How to get from Chiang Rai to Luang Prabang: A review of Nagi of the Mekong
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When I say that I love to travel, what I really mean is that I love to be in new places, exploring the city, seeing the landscapes, and eating the food. I do not, despite how often I’m on an airplane or a bus or a ferry, love the actual act of ~travel~. I mean, who does? It’s a necessary evil to get to all the beautiful places.
Or, at least I thought it was, until I started doing some research on how I was going to travel from Chiang Rai in Thailand, to Luang Prabang in Laos. There are a few options. You can take an agonizingly long bus, you can fly, or you can take a 2 day slow boat across the border. As I enjoy neither airplanes nor busses, I decided to look into the much cheaper, much more scenic route of the slow boat.
There are public boats that run two times a week, but after meeting lots of travelers who have been on said boats, discovered that it’s not much better than the bus. There are around 60 seats on the boat, although many of the boats sell up to 100 tickets for each boat which leads to lots of sitting on the floor and getting really comfortable with your fellow travelers. You also have to pack lots of snacks as there aren’t any meals included, and you have to find lodging in Pak Beng, the city where you stop off to break up the few days of travel. ADDITIONALLY, you have to deal with the border crossing all on your own, gather all your documents, and overall plan much more.
But, there’s a much easier way, and that’s by going with a private company. And that’s when I came across Nagi of Mekong.
They deliver all your necessary documents to whatever hotel you’re staying at in Chiang Khong, pick you up from your hotel, help you cross the border, and cover the rest of the logistics. This ALONE was enough to solidify my decision to book with Nagi of Mekong. Sometimes you just need the peace of mind, especially when crossing borders.
And what I absolutely loved about this experience is that they take something that could’ve easily been a mundane travel day, and made it into an entire experience. And what an experience it was.
How to get from Chiang Rai to Luang Prabang
Getting from Chiang Rai to Luang Prabang, is actually relatively easy, especially when using a private company such as this. You can take a local bus from Chiang Rai to Chiang Khong, which will take about 2 hours and costs less than ten dollars - or you can even take a taxi which will cost you about 20 dollars depending on how many people you’re traveling with! The bus leaves every hour from Chiang Rai bus station until about 4 p.m.
I read online that the bus ran until 5, but I missed the last bus that left at 3:30 that day, so definitely stop by the bus stop the day of to get a good look at the bus times if you decide on that option.
(While you’re in Chiang Rai don’t forget to see the white temple and the blue temple! Such modern takes on classic buddhist temples - and they’re absolutely stunning)
If you want an even easier way to get from Chiang Rai to Luang Prabang, Nagi of Mekong even offers a 5 day itinerary that includes pickup from the airport in Chiang Mai, 2 nights there with a customized itinerary, and a stop off in Chiang Rai on your way to Chiang Khong, if you’re into getting the full package. I opted to get a bus (but accidentally had to end up getting a taxi), and start my experience with Nagi of Mekong in Chiang Khong.
Once I arrived at my hotel, I filled out my paperwork that Nagi of Mekong had left at reception for me, and settled in for an early night before the 7am pickup the next day.
Immediately in the bus on the way to the boat, I knew it was going to be a fabulous experience. The people who I was traveling with were all so much fun, and I couldn’t wait to spend the next two days getting to know them.
The process at the border was seamless for all of us, and we arrived to our boat in no time.
Immediately, I was SO HAPPY I forwent the public boat, I noticed the lack of comfortable seating and the condition of the boat right away - and that relief only continued as we watched people start to sit on each others laps, sit on the floor, and haul huge snack bags onto the boat with them.
Me and the 13 other people on my boat literally just looked at each other and tried to conceal our smiles as we each had our own little booth to ourselves, with lots of cushions, free tea, coffee, and fruit on a table in the back, and the promise of a fabulous lunch later in the day.
And then we were off! We had a fabulous guide named Sy who pointed out temples, plants, and animals as we sailed down the river, and answered any question we had about the journey from Chiang Rai to Luang Prabang. The breeze from the river felt amazing, and we all settled in with some refreshments as we started to get to know each other.
One of the best parts about this boat and the experience that Nagi of Mekong has put together was the people. Maybe I got lucky, or maybe this particular journey from Chiang Rai to Luang Prabang draws a certain (fabulous) crowd of people - but everyone on our boat became fast friends. And since we all arrived in Luang Prabang with the plans to travel the country north to south, I ended up running into every single person on the boat in every single city I visited in Laos - multiple times. I had built in friends that I could call up if I ever needed people to visit waterfalls or temples with, which is such a nice thing to have especially as a solo traveler.
The crew let us sit on the front of the boat, and just lounging out there, watching the landscapes fly by (spoiler - the slow boat isn’t actually that slow!) made the time pass so quickly. Before we knew it, we had arrived at our first destination.
One of the advantages to booking this journey with Nagi of Mekong is that you get three little excursions included in the 2 day journey that you wouldn’t otherwise get! Our first stop was to a little local village, where our guide educated us on the different tribes of people that live along the Mekong and the way that they live. We were also told that we could bring toys for the kids from the city, and they went crazy over the soccer ball and all the little notebooks and pens that we brought.
Sometimes I feel a little bit out of place in settings like this, but they seemed very welcoming and friendly, and I know that the village benefits off of tourists like us coming to visit as well so I felt okay being there and not like an intruder, which is always something I’m nervous about!
After trying rice whiskey with the villagers (it’s horrific by the way) and passing out our toys, we headed back to the boat for lunch.
Food is very important to me, and is always something I pay attention to, and the food on this boat did NOT disappoint. We had curry, vegetables, two different kinds of rice, fish, stir fry, and dragonfruit for dessert. It was actually so delicious I got two plates. All I could think about was the public slow boat that only sold chips and beer, and you better believe I was counting my blessings.
After a few more hours of cruising down the river and swapping travel stories with the 12 other people on our boat, we arrived in Pak Beng. Nagi of Mekong offers three different lodging options to choose from depending on what your budget is, and as the company was so graciously hosting me I got chauffeured to the mid-range option, which just happened to be directly on the river and opposite from an elephant eco-lodge.
The accommodation was absolutely stunning - I couldn’t believe there was an option above this one! After weeks and weeks of communal hostel showers and bunk beds, I felt like I was in the lap of luxury. I had my own private balcony, and although I didn’t see any elephants, I found out that they come to the river on Sunday mornings - so if you plan your trip around the right days of the week you just might see them 😉
We ate dinner at the hotel, which was absolutely stunning - but not included in the price of the tour. I took a dip in the pool to watch the sunset, and then slept like a baby.
The next morning, we set off around 8 a.m., and stopped by another local village before lunch. Here, they were selling all sorts of textiles that were made by both the women and the children of the tribe, and I would recommend and encourage you to buy something - even if you don’t plan on carrying it all the way through your travels! Any purchase you make supports them and their families, and it’s the least you can do.
I unfortunately left my purse on the boat not realizing that there was an opportunity to buy, and I felt so bad just standing there while they showed off all of their scarves and tablecloths.
We had another fabulous lunch aboard the boat after touring the village, and our last excursion was a few hours later. We stopped at the Buddha caves at around 2:30 p.m., and it was my favorite stop of all! The cave appears out of nowhere, and the only way to access it is by boat. You can take a trip from Luang Prabang, but the fact that the Nagi of Mekong took us on our journey from Chiang Rai to Luang Prabang just meant that we didn’t have to pay for an additional tour or backtrack in our footsteps at all to see this magical little place.
There are hundreds of Buddha statues inside, and we learned that it’s because the locals prefer to bring their own statue to worship on public holidays instead of having one communal one. Every buddha statue belongs to a particular family, and the number is ever growing. We had a little stretch break when we climbed up to the upper caves, and it was some welcome exercise after being sat on a boat for so long. The upper caves are very impressive (albeit a little dark) and also filled with Buddha statues. The views are stunning, and after 45 minutes or so we hopped back on our boat.
From there it was only about an hour and a half to Luang Prabang, where a private minibus took us all to our respective hotels and hostels. This transfer, if you go through the public boats, can be quite pricey, as some of the boats will intentionally drop you off farther outside of town so that you have to pay more for a tuktuk to your accommodation - so the included transfer was definitely a nice bonus.
And that concluded our adventure from Chiang Rai to Luang Prabang with Nagi of Mekong!
It was an incredible experience. When I told friends and family back home that it was going to take me two days to get from Chiang Rai to Luang Prabang, they initially felt really sorry for me. Two days in transit would usually be something I would avoid at all costs! But with Nagi of Mekong, it was truly such an experience, something that I’ll remember forever, and something that gave me friends for life. I don’t see it as travel days at all but rather as an adventure that I’m so glad I had and wouldn’t trade for anything.
If you have the chance and the time to take a slow boat from Laos to Thailand, I HIGHLY recommend that you do it as opposed to the bus or the plane - it was so much fun.
Thank you to Nagi of Megkong for hosting me on this journey! As always, all opinions are my own, regardless of who’s picking up the tab.
