Travel Nong Kiew

Travel and Transport Info for Nong Kiew (Nong Khiew), Laos by Hobo Maps - - - Home

Clik to see info and a map of Muang Ngoi village upriver on the Nam Ou (river) from Nong Kiew

Nong Kiew area image below:

Local Transport around Nong Kiew
- the town is not large and all places can be reached by walking. Bicycles may be rented at a couple places by the bridge. A cave and waterfall can be explored on the paved highway heading southeast towards Sam Neua.

BUS TRANSPORT - Buses often do not always follow the schedule posted at the bus station in the January 2024 picture below. Sometimes no buses go to Luang Namtha & Oudom Xay directly so people have to take a bus to Pak Mong and wait for a bus coming by on the way to Oudom Xay. At Pak Mong you can wait for these buses at the bus station or at the junction of Highway 13 and Highway 1C where there are restaurants. Not all buses stop at the bus station so we recommend waiting at the junction and flag down any bus coming by.

At the upper right side of the image below we can barely see in dark blue a 10:00 AM bus going to Luang Namtha via Oudom Xay but the price seems a bit confusing, maybe 100,000 kip to Oudom Xay and 200,000 to Luang Namtha.

Pak Mong bus station sign below with prices as of Nov. 2024 for those who want to catch buses on the main Highway 13 route at Pak Mong junction about 31 km from Nong Kiew. These buses usually start their daily trips elsewhere and just stop shortly at Pak Mong bus station to pick up passengers. There are no scheduled times in the image below since they vary from day to day.

Nong Kiew travel agent schedule below with pickup has higher prices.

Transit Bus Service
- Many of the buses that go thru town begin their trips elsewhere and are not on the schedule above. These in-transit buses may not stop at the bus station and you might need a local person to advise when they come by and to help flag them down as they don't all have English signs. Many stop near the bridge.

To estimate when these in-transit buses might come thru Nong Kiew you can check the other bus schedules on this website for bus departures from Luang Prabang going to Sam Neua to catch an eastbound bus. Check the Sam Neua to Luang Prabang departures to catch a westbound bus. Buses that leave Sam Neua may go thru Nong Kiew about 10 to 11 hours after departure. Buses leaving Luang Prabang for Sam Neua should arrive in Nong Kiew about 3 or 4 hours after departure.

Both upstream and downstream boats on the Nam Ou River depart from the same boat landing just south of the bridge on this map HERE.

Boat Service Upstream
- Boats depart daily for the one hour trip upriver to Muang Ngoi at about 11:00 AM or after as they may wait for minivans to arrive from Luang Prabang (making it possible to travel from L. Prabang to Muang Ngoi the same day). From Muang Ngoi you can go further upriver by boat to Muang Khua which can be arranged after arrival in Muang Ngoi. The Lao government issued a notice in November 2017 that passenger boat service between Muang Khua and Muang Ngoi would no longer be running due to dam construction but we have a report from travelers who took a boat trip from Muang Khua to Muang Ngoi in December 2017. This trip was split into two boat trips with land transport used to get around the dam. Not sure how often this split trip will be running but we hope it is permanent and will go according to schedule.

Boat Service Downstream
- The boat service between Nong Kiew and Luang Prabang on the Nam Ou river was stopped in late November 2013 due to construction of a new dam on the river and now a second dam has being constructed so it seems boat travel to L. Prabang will soon require two detours with land travel or two boat changes. But some trips are possible with special arrangements.

Agency sign below in 2023.

Boat info below from Muang Khua to MuangNgoi & Nong Kiew

Travel Agent sign pictures below taken January 2017

a swim pool is located about 2 km south of the bridge on Highway 1C

Phatok Cave is about 3 km south of the bridge on Highway 1C

Nong Kiew town images below:

Boat trip downstream prices below (Jan. 2017) - left side shows cost per person when there is a full boat and the right side column shows cost to charter the whole boat