Sources

Checked 23 September 2026

These are the sources we actually go back to before we write or change anything on this site: government registers and embassies first, then the transport operators themselves, then local news, then what travellers are saying on the ground. It is not a complete bibliography of everything that exists on Laos travel, just the places we trust enough to build a page around. Not exhaustive, and we would rather leave something off than pad the list.

Tier 1: Government and immigration

The first stop for anything involving a visa, a border hour or an official rule. When a government site and a blog disagree, the government site wins, and we say so on the page rather than quietly picking a side.

Laos

• immigration.gov.la
• laoevisa.gov.la
• mofa.gov.la
• mpwt.gov.la
• kpl.gov.la
• tourismlaos.org
• laoairlines.com
• bol.gov.la
• laos.gov.la
• official provincial government websites
• provincial DPWT sources
• official railway/transport sources
• official airport sources

Thailand

• mfa.go.th
• consular.mfa.go.th
• immigration.go.th
• tdac.immigration.go.th
• customs.go.th
• tatnews.org
• tourismthailand.org
• Royal Thai Embassy, Washington D.C.: visa exemption
• Royal Thai Embassy, London: visa exemption and visa on arrival
• official Thai embassy/consulate websites
• official provincial authorities

Vietnam

• immigration.gov.vn
• evisa.gov.vn
• mofa.gov.vn
• official Vietnamese embassy/consulate websites

Cambodia

• immigration.gov.kh
• evisa.gov.kh
• mfaic.gov.kh
• tourismcambodia.com
• official Cambodian embassy/consulate sources

China

• nia.gov.cn
• mfa.gov.cn
• la.china-embassy.gov.cn
• 12306.cn
• official Chinese embassy/consulate sources

Tier 2: Transport operators and authorities

Railways, airlines, airports and whoever actually runs the crossing. We check fares, schedules and route claims here directly rather than take them on faith from a booking site.

• Laos-China Railway
• 12306
• Lao Airlines
• official Lao bus/transport authorities
• Thai transport authorities
• Vietnamese transport authorities
• Cambodian transport authorities
• airport authorities
• railway operators
• official border authorities

Tier 3: News

Good for catching that something has changed before the official version catches up. Never used to override a government source, only to flag that one might need rechecking.

• Laotian Times
• Vientiane Times
• KPL
• Lao National Radio
• Bangkok Post
• Nation Thailand
• Thai PBS
• Khmer Times
• Phnom Penh Post
• VnExpress
• Vietnam News
• Tuoi Tre
• Asia News Network
• Mekong River Commission
• relevant official/regional announcements

Tier 4: What travellers are saying

Forums, recent reviews, reports from people who crossed a border last week. This is where we first hear about a new unofficial fee or a shuttle that has stopped running. We treat it as a lead worth checking, not as fact until something else confirms it.

• Reddit (r/VisitingLaos, r/LaosTravel, r/backpacking)
• relevant Facebook travel groups
• GT-Rider
• Wikivoyage
• Travelfish forums
• recent Google Maps reviews
• relevant travel forums
• recent traveller reports

When this list changes

The same way everything else here does: when a source stops being useful, gets replaced, or turns out to be wrong, it comes off this page too, not just off the pages that cited it.

Our own open data

We publish the two files this whole site is built from, so anyone can check our work or reuse it: the Laos border checkpoints register (checkpoints.json), where every crossing carries the date we last checked it and a link to its entry on the official Lao register, and the route list (routes.json), with the border each route crosses, whether you can book it online and the sources we relied on. Both are free to reuse under CC BY 4.0.

The same files are mirrored on GitHub and Hugging Face, which is handy if you want to pull them into code or a notebook. Those copies come from here: laosbustickets.com is the original source, and the one to cite.