i
Photo by Christophe95, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Best time to visit Nong Khiaw
Laos · Southeast Asia
All twelve months scored on daily temperature, rainfall, humidity and holiday crowding.
The year in Nong Khiaw
Tap a month for its page
- JanJNong Khiaw in January: good, busy
- FebFNong Khiaw in February: sweet spot, busy
- MarMNong Khiaw in March: ok, busy
- AprANong Khiaw in April: avoid
- MayMNong Khiaw in May: avoid
- JunJNong Khiaw in June: avoid
- JulJNong Khiaw in July: avoid
- AugANong Khiaw in August: avoid
- SepSNong Khiaw in September: avoid
- OctONong Khiaw in October: ok
- NovNNong Khiaw in November: sweet spot, busy
- DecDNong Khiaw in December: ok, busy
- Sweet spot
- Good
- OK
- Avoid
- Busy
Dry season: Nov–Mar, 6 or fewer rainy days a month.
Plan this trip
Each site opens on its own search: choose your dates there. A few open on their home page, where you type the place too.
Links marked Ad pay us a commission if you book, at no extra cost to you; most pay nothing, and what a site pays never decides whether it is listed or where. How we rank
Flights from
Flights
Your city is a guess from your time zone. Choose your city
Where are you flying from? Choose your city for its flights.
Book with the airline
Where to stay
Book direct
Luxury
Things to do
Car hire
Rent direct
Travel insurance
Check whether your bank card or home insurance already covers this trip.
If the trip needs a visa, the travel agent or visa centre usually sells the cover it asks for.
Mobile data (eSIM)
Your own plan's EU roaming may already cover this.
Renting a pocket Wi-Fi is the other common way to stay connected.
These are sites people in book with. Each opens in a new tab, on the site's own pages.
Month by month
| Month | Max °C | Rain days | Humidity | Sun h/day | Verdict | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 26° | 3d | 75% | 9.4h | goodbusy | busier than usual |
| Feb | 29° | 1d | 68% | 10.0h | sweet spot busy | busier than usual |
| Mar | 32° | 3d | 68% | 9.8h | okbusy | busier than usual |
| Apr | 33° | 6d | 72% | 9.5h | avoid | extreme heat: 12 days over 35C |
| May | 33° | 14d | 79% | 10.0h | avoid | 33C max, 14 rainy days |
| Jun | 32° | 18d | 83% | 8.7h | avoid | monsoon: 18 rainy days, 315mm |
| Jul | 31° | 21d | 87% | 8.0h | avoid | monsoon: 21 rainy days, 413mm |
| Aug | 30° | 24d | 90% | 7.6h | avoid | monsoon: 24 rainy days, 512mm |
| Sep | 31° | 16d | 87% | 9.5h | avoid | monsoon: 16 rainy days, 279mm |
| Oct | 30° | 8d | 81% | 9.7h | ok | 30C max, 8 rainy days |
| Nov | 29° | 2d | 76% | 9.4h | sweet spot busy | busier than usual |
| Dec | 26° | 2d | 74% | 9.1h | okbusy | busier than usual |
Rain days are the days with at least 1 mm of rain, as a weather station counts them.
Weather read at the village, on the Nam Ou: ten years of ERA5 and ERA5-Land reanalysis, through Open-Meteo's open data.
A busy month is a crowded one, not a bad one — usually it is crowded because the weather is good. It is flagged rather than scored down, and crowds alone never make a month “avoid”: that is reserved for weather worth skipping.
How busy it gets
Then and now
Nong Khiaw's November days now average 28.8°C, 2.9°C warmer than in 1981–1990. 8 of 12 months are clearly warmer.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981–90 | 25.3° | 28.7° | 31.1° | 32.3° | 30.6° | 30.0° | 29.6° | 29.3° | 28.9° | 27.5° | 25.8° | 24.2° |
| 2017–26 | 26.2° | 29.2° | 32.1° | 33.1° | 32.8° | 32.0° | 31.0° | 30.1° | 30.7° | 29.9° | 28.8° | 26.3° |
| Change | +0.9° | +0.6° | +1.0° | +0.8° | +2.1° | +2.0° | +1.4° | +0.8° | +1.8° | +2.3° | +2.9° | +2.1° |
The average daily high, month by month, for the nearest ERA5 grid cell. Bold is a clear change; grey is within the ordinary spread between years. Every destination, ranked.
Getting there
Fly into Luang Phabang (LPQ), then drive. The flights under Where to book are to Luang Phabang.
The drive from each airport is the road's, from openrouteservice.org by HeiGIT: typical, not a schedule.
How far Nong Khiaw is depends on where you set off from — the months above do not.
- from Hanoi
- from Bangkok
- from Ho Chi Minh City
- from Hong Kong
- from Kolkata
- from Kathmandu
- from Kuala Lumpur
- from Taipei
Open in Rome2rio for every way from to Nong Khiaw, flying or not.
Before you go
Type A and B and C and E and F plugs at 230 V. Drives on the right. The currency is the Lao kip. UK Foreign Office: avoid all but essential travel to parts. Global Affairs Canada: Exercise a high degree of caution (with regional advisories). US State Department: Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution. Everything for Laos: cost of living, languages, emergency numbers and health.
Being there
On arrival
- Paying — The currency is the kip, which is hard to get or change outside Laos; US dollars and Thai baht are commonly accepted. ATMs are widely available, but card and ATM fraud is frequent: use machines inside a bank or business or in public areas, and get kip from a bank or ATM rather than an exchange kiosk, where counting scams happen. Major cards are taken only at some international hotels and tourist businesses.
- UPI, for visitors from India — Not accepted for paying here; bring a card that works abroad.
Getting around Nong Khiaw
- Apps — Maps: Google Maps. Use a known taxi service, booked by your accommodation or through a local taxi app; check that the driver and number plate match when it arrives, and be wary of drivers in the street who claim to work for an app company.
Nong Khiaw is simple in layout and small enough to walk around. It's possible to rent a bike at Riverside Bungalows and Delilah's to explore the 2 roads and surrounding area. More on Wikivoyage
From the Wikivoyage article on Nong Khiaw, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Help
- Emergency — police 1191 · ambulance 1195 · fire 1190. An ambulance can also be called on 030 525 7239.
TravelCharika is not an emergency service: we cannot call for help or send anyone. Numbers can change; if one fails, ask someone local or your hotel.
Your embassy — : how to reach your embassy or consulate abroad. A guess from your city, : a city is not a passport.
Put together by hand from the sources listed, checked 8 October 2026. Apps, cards and rules change, so check before you rely on one.
Sources (7)
- gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/laos/getting-help
- gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/laos/safety-and-security
- gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/laos/entry-requirements
- travel.gc.ca/destinations/laos
- developers.google.com/maps/coverage
- pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2286608
- rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/AnnualReport/PDFs/09PAYMENT290526C6588B796E664822A2BD0DEB6452CAD4.PDF
Nong Khiaw in pictures
i
Christophe95, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
i
Christophe95, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
i
Ekrem Canli, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
i
Ekrem Canli, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
i
Gerd Eichmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
What Nong Khiaw is like
Nong Khiaw (Nong Kiau or Nong Kiew) is a rustic little town on the bank of the Ou River in Laos. It is squeezed in between some of the most fantastic limestone mountains to be found north of Vang Vieng. More on Wikivoyage
- Worth seeing
- Many tour offices and guesthouses offer a standard selection of one-, two-, and three-day treks and homestays. The most popular appears to be the 100 waterfalls jungle hike. More on Wikivoyage
- Worth doing
- Phadaeng Viewopint. Probably the most well-known viewpoint in the area. The viewpoint to see a 360-degree view of the town and surrounding mountains. More on Wikivoyage
- Getting in
- Nong Khiaw is 3–4 hours via road from Luang Prabang. Some operators in Luang Prabang offer a mixed transfer to Nong Khiaw: first with a van up to behind the dam, then by boat. More on Wikivoyage
From the Wikivoyage article on Nong Khiaw, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the full article has far more. The numbers above are measured; this is experience.
Around Nong Khiaw
Also in Laos
- Luang Prabang best Feb, Nov, Dec
- Pakse best Jan, Nov, Dec
- Vang Vieng best Jan, Feb, Dec
- Vientiane best Jan, Feb, Dec
Nearby
Kind of place
Nong Khiaw is in Laos, Southeast Asia. Distances are great-circle, so a short one can still be a long way round.
Check your inbox. A confirmation is on its way: open the link in it, press Confirm, and you are subscribed.
That did not go through. Check the address, or try again in a minute.
Already sent. A confirmation went to that address in the last day: look for it, spam folder included. Its link works for three days.
You are not on the list until you confirm from your inbox. The list lives with our email provider, Resend; the privacy page says the rest.
Links marked Ad pay us a commission if you book through one, at no extra cost to you. That does not affect the scores on this page, which are computed from climate and holiday data before any link is built.