Laos: The Landlocked Kingdom Most Travelers Skip

Laos is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia — no beaches, no coastline, just mountains, jungle and the Mekong River running down its spine. It's also one of the least-known countries in the region, which is a shame, because its history is extraordinary and its present is a fascinating study in how a small country survives between giants.

About 7.5 million people live in Laos, in a territory the size of the United Kingdom. The capital, Vientiane, sits on the Mekong directly across from Thailand — you can literally see another country from the riverside promenade.

Lan Xang: the kingdom of a million elephants

The Lao state begins in 1353, when King Fa Ngum unified the Mekong valley principalities into the kingdom of Lan Xang — 'a million elephants.' At its height, Lan Xang controlled much of today's Laos and northeastern Thailand, and its capital at Luang Prabang became a center of Theravada Buddhist learning.

The kingdom fractured in the early 1700s into three rival states, which spent the next century and a half as vassals of Siam (Thailand) and Vietnam. When France arrived in the 1890s and folded Laos into French Indochina, many Lao actually welcomed it as protection from their stronger neighbors.

The most bombed country in history

During the Vietnam War, the United States ran a secret nine-year bombing campaign over Laos (1964–1973) to cut the Ho Chi Minh Trail supply route. Around 2 million tons of bombs were dropped — more than fell on Germany and Japan combined in World War II — on a country that was officially neutral.

Up to a third of the cluster bombs failed to explode. An estimated 80 million unexploded bomblets still litter the countryside, and they continue to kill and maim farmers and children every year. Clearance organizations like UXO Lao work full-time on a problem that will take generations to finish.

The kip's collapse

Laos has been a one-party communist state since 1975, but its recent economic story is what catches economists' attention. Between 2021 and 2023 the Lao kip lost roughly two-thirds of its value against the US dollar — inflation hit 23% in 2022 and 31% in 2023, one of the worst episodes in Asia this century.

The causes stack up: heavy foreign debt (much of it owed to China for the new railway and dams), thin foreign-currency reserves, fuel and food imports priced in dollars, and a small economy with few exports beyond electricity and minerals. For ordinary Lao families, the price of rice, fuel and school fees roughly doubled in two years.

Why travelers fall in love with it anyway

The new Laos–China railway, opened in 2021, has changed everything for visitors: what was once a grueling overnight bus ride from Vientiane to Luang Prabang is now a two-hour train journey. Tourism is booming again — Laos welcomed over 4 million visitors in 2024.

• Luang Prabang: a UNESCO-listed former royal capital of gilded temples and French colonial villas, where hundreds of monks collect alms at dawn
• The Mekong: slow boats drift for two days between the Thai border and Luang Prabang through jungle gorges
• Kuang Si Falls: turquoise terraced pools you can swim in, south of Luang Prabang
• Vang Vieng: a karst landscape of limestone towers that reinvented itself from party town to adventure hub
• The Plain of Jars: thousands of mysterious 2,000-year-old stone jars scattered across Xieng Khouang plateau

Thinking of visiting or moving?

Laos is one of the cheapest countries in Asia to travel in, though the weak kip means prices in dollars can be confusingly low while locals struggle. There's no digital nomad visa, and long stays require planning. See the full picture — costs, healthcare, language and inflation — in our Livability Comparison tool.