1.89/5
213 reviews
Photo by Adrian Fleur via Unsplash

Vientiane

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cafes

remote

slow

thai

beautiful

small

backpacker

tourist

Vientiane and Luang Prabang are often described as underwhelming for digital nomads or travelers looking for long-term stays. Vientiane, despite being the capital, lacks engaging attractions or vibrancy and seems to cater more to Chinese business travelers than to tourists or digital nomads. Luang Prabang is visually beautiful and has a small-town charm, but it’s quite small and oriented more towards backpackers than professionals or long-term remote workers. Most remote workers end up using the same limited set of air-conditioned cafes, which can feel limiting over time.

Across both locations, multiple reviewers mentioned that the internet is a frequent problem—either slow or unreliable, which makes either city challenging for those needing consistent online connectivity. Prices are also higher than expected for the level of development, with accommodation and dining costs similar to much larger or more developed Thai cities.

That said, visitors often praise Laotian people for their friendliness and surprisingly strong English skills, making interactions and daily life a bit smoother. Still, due to the limited activities, infrastructure, and remote work options, most suggest a short visit rather than a long-term stay.

AI-generated summary of reviews

I'd skip Vientiane if I was you. It's mostly for Chinese business people. But there's not much to see or do there. We visited the unexploded bomb museum, which was interesting but tiny. There's some French cafes and massage places. But everything is quite basic. I'd just go straight to Laung Prabang if you want to see more of Laos. Or Vang Vieng if you want to party.

Vientiane wasn't very remote worker suitable either, just like entire Laos. Internet is slow and if it's not slow it's unstable and cuts out. Food ingredient quality seems very low but you pay the same price as in Thailand for worse.

Laotian people are REALLY friendly though and their English is much much better than Thai people.

2 years ago

LPB is a beautiful small city (could even call it a town) but is more of a backpacker hub than DN destination. It's quite small, and you can really explore all of it within a few hours.

Probably the most expensive area in Laos, but's still decently priced despite being a heavily tourist based. Room at guest house $20-25, meal + drink in main street sitdown resturaunt for $7-10.

But again, this is a backpacker area. Most remote workers huddle between 4 cafes with air conditioning.

If you have a reason to be here, it's beautiful. But if not, a week is probably the max here.

2 years ago

it’s less developed than Chiang Mai or another provincial Thai city, but accommodation and restaurants prices like in the centre of Bangkok. I don’t think it’s worth to visit this place more then 1 time for tourist purpose. Maybe 0 times is enough too.

2 years ago

✅ Friendly people

✅ Beautiful

✅ Very cheap to live

✅ Very safe

✅ Warm now

✅ Warm all year round

✅ Good air quality on average

✅ Many Nomads.com members have been

✅ Spacious and not crowded

✅ Very safe for women

✅ LGBTQ+ friendly

✅ Not many people smoke tobacco

❌ Slow and unstable internet

❌ Expensive for the region

❌ Not suitable for remote work

❌ Limited activities

❌ No freedom of speech

❌ No democracy

❌ Very slow internet

❌ Not much to do

❌ Very sweaty and humid now

❌ Nomads.com members really didn't like going here

❌ Not many Nomads.com members right now

❌ Difficult to do business

❌ Quality of education is low

❌ Hospitals are bad

❌ Roads can be dangerous

❌ People don't speak English well

❌ Not family friendly

❌ Marijuana is illegal

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Feels (median)

28°C / 82°F warm

31°C / 88°F hot

37°C / 99°F hot

41°C / 106°F scorching

45°C / 113°F scorching

38°C / 100°F hot

42°C / 108°F scorching

39°C / 102°F hot

34°C / 93°F hot

32°C / 90°F hot

29°C / 84°F warm

Real (median)

27°C / 80°F
warm

29°C / 84°F
very warm

33°C / 91°F
hot

34°C / 93°F
hot

30°C / 86°F
very warm

32°C / 89°F
hot

30°C / 86°F
very warm

29°C / 84°F
very warm

27°C / 81°F
warm

Humidity

nice
60%

nice
58%

nice
54%

nice
65%

nice
68%

sweaty
82%

sweaty
84%

sweaty
79%

sweaty
86%

sweaty
79%

nice
68%

nice
63%

Most common

☀️ Clear

☔️ Rain

☀️ Clear

Rain

dry
1mm

dry
16mm

dry
38mm

rainy
78mm

rainy
235mm

rainy
314mm

rainy
361mm

rainy
376mm

rainy
307mm

rainy
107mm

dry
21mm

dry
1mm

Cloud

pockets
12%

pockets
15%

pockets
23%

pockets
47%

cloudy
59%

cloudy
56%

cloudy
55%

pockets
47%

pockets
33%

pockets
19%

Air quality

bad
110 US AQI

clean
34* US AQI

clean
34 US AQI

clean
30 US AQI

clean
25 US AQI

okay
63 US AQI

okay
65 US AQI

okay
92 US AQI

bad
116 US AQI

Sun

avoid sun
8 UVI

avoid sun
9 UVI

avoid sun
10 UVI

avoid sun
8 UVI

avoid sun
7 UVI

avoid sun
6 UVI

avoid sun
7 UVI

avoid sun
6 UVI

avoid sun
7 UVI

Remote workers

617 people

460 people

380 people

420 people

444 people

533 people

200 people

356 people

300 people

400 people

556 people

455 people

Green is good. Red is bad. Values shown are the medians of all daily highs in a month based on past few years, not necessarily current numbers. Remote worker count is estimated based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members.

If you'd like to filter destinations based on their climate, try Nomads.com's Climate Finder

Based on Vientiane's cost of living, here's selected remote jobs that would cover your costs:

	Psychotherapist @ Athena
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	Copywriter @ MissionWired
	Commerce Editor Temporary @ BDG
	Photo Editor @ PlayOn
	Business Operations Administrator @ Anagram
	Administrative Executive @ Prime Design & Build

Help pick the best photos for Vientiane and improve this page's look by tappingclicking on them and the site saves your feedback Vote photos

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⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😙 Affordable

📡 InternetWiFi 😡 Slow

👍 Liked bad

👮 Safety mediocre

Tap to open

🌦 Feels 48° 118° 35° 95° 🥵 AQI 27

✈️1h

$1,184 / mo

🌇 Also went here92 people

Ho Chi Minh City

Vietnam

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😙 Affordable

📡 InternetWiFi 😡 Slow

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety mediocre

Tap to open

🌧 Feels 47° 117° 35° 95° 🥵

✈️1h

$1,026 / mo

🌇 Also went here121 people

Hong Kong

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🙂 Okay

📡 InternetWiFi 😡 Slow

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

🌦 Feels 29° 84° 26° 79° 🥵

✈️2h

$2,787 / mo

🌇 Also went here82 people

Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😙 Affordable

📡 InternetWiFi 😡 Slow

👍 Liked good

👮 Safety mediocre

Tap to open

🌧 Feels 32° 90° 28° 83° 🥵 AQI 84 😷

✈️2h

$1,442 / mo

🌇 Also went here130 people

Members who have been here

Values shown are estimated visits by traveling remote workers based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members. Visits to a place are only counted once per year per user, even if they visit more in that year. Visits are also normalized by overall trips added per month on the site, so if site usage goes up or down it does not affect trends. Not all digital nomads are on Nomads.com, and not all Nomads.com members log their trips. So the data is only indicative.

The chart below shows visitors by nationality normalized for population size. This means we take all trips logged on Nomads.com, check which country of origin the user is from, then divide that total visit count by the country of origin's population. If we didn't, it'd just show the big countries like US, Brazil and India always on top. Instead, this shows which nationalities worldwide proportionally visit more or less, which is more useful.

⭐️ Total score	1.89/5 (Rank #1262) 213 reviews
❤️ Liked by members	👍2 liked it 👎5 disliked it
👍 Quality of life score	Okay
👶 Family score	Bad
🎒 Community score	Okay
💵 Cost	😝 Cheap: $930 / mo
📡 Internet	🤬 Unusably slow: 4Mbps (avg)
😝 Fun	Bad
⛅️ Temperature (now)	🥵 Too hot: 32°C90°F (feels 43°C109°F)
💦 Humidity (now)	🥵 Sweaty: 78%
💨 Air quality (now)	🌱 Good: 51 US AQI
💨 Air quality (annual)	🌱 Great: 33 US AQI
👌 Safety	Good
🤮 Food safety*	Okay
👮‍♀️ Lack of crime*	Okay
🤝 Lack of racism*	Okay
🎓 Education level*	Low
💰 Income level*	Very low: $195 / mo
🙊 English speaking*	Bad
🚶 Walkability	Great
🚦 Traffic safety*	Bad
✈️ Airline scores*	Okay
🧳 Lost luggage*	Great
🍸 Nightlife	Okay
📶 Free WiFi in city	Okay
🖥 Places to work from	Great
❄️ A/C or heating	Bad
😁 Friendly to foreigners	Great
🗯 Freedom of speech*	Bad
👩 Female friendly	Good
🌈 LGBTQ+ friendly	Okay
🎅 Startup Score	Bad

🌍 Continent	Asia
🚩 Country	Laos
🗓️ Average trip length	3 days
📡 Internet speed (avg)	4 Mbps
⛅️ Weather (now)	🌧 32°C 90°F + 🥵 Sweaty (78%) = feels 43°C 109°F
💨 Air quality (now)	👍 51 US AQI 🍃 OK
💨 Air quality (annual avg)	👍 34 US AQI
🔌 Power	230V 50Hz
🚑 Travel medical insurance	Safetywing
💸 100,000 LAK in USD	USD 4.63
🏧 Suggested ATM take out:	LAK 10,000,000 = USD 463
💸 Tipping	No
💳 Cashless	💵 No, cash only (esp. for foreigners)
💻 Best coworking space	Toh Lao
☕️ Best coffee place	Cafe France
🚰 Tap water	🚫 No, not drinkable
♻️ Return rate	9% of visitors return
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Population	210,000 people
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 GDP per capita*	$2,339 / year
👫 Gender ratio (nomads)	👨 82% 👱‍♀️ 18%
⛪️ Religious government	Non-religious
🏠 Apartment listings	ImmoLaos
✈️ Best short-haul air carrier	Air Asia
✈️ Best int'l air carrier	Air Asia

💵 Cost of living for nomad	$930 / month
💵 Cost of living for expat	$813 / month
💵 Cost of living for family	$1,558 / month
💵 Cost of living for local	$445 / month
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$579 / month
🏡 Airbnb (median price)	$1,526 / month
🏠 1br studio rent in center	$501 / month
🏠 Median home price	$39,351
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$27 / night
🏠 Airbnb (median price)	$50 / night
🏢 Coworking hot desk	$74 / month
🍛 Dinner	$1
🥤 Coca-Cola (0.3L)	$0
🍺 Beer in cafe (0.5L)	$0
☕️ Coffee in cafe	0
👩‍🏫 International school	$0.00 / year
📱 Mobile data (~10GB)	0 / month
🚕 Taxi price (avg trip ~3km/2mi)	0 / trip