heading south to the great Khmer temple complex of Vat Phou or east to the Bolaven Plateau.
Health and Safety
Medical facilities, vaccinations, disease risk, and sanitation conditions.
Medical facilities and services in Laos are limited and do not meet Western standards. In Vientiane, U.S. citizens may wish to contact the Primary Care Center, also known as the Centre medical de L’Ambassade de France (CMAF), which is supported by the French Embassy. The CMAF is located on Khou Vieng Road across the street from the Green Park Hotel, tel. 856-21-214-150, or 856-20-5558-4617, or email.