Thailand–Cambodia Overland: The Route via Laos

Probably, if time matters at all. Bangkok to Phnom Penh or Siem Reap is under two hours and flights are running normally. We earn nothing by telling you that, but the overland route is worth it if you want the journey, are travelling on to southern Laos anyway, or cannot fly. It is not worth it purely to save money.

It is worthwhile in one case: when southern Laos is somewhere you wanted to go regardless. Pakse, the Bolaven Plateau and the 4000 Islands all sit directly on this line. Treated as a route between Thailand and Cambodia it is a long detour; treated as a trip through southern Laos that happens to end in Cambodia, it is simply the way you would have gone anyway.

For the border's current status from the Cambodian side, and the flights that replace the road, see the Cambodia–Thailand border guide on CambodiaTransportGuide.

Nobody does this in one push. Pakse is the natural overnight stop, and the 4000 Islands are an hour further south if you would rather break the journey somewhere pleasant.

The times above are moving time. They do not include the two border stops, which take 30 to 90 minutes each depending on how many coaches arrive at once, nor the wait for onward transport at Pakse and Stung Treng, which is usually the longer delay of the two.

Seen from Bangkok, with the flight option and the airport codes to search, the same journey is in Thailand Transport Hub's Thailand–Cambodia border guide.

Everything difficult about this journey happens at two counters. Both issue a visa on arrival, both want cash, and neither is a place you want to reach late in the day.

1. Vang Tao – Chong Mek, Thailand into Laos

Open 06:00–20:00, and the busiest of the southern Thai crossings. Buses from Ubon Ratchathani drop you on the Thai side, where you clear Thai exit formalities on foot, walk through, and queue again for Lao entry. The through-buses wait; the local ones sometimes do not, so keep your bag with you rather than leaving it aboard.

A Lao visa on arrival is issued here, typically around US$40 depending on nationality, plus a US$1 surcharge at weekends and outside office hours. Pay in clean US dollars. Thai baht is accepted at a rate chosen by the counter rather than the market, and there is no ATM on the Lao side of this post.

2. Nongnokkhene – Trapeang Kriel, Laos into Cambodia

Open 06:00–18:00. This is the only legal land crossing between Laos and Cambodia, and the closing time is the single most important number on this page: the Lao immigration register gives 18:00, earlier than the 20:00 repeated on most travel sites. Arrive at 17:45 and you are gambling.

Cambodia issues a visa on arrival; its official sites publish no fee, and travellers in 2026 report paying US$30 in US dollars. Trapeang Kriel is also one of only two land posts that accept the Cambodian e-visa, the other being Bavet on the Vietnamese border, so you can arrive with it already issued.

Expect to be asked for unofficial payments at this post either way. It has a long, well-documented reputation for them: roughly US$2 for a Lao exit stamp, up to US$5 on entry, a posted US$2 weekend surcharge, and a "plus five dollars" on top of the Cambodian visa fee. Know the real price, carry small notes, and never hand your passport to anyone away from the official counter.

Fares on this route change with the operator, the season and how far ahead you book, so we do not publish them as fixed numbers, and neither should anyone else. Check them live at the point you book. What is predictable is the paperwork, and it is worth having the right cash in the right currency before you set out.

So roughly US$70 to US$80 in fees alone, in cash, before a single ticket. There is no ATM at either border, and the nearest reliable ones are in Pakse and in Stung Treng. Draw the cash out before you leave a town.

The route works identically northbound, with two differences worth planning around.

First, Laos does not accept the eVisa at Nongnokkhene coming in from Cambodia: get the visa on arrival, in USD cash.

Second, since 15 September 2026 Thailand has replaced its 60-day visa exemption with 30 days for 60 nationalities, and capped visa-exempt land entries at twice per calendar year. Entering Thailand at Chong Mek on this route uses one of those two entries. If you run visa runs to Nong Khai, or expect to re-enter Thailand overland later in the year, count them before you set out.

Northbound the timing pressure also reverses: the constraint is no longer the 18:00 closing at Nongnokkhene but catching onward transport out of Pakse, where departures for Ubon Ratchathani thin out sharply after mid-afternoon.