Night Bus From Bangkok To Savannakhet (Laos) And Room

[haaaaaloooo]

Hello,

someone know a good Night Bus Line from Bangkok to

Savannakhet (Laos) and a good Place to sleep there?

Best Regards

[happynthailand]

take a bus from bangkok to mukdahan,than a short bus (or taxi) ride to savannakhet

most people stay at the vegas hotel (to much smoke for my taste)

hotel can arrange for visa travel

[GiantFan]

I've done this visa run twice and I rocked up to the Thai side, parked the car, purchased my return bus ticket, and then checked out at immigration as per normal. You then wait for the Mukdahan bus, which is usually pretty full, and usually stand on the way to Laos. It is only about 5 minutes, so not too taxing.

When you get to Laos, you need to get a visa on arrival (if you haven't got one from the Laos embassy in BKK). Fill out the forms, copy of your PP, 1 x photo, US$35 (THB possible, but you get a bad rate). Get your visa, get on line, and give the immigration guy some tea money (THB 40 if I recall and same on the way out).

I usually get a tuk-tuk to my hotel. I can't remember the name, but I will try Vegas next tiime. It's only about 10 - 15 minutes and they will stop along the way to pick up other passengers. Cost is about THB 100.

One hassle is that you need to pick up your visa at 2PM the next day. My friend was sneaky and he went over in the AM and mentioned that his wife was sick (wife true / sick not true) and they needed to get back to LOS ASAP. They gave it to him and we all got back by about noon. Avoided the visa run rush.

Another point that I read in TV before and can confirm is that you will most likely have a Thai guy outside the consulate offer to help you with the forms. For a fee, which may not be immediately apparent. You can get all the forms you need inside.

Pretty good duty free on the Laos side. After you get chopped out and go through the gate, it's up on your right about 100m. Be careful, the Thai immigration was checking for excess duty free last time I went.

When you wait for the bus back to the Thai side, sit in the seats by the exit gate. The first time I went, I saw a bunch of Thai's queuing a bit further up under a rain shelter. I stood here for a while and asked a kind lady if I was in the right queue. She pointed back towards the gate and mentioned that this was a different bus. I thanked her and went back to whence I had come. She was right. A simple rule, look for other visa runners and follow them.

Good Luck!

[haaaaaloooo]

Thanks a lot,

if I drive to Mukdahan by car is there a guarded parking place close the bus station to Savannakhet?