Vientiane travel guide

Laos · Top sights · trending spots

Vientiane is among the quietest capitals in the world — a riverfront on the Mekong facing Thailand, a golden stupa that is the national symbol, and a victory arch built with cement donated for an airport runway.

Breakfast is rice noodles or a baguette left behind by the French, and both are good. The night market runs along the river at sunset. Vang Vieng and Luang Prabang are north.

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Next long-break window · based on public holidays in United States11.26 – 11.291 leave → 4 daysPlan this trip

Top 10 sights in Vientiane

Ranked by Wikipedia language editions — proven fame.

© Jialiang Gao www.peace-on-earth.org · CC BY-SA 3.0
Pha That Luang
The gold-covered stupa that stands as the national symbol of Laos and appears on the state emblem. Tradition traces a shrine here to the 3rd century, but the present form follows King Setthathirath's rebuilding of 1566, restored again in the 1930s after invasions left it in ruins.
Tiqets Klook
© Dezwitser · CC BY-SA 3.0
Buddha Park
A meadow by the Mekong filled with more than two hundred concrete figures, Buddhist and Hindu together, made from 1958 by a self-taught holy man. A pumpkin-shaped structure at its centre is entered through a demon's mouth and climbed through hell, earth and heaven.
Tiqets Klook
Wat Si Saket
Wat Si Saket is the oldest temple in Vientiane to survive intact, and its cloister walls, set with thousands of small Buddha figures in niches, are its overwhelming feature.
Tiqets Klook
© Ondřej Žváček · CC BY 2.5
Wat Si Muang
The busiest temple in Vientiane, founded in 1563 around the city pillar set up when King Setthathirath moved his capital here. Legend has it that a pregnant woman named Si leapt into the pit to consecrate the pillar; the present hall was rebuilt in 1915 after Siamese destruction.
Tiqets Klook
© Ryuch · CC BY-SA 4.0
Presidential Palace
The presidential palace of Laos, on the Mekong front in Vientiane, a beaux-arts building whose Lao name means golden hall. It was finished after the monarchy ended and has only ever housed republican heads of state.
Tiqets Klook
© Grossbildjaeger · CC BY-SA 3.0
Wat Ong Teu Mahawihan
A monastery founded in the sixteenth century and destroyed in later invasions, holding a bronze Buddha heavy enough to give the temple its name. It is the seat of the country's Buddhist institute and its monks' school.
Tiqets Klook
© Stefan Fussan · CC BY-SA 3.0
Vientiane Jamia Mosque
The oldest mosque in Laos, in a lane off the fountain square in central Vientiane, following the Hanafi school. It serves a congregation drawn largely from South Asian traders settled in the city.
Tiqets Klook
© Torbenbrinker · CC BY-SA 3.0
Sacred Heart Cathedral, Vientiane
The Catholic cathedral of Vientiane, built in 1928 by the Paris Foreign Missions during the French protectorate and standing near the French embassy. Mass is said in Lao and French.
Tiqets Klook
© Der aus Uebersee kommt · CC BY-SA 3.0
Sala Keoku
A sculpture park on the Thai bank of the Mekong at Nong Khai, made by the same holy man who built the Buddha park across the river, after he fled Laos in 1975. Its concrete figures are larger and stranger than the earlier set.
Tiqets Klook
© Stefan Fussan · CC BY-SA 3.0
That Dam
A brick stupa on a roundabout in central Vientiane, stripped of its gold by Siamese troops in 1828. Local belief holds that a seven-headed serpent living inside it defended the city, and has been dormant since.
Tiqets Klook

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Top 10 sights in Vientiane

Ranked by Wikipedia language editions — proven fame.

Pha That Luang

The gold-covered stupa that stands as the national symbol of Laos and appears on the state emblem. Tradition traces a shrine here to the 3rd century, but the present form follows King Setthathirath's rebuilding of 1566, restored again in the 1930s after invasions left it in ruins.

Tiqets

Klook

Buddha Park

A meadow by the Mekong filled with more than two hundred concrete figures, Buddhist and Hindu together, made from 1958 by a self-taught holy man. A pumpkin-shaped structure at its centre is entered through a demon's mouth and climbed through hell, earth and heaven.

Tiqets

Klook

Wat Si Saket

Wat Si Saket is the oldest temple in Vientiane to survive intact, and its cloister walls, set with thousands of small Buddha figures in niches, are its overwhelming feature.

Tiqets

Klook

Wat Si Muang

The busiest temple in Vientiane, founded in 1563 around the city pillar set up when King Setthathirath moved his capital here. Legend has it that a pregnant woman named Si leapt into the pit to consecrate the pillar; the present hall was rebuilt in 1915 after Siamese destruction.

Tiqets

Klook

Presidential Palace

The presidential palace of Laos, on the Mekong front in Vientiane, a beaux-arts building whose Lao name means golden hall. It was finished after the monarchy ended and has only ever housed republican heads of state.

Tiqets

Klook

Wat Ong Teu Mahawihan

A monastery founded in the sixteenth century and destroyed in later invasions, holding a bronze Buddha heavy enough to give the temple its name. It is the seat of the country's Buddhist institute and its monks' school.

Tiqets

Klook

Vientiane Jamia Mosque

The oldest mosque in Laos, in a lane off the fountain square in central Vientiane, following the Hanafi school. It serves a congregation drawn largely from South Asian traders settled in the city.

Tiqets

Klook

Sacred Heart Cathedral, Vientiane

The Catholic cathedral of Vientiane, built in 1928 by the Paris Foreign Missions during the French protectorate and standing near the French embassy. Mass is said in Lao and French.

Tiqets

Klook

Sala Keoku

A sculpture park on the Thai bank of the Mekong at Nong Khai, made by the same holy man who built the Buddha park across the river, after he fled Laos in 1975. Its concrete figures are larger and stranger than the earlier set.

Tiqets

Klook

That Dam

A brick stupa on a roundabout in central Vientiane, stripped of its gold by Siamese troops in 1828. Local belief holds that a seven-headed serpent living inside it defended the city, and has been dormant since.

Tiqets

Klook