2.37/5
228 reviews
Photo by Adrian Fleur via Unsplash

Vientiane

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cafes

remote

slow

thai

beautiful

small

backpacker

tourist

Luang Prabang is visually appealing and known for its charm, but it's a small city better suited for short-term tourism rather than remote work. Most of the city can be seen in a day, and while it’s described as beautiful, it primarily caters to backpackers rather than digital nomads. The infrastructure for remote working is limited, and most nomads tend to work from just a handful of air-conditioned cafes. Internet quality is often slow or unstable, making consistent remote work difficult throughout Laos, including Vientiane.

Vientiane itself has limited attractions and is mostly frequented by business travelers. It lacks engaging activities and has basic amenities. Although food prices are on par with Thai cities, the quality is generally inferior. Accommodation and restaurants in Luang Prabang can also be surprisingly expensive relative to the local development level. On the other hand, Laotian people are consistently described as very friendly and have better English skills than their Thai counterparts, improving day-to-day communication for visitors. Overall, a short stay in Luang Prabang may be worthwhile for the scenery or to explore Laos, but it’s not ideal for long-term stays or remote work setups.

AI-generated summary of reviews
7 months ago

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.

3 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.

3 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.

3 years ago

✅ Friendly people

✅ Very affordable

✅ Very cheap to live

✅ Very safe

✅ Warm now

✅ Warm all year round

✅ Good air quality usually

✅ 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 compared to value

❌ Not remote worker friendly

❌ Limited things to do

❌ No freedom of speech

❌ No democracy

❌ Pretty 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

646 people

520 people

400 people

420 people

444 people

567 people

200 people

356 people

289 people

400 people

556 people

500 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

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11 Mbps

Bangkok

Thailand

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😙 Affordable

📡 InternetWiFi 😡 Slow

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

🌥 Feels 33° 91° 30° 87° 🥵 AQI 158 😷

✈️42min

$1,598 / mo

24 Mbps

London

United Kingdom

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😳 Extremely expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 😡 Slow

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety mediocre

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🌧 Feels 6° 43° 7° 44° AQI 25

✈️12h

$5,640 / mo

26 Mbps

Chiang Mai

Thailand

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😙 Affordable

📡 InternetWiFi 😡 Slow

👍 Liked good

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

☀️ Feels 30° 86° 27° 80° AQI 63 😷

✈️31min

$1,282 / mo

19 Mbps

Berlin

Germany

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🧐 Very expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 😡 Slow

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

🌧 Feels 2° 36° 4° 39° AQI 65 😷

✈️11h

$4,115 / mo

43 Mbps

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😙 Affordable

📡 InternetWiFi 😡 Slow

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety mediocre

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🌥 Feels 33° 91° 29° 84° AQI 55 😷

✈️1h

$1,147 / mo

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Ho Chi Minh City

Vietnam

⭐️ OverallAll

Indonesia

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😙 Affordable

📡 InternetWiFi 😡 Slow

👍 Liked bad

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

🌧 Feels 35° 95° 29° 84° 🥵 AQI 177 😷

✈️4h

$1,852 / mo

🌇 Also went here91 people

Tokyo

Japan

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🙂 Okay

📡 InternetWiFi 😡 Slow

👍 Liked good

👮 Safety great

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☀️ Feels 8° 46° 9° 49° AQI 30

✈️6h

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Budapest

Hungary

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🙂 Okay

📡 InternetWiFi 😡 Slow

👍 Liked good

👮 Safety good

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🌫 Feels -5° 23° -4° 25° AQI 119 😷

✈️11h

$2,651 / mo

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Berlin

Germany

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🧐 Very expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 😡 Slow

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety good

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🌧 Feels 2° 36° 4° 39° AQI 65 😷

✈️11h

$4,115 / mo

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Paris

France

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😳 Extremely expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 😡 Slow

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety mediocre

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🌧 Feels 9° 48° 10° 50° AQI 44

✈️12h

$5,326 / mo

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London

United Kingdom

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😳 Extremely expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 😡 Slow

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety mediocre

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🌧 Feels 6° 43° 7° 44° AQI 25

✈️12h

$5,640 / mo

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400 remote workers in Vientiane now, of which 1+ members checked in (some members are set to private)

Members who will be here soon

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	2.37/5 (Rank #1115) 228 reviews
❤️ Liked by members	👍2 liked it 👎5 disliked it
👍 Quality of life score	Okay
👶 Family score	Bad
🎒 Community score	Okay
🤯 Overcrowding score	0% is nomad here
💵 Cost	😝 Cheap: $843 / mo
📡 Internet	😡 Slow: 5 Mbps (avg)
😝 Fun	Bad
⛅️ Temperature (now)	🥵 Hot: 27°C80°F (feels 30°C86°F)
💦 Humidity (now)	🥵 Sweaty: 71%
💨 Air quality (now)	😷 Unhealthy for some: 125 US AQI
💨 Air quality (annual)	🌱 Great: 33 US AQI
👌 Safety	Great
👩 Safe for women	Good
🌈 Safe for LGBTQ+	Okay
🤮 Food safety*	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
🎅 Startup Score	Bad

🌍 Continent	Asia
🚩 Country	Laos
🗓️ Average trip length	3 days
📡 Internet speed (avg)	5 Mbps
⛅️ Weather (now)	🌫 27°C 80°F + 🥵 Sweaty (71%) = feels 30°C 86°F
💨 Air quality (now)	👎😷 125 US AQI = 🚬 🚬 / day
💨 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)	👨 83% 👱‍♀️ 17%
⛪️ 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	$843 / month
💵 Cost of living for expat	$771 / month
💵 Cost of living for family	$1,557 / month
💵 Cost of living for local	$445 / month
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$453 / month
🏡 Airbnb (median price)	$1,360 / month
🏠 1br studio rent in center	$501 / month
🏠 Median home price	$39,325
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$21 / night
🏠 Airbnb (median price)	$45 / 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