Getting from Muang Ngoi to Luang Namtha using public transport

A view of a hut on the hills in Muang Ngoi

This guide tells you everything you need to know about getting from Muang Ngoi to Luang Namtha in Laos using public transport. Includes travel times, ticket prices and things to keep in mind to make your journey (and your life) that little bit easier.
Interested in organising your own trek in Luang Namtha? Read our comprehensive guide to trekking in the area which includes a packing guide, accommodation and restaurant recommendations and suggestions for other activities you can do in Luang Namtha.

Getting from Muang Ngoi to Luang Namtha is fairly straightforward but does depend on boats and buses running on time, which never really seems to happen in Laos. If you want to know how to get from Muang Ngoi to Luang Namtha, here is our complete low down of your options.

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Option 1: Boat from Muang Ngoi to Nong Khiaw and then a direct bus from Nong Khiaw to Luang Namtha

A little journey on the Nam Ou River

From Muang Ngoi take the public boat (costing 25,000kip per person) to Nong Khiaw down the Nam Ou river. Usually, this boat leaves at around 10:00am, though depending on the season it can leave earlier or later.

The journey should take about 45 minutes as you are travelling in the direction of the current. The boat ticket office in Muang Ngoi opens at 8:00am and you can buy your ticket an hour before you travel.

**One of the public boats from Muang Ngoi.**

Try and board early if you want even half a chance of getting a proper seat on the boat, otherwise, you’ll end up sitting on benches or the floor of the boat which will make your arse go numb.

This is by far the cheapest way to get back to Nong Khiaw: if you miss the public boat you will then have to charter a boat which, unless you have lots of other fellow travellers to share the cost with, will turn out to be pretty expensive.

**The boats usually also carry lots of other supplies as well as regular passengers.**

Since 2018 there have been rumours of a road being built between Muang Ngoi and Nong Khiaw and that once this is in operation the public boats between the two places will cease to operate.

The boat route is the far more scenic way to travel in our opinion and we don't know how long the journey between the two places will take by road.

Nam Ou River views Nong Khiaw Laos 2.jpg

Once you arrive at Nong Khiaw boat terminal, there will be several tuk-tuks/songthaews waiting to take you to the bus station. The price of this journey is 5000kip per person. Hop inside and the driver will strap your larger bags to the roof. This is a 5-minute journey.

The bus to Luang Namtha

At the bus station, touts will be asking you where you want to go. You can tell them, but make sure you still buy your bus ticket directly from the counter.

Since 1st March 2017 there is now a direct bus between Nong Khiaw and Luang Namtha that costs 100,000kip per person. It is slated to leave at 11:00am each day but when we arrived (a little after 11:00am) we asked when the bus was leaving and were told that it would be departing at 11:30am.

**Details of the new direct bus from Nong Khiaw to Luang Namtha**

The journey to Luang Namtha will start off on a small minibus and they usually try to wait until it is full before they leave.

So, if you arrive before 11:00am do expect to be waiting around for a bit until they decide to set off.

When we arrived there were five people already waiting at the station and once there were seven of us, the driver decided it was okay to start the journey. Therefore we didn't actually end up waiting for ages which was nice! We strapped our bags to the roof of the bus and hopped on.

The drive to Luang Namtha is supposed to take about 6 hours. This estimation varies depending on road conditions, which can be especially bad during the rainy season.

**One of the buses to Luang Namtha, with fancy seat covers.**

Even though this was supposed to be a 'direct bus' there was still a changeover.

About 1 hour and 45 minutes into our journey, the minibus pulled up at the side of the road and the driver got out. After chatting to someone briefly, he announced that those of us heading to Luang Namtha would need to get onto a bus that was parked up ahead as it would take us directly there.

This minibus was apparently going somewhere else and stopping over for the night. Our bags were duly unloaded and reloaded and about 10 minutes later we were off again.

I was quite glad to be able to move to the larger bus as here I could actually open the window (I was sweating to death in the minibus because the aircon wasn't working properly). Our journey eventually took 6 hours and we arrived in Luang Namtha at 5:30pm.

**It might have been sweaty, but the views through the slightly grubby window were epic.**

Things to note: it is worth having a rain cover for your backpack in case the heavens decide to open during the journey. The bags were also covered with a tarpaulin before we set off but a rain cover is that bit of added protection.

Also, it’s best not to bring mahoosive luggage with you if you intend to travel like this and to carry your valuables in a separate bag that you keep on your person if you don't want them chucked about. This applies to the boat journey from Muang Ngoi too.

We each carried our valuables in a daypack - read our guide to the best daypack for women here!

**We picked up our trusty backpack rain covers from a shop in Luang Prabang and they were worth every single penny.**

And finally, the back of the bus isn't the best place to sit. We ended up at the back of the minibus and bounced around a lot for the first part of our trip. If you have any kind of back pain, neck problems or suffer from travel sickness, try to sit further towards the middle or at the front.

If you suffer from travel sickness, do keep in mind that the roads to Luang Namtha (and actually the roads in Laos generally) are super windy.

A few of our fellow passengers were feeling the impact of those dangerous curves and basically spent the whole journey retching and vomming into plastic bags. Disgusting for us but worse for them. Bring your travel sickness meds and take them before you start the journey.

Option 2: Boat as in Option 1, followed by a bus from Nong Khiaw to Oudomxay and then change for a bus to Luang Namtha

This was actually originally our Option 1: we only realised that there was a direct bus from Nong Khiaw to Luang Namtha when we arrived at the station, as everything that we had read had told us that we would need to change buses at Oudomxay.

If for some reason the direct bus from Nong Khiaw to Luang Namtha isn't running or you miss it, the other option is to get a bus to Oudomxay instead. This bus leaves from Nong Khiaw bus station once a day at around 11:00am (so if you miss the direct bus it seems unlikely that you will be able to get this one either).

The bus to Oudomxay costs between 40,000 - 50,000kip per person and should take 4 hours. There is then another bus from Oudomxay to Luang Namtha (costing between 40,000-50,000 kip) that leaves between 3:00pm-3:30pm that should get you to Luang Namtha for around 6:30pm.

**I love that buying a bus ticket and possibly catching a bus from Oudomxay, involves some sort of luck.**

Many travellers have followed this route, however it does strongly depend on your first bus leaving Nong Khiaw on time and arriving in Oudomxay in time for you to change buses.

Some travellers missed the second bus due to a breakdown and bad weather and ended up having to spend the night in Oudomxay. There have also been reports of the Oudomxay bus not operating during the rainy season.

**Ticket prices for buses from Oudomxay.**

Our direct bus to Luang Namtha also stopped for 10 minutes at Oudomxay, so this may have superseded the Oudomxay only route.

Option 3: Boat as in Option 1, followed by a bus from Nong Khiaw to Luang Prabang and then a direct bus to Luang Namtha on the following day

This is the fallback option if there are no direct buses to Luang Namtha or to Oudomxay and everything has just basically gone totally wrong.

Boat on the Nam Ou River Nong Khaiw Laos.JPG

This option is our least favourite in a way because you have to travel four hours back down south to Luang Prabang only to travel back up north again. It also means that you have to shell out for an extra night in Luang Prabang so that you can take the bus to Luang Namtha the next day.

The positive is that you get another night in Luang Prabang, which is always a bonus for us!

This was still a very tempting option when we were planning our journey because we'd just spent three days being piss-wet-through and hungry in Muang Ngoi so the thought of a clean, dry and rather luxurious room in a Luang Prabang guesthouse and in a town with a wealth of food options sounded heavenly.

**The food in Luang Prabang was out of this world.**

The other positive is that there are more buses leaving from Nong Khiaw to Luang Prabang each day, at 9:00am, 11:00am and 12.30pm. The journey costs 40,000kip and should take around 4 hours. Again your main luggage is strapped to the bus roof.

Buses from Luang Prabang to Luang Namtha leave at 9:00am and cost around 80,000kip. The journey takes around 8 hours, although we have heard reports that it can take up to 10!

Option 4: Boat as in Option 1, followed by a bus from Nong Khiaw to Pak Mong bus station and change for a direct bus to Luang Namtha

**Introducing the wild card option (cos my hair is wild, geddit?)**

The wild card option that a number of other travellers have taken. From Nong Khiaw you take the 9:00am bus to Luang Prabang and let the driver know that you want to get down at Pak Mong bus station. This should cost you 25,000kip and will take about 1.5hours.

At Pak Mong bus station you can buy a direct bus ticket to Luang Namtha, which should cost you 80,000kip. The bus will leave between 11:00-11:30am and should arrive in Luang Namtha for 6:30pm.

However, you can also apparently stand at the side of the road at Pak Mong bus station and flag down a bus going to Luang Namtha (which is apparently how lots of local people do it)!

This option can be a bit risky as you will probably need someone’s help to flag down the correct bus and so we think it is better to try and buy the ticket at the bus station instead.

And there you have it - getting from Nong Khiaw to Luang Namtha!

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