Parks and the outdoors in Vientiane

Parks and the outdoors in Vientiane

1. Eat

   Ban Lao Beer Garden

   Cheap Thai food (14,000 kip) and cheap beer (9,000 kip, for the cheap one, 10,000 kip for Lao beer) Nice quiet garden, nice people. (Thai Spoken).

2. See

   Buddha Park

   Xieng Khuan

   An outdoor collection of huge concrete sculptures of Buddhist and Hindu deities, and real and religious beasts. The reclining Buddha is especially impressive. The Park was built in 1958 by the mystic Luang Pu Bunleua Sulilat. In 1978 he fled to Thailand, following the communist take-over and went on to create a larger version of the Park (Sala Keoku or Sala Kaew Ku) across the river in Nong Khai, Thailand. There are two travel options. Hire a taxi/tuk tuk from Vientiane, say 100,000 kip. The second, take a public bus. Bus #14 travels from the Khua Din (central Vientiane) station, past the Friendship Bridge, all the way to the Buddha Park for 6,000 kip, one-way. For your return there are always tuk tuks at the Park waiting for customers, or take the bus back. The last bus back to Vientiane departs from the park at 16:45. Entrance 15,000 kip (10,000 kip for Laos citizens).

3. Drink

   Highland Bar

   Nice drinking hole and sports bar by the river, good spot for viewing sunsets.

4. Eat

   Kong View Bar and Restaurant

   With the ongoing construction of the flood management levee and river park in Vientiane, this restaurant offers the most optimal dining views of the Mekong. Thai-owned, it features an extensive menu of what is best termed Thai-Lao fusion. Not incredibly exciting food, but good, although portions are on the small side. Also, the staff will invariably mess up your order. Keep a close eye on the bill, as well, as items tend to make it on there that you didn't order.

5. See

   National Ethnic Cultural Park

   Here, typical houses of various ethnic groups are on display, though only from the outside unless you happen to meet some kind of custodian who will unlock some of them and show the inside. There also are some statues of dinosaurs and a rather dismal looking small "zoo". Most times the only activity seems to be the kiosks where they sell soft drinks and crisps/chips, but there are said to be occasional cultural shows. Tour operators often take their guests here before or after a visit to the Buddha Park. Not worth a trip.

6. See

   Patuxai

   Victory Gate

   A local rendition of the Arc de Triomphe. Besides having elaborate Buddhist embellishment, it differs from the original in having four gates instead of two and being just a bit higher to spite the French. Reasonably impressive from afar, a surprisingly frank English sign inside the monument labels it a "monster of concrete" when seen up close. The concrete was donated by the US, although it was supposed to go towards a new airport instead: hence the nickname "the Vertical Runway". The monument itself aside, the palm tree-lined park around it complete with fountains is quite pleasant though lacking of shade during the daytime. You can climb up to the 7th story, stairs only, for a nice view of central Vientiane and three levels of souvenir shops with less than enthusiastic sales people sitting about. It features a musical fountain nearby that attracts visitors from around Laos and Asia, as well as a World Peace Gong presented by Indonesia. Roving cameramen will be happy to charge you for photos near these attractions.

   Closed · opens 8 am·3,000 kip (to climb)

7. Eat Not mapped

   Along the river

   Dozens of unpretentious restaurants and beer gardens (those upstream from the main beach promenade are generally cheaper). All are pleasant places for a beer and a snack or a complete meal while the sun goes down over the river. One of these is one-time famous John's Restaurant, but since the owner married an Australian and left town there is nothing to distinguish it from the other places left and right. All serve inexpensive (but not really cheap for Laos) Lao, Thai, and some Western food. Among the best is the grilled fish, served by many of them. Take care when you're in for boiled eggs: what you get here are incubated duck eggs. When you open them you're in for a surprise (but at least the little bird does not chirp). The Lao love them and they are hugely popular. Some of the restaurants along the river has Lao-style reed mats on the ground with low rattan "tables" (kantoke). Diners sit cross-legged on the mat around the table. They are much nicer than the rickety metal tables and plastic chairs that are the standard of all but the better restaurants in Laos. The riverside open-air restaurants have been known to use two menus, a cheaper one for locals and an expensive one for foreigners.

8. Eat Not mapped

   Dinner Cruises

   Two different companies, on boats moored opposite Wat Chan and one 300 m upriver. Not very impressive, neither the boat trip (1 hour, departure around 19:00, 1 km upstream then 2 downstream and back, only when the water level is high enough) nor the food. Very relaxing. This Lao maritime experience will cost you only slightly more than the same meal in one of the beer gardens on the riverbank.

9. Do Not mapped

   Lao Experiences Cooking Course and Food Tours

   Learn about Lao cooking and culture. Cook Lao-style in the garden on a quiet stretch of the Mekong River.

   Daily

10. Do Not mapped

    Nam Ngum Lake

    A local favourite. There are floating restaurants along the lakeshore; their specialty is fish fresh from the lake. Cruises among the lake's islands can be booked here, which makes for a relaxing couple of hours. Just enquire at your guest house/hotel or at any travel agency (where they will then try to sell their tours).

11. Eat Not mapped

    Nazim Indian Restaurant

    Decent Indian food. Their toilet is not the cleanest in the country, perhaps because the patrons of some of the restaurants on the river bank are directed here for certain needs when they are not sent down to the reeds at the water's edge. Nazim has opened another branch in Pang Kham Rd, opposite the offices of Lao Airlines. There are at least 4 other Indian restaurants in the city centre, and all quite similar.

12. Do Not mapped

    Tour via Vientiane ByCycle

    Vientiane ByCycle offers awesome guided bicycle tours through and around Vientiane. They take you off the beaten track to places where you usually would not go ordinarily. Along villages, temples, school yards, bank of Mekong River, crematoria, markets and local businesses. They have excellent quality mountain bikes.

13. Do

    Patuxay Park

    Thannon Lan Xang

Listings from the Wikivoyage guide to Vientiane (CC BY-SA 4.0).