Vientiane: a large golden building with a sky background — Photo by Life on the road on Unsplash

Best time to visit Vientiane

Laos · Southeast Asia

All twelve months scored on daily temperature, rainfall, humidity and holiday crowding.

The year in Vientiane

Tap a month for its page

Sweet spot
Good
OK
Avoid
Busy

Go in Dec–Feb — these months score within a whisker of each other; 30C max, 1 rainy day. Nov is the next best.

Dry season: Nov–Apr, 6 or fewer rainy days a month.

Plan this trip

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Things to do in Vientiane

Pha That Luang The national symbol and most important religious monument of the country, That Luang is a three-layered gilded stupa.
Patuxai A local rendition of the Arc de Triomphe.
Buddha Park An outdoor collection of huge concrete sculptures of Buddhist and Hindu deities, and real and religious beasts.
Wat Si Saket With very contemplative ambience, probably the oldest standing temple in Vientiane and among the most atmospheric.
Black Stupa The mythical abode of a seven-headed dragon that protects Vientiane.
Wat Si Muang Disney-esque and gaudy in set-up, one would not think that it's a religious compound.
Lao National Museum Formerly the Lao Revolutionary Museum. There are 5 exhibition rooms.

Tours and tickets in Vientiane

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

Sights and their lines from Wikivoyage (Vientiane), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; in order of how often each one's Wikipedia article was read on phones in the last 12 months.

Month by month

No fare history for this route yet, so this ranking is climate and crowds only — the price column will fill in as the scanner collects.

Month	Max °C	Rain days	Humidity	Sun h/day	Verdict	Why
Jan	28°	1d	65%	10.3h	sweet spot busy	busier than usual
Feb	30°	1d	64%	10.3h	sweet spot busy	busier than usual
Mar	32°	3d	66%	10.4h	ok	32C max, 3 rainy days
Apr	34°	4d	65%	10.6h	avoid	extreme heat: 12 days over 35C
May	33°	14d	77%	9.5h	avoid	33C max, 14 rainy days
Jun	31°	18d	83%	8.6h	avoid	monsoon: 18 rainy days, 300mm
Jul	31°	20d	85%	7.9h	avoid	monsoon: 20 rainy days, 386mm
Aug	30°	21d	86%	7.1h	avoid	monsoon: 21 rainy days, 422mm
Sep	30°	22d	86%	8.6h	avoid	monsoon: 22 rainy days, 381mm
Oct	30°	9d	78%	9.8h	ok	30C max, 9 rainy days
Nov	30°	2d	69%	10.1h	good	30C max, 2 rainy days
Dec	28°	1d	65%	9.9h	sweet spot busy	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 centre, by the Mekong, 7 km from the airport (VTE): 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

Busiest from December to February; quietest from May to October.

Then and now

Vientiane's November days now average 29.7°C, 1.9°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	27.0°	30.2°	32.6°	33.9°	31.4°	30.2°	29.9°	29.8°	29.6°	28.6°	27.8°	26.0°
2017–26	27.5°	29.7°	32.3°	34.0°	32.7°	31.3°	30.7°	30.3°	30.3°	30.1°	29.7°	27.6°
Change	+0.5°	-0.5°	-0.3°	+0.2°	+1.3°	+1.1°	+0.8°	+0.6°	+0.7°	+1.4°	+1.9°	+1.5°

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

How far Vientiane is, and what it costs, depends on where you set off from — the months above do 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. 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 Vientiane

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.

Getting around Vientiane is generally easy, as the traffic is far less murderous than in larger Southeast Asian cities like Bangkok or Ho Chi Minh City. More on Wikivoyage

From the Wikivoyage article on Vientiane, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Open in Google MapsVientiane on the map

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.

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)

Vientiane in pictures

Vientiane Pha That Luang 0001 — i

Stefan Fussan, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

20171118 Vientiane 3220 DxO — i

Jakub Hałun, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

What Vientiane is like

Vientiane (Lao: ວຽງຈັນ, Vieng Chan) is the capital of Laos, with stunning temples, vibrant night markets, beautiful French-Indochinese architecture, lively street food stalls, and traditional craft markets. More on Wikivoyage

Worth seeing: Vientiane is best viewed as a comfortable transit point for other places in Laos, or as a recuperative stop on the way out. More on Wikivoyage
Worth doing: Champakham Massage & Spa, Rue Francois Ngin (in the center of Vientiane, next to Fuji restaurant). Here you can enjoy traditional Lao massage in private cabins. More on Wikivoyage
Getting in: Vientiane Wattay Airport (VTE IATA) (3 km west of the city). Vientiane's pint-sized, centrally-located airport was last expanded in 2020 and is reasonably efficient and pleasant. More on Wikivoyage
Staying safe: Vientiane is a fairly safe city in terms of crime. However, bag snatching from guests sitting in front of cafes is becoming more common. More on Wikivoyage
Staying healthy: They can be vicious, whether they are strays or just owned by irresponsible people who don't bother closing their gates. You don't need to be out in the suburbs to be attacked. More on Wikivoyage

From the Wikivoyage article on Vientiane, 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 Vientiane

Also in Laos

Nearby

Kind of place

Vientiane is in Laos, Southeast Asia. Distances are great-circle, so a short one can still be a long way round.

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