The capital of Savannakhet province, across from Mukdahan in Thailand. A faded colonial old town around the former market square, a dinosaur museum, and the Second Friendship Bridge, where the Lao e-Visa is accepted.
Photo by Adriaan Castermans on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo by Adriaan Castermans on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo by Mattana on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo by Adriaan Castermans on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo by Adriaan Castermans on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo by Ilya Plekhanov on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo by Ilya Plekhanov on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo by English Wikipedia on Wikimedia Commons
Photo by Adriaan Castermans on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo by Mattana on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo by Chaoborus on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo by Adriaan Castermans on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
Savannakhet, officially Kaysone Phomvihane since 2005, is the capital of the province of the same name, on the left bank of the Mekong, across from Mukdahan. Its center is a colonial old town: around Talat Yen, the former market square, stand shophouses, government buildings and St Teresa's Church, many of them faded, a few turned into cafés. The Second Friendship Bridge, opened in 2007, links the town to Thailand; Route 9 heads east to Vietnam.
Photo by Dominic Nelson on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Around the former market square, shophouses and colonial buildings put up from 1925 onward, including the Lao Chaleun theater. Many are faded; some now house cafés.
Photo by R. Jacques on Wikimedia Commons
Built in the 1920s on the edge of Talat Yen, the Catholic church is open daily, 8 am to 5 pm, free of charge.
Photo by Mattana on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
The town's main temple, near the Mekong, is also a school for novice monks. It is the center of the end-of-Buddhist-Lent festivities and the boat races.
Photo by Chaoborus on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
The riverside promenade and its large naga statue, then the Savan Mixay night market, between the Lao Chaleun theater and the Mekong, daily from 4 pm to 10:30 pm.
Photo by Tango7174 on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
About 12 km northeast, a 9 m stupa, free to visit from 8 am to 4:30 pm, whose festival falls on the December full moon. Next to it, the sacred forest of Dong Natad, 8,300 protected hectares, where villages host visitors for the day or overnight.
Photo by Shutterstock
About 60 km east, in Champhone district, a library of palm-leaf manuscripts, a wooden building on stilts in the middle of a pond; national heritage since 2025. Open 8 am to 5 pm; the track is rough, so plan on a high-clearance vehicle.
Savannakhet's dinosaurs: the town museum shows fossils found in the province since 1936, including Tangvayosaurus hoffeti, an Early Cretaceous sauropod described in 1999 and named after the Tang Vay site. Entry 10,000 kip; labels in Lao and French.
Three guesthouses: one with a bar and terrace, an inn with its own restaurant, and a garden address that rents out bikes.
Photo: Monkey Guesthouse
A guesthouse with a bar, terrace and shared lounge; family rooms and à la carte breakfast. The airport is 1 km away.
≈ $20 a night
Photo: Pilgrim's Kitchen & Inn
An inn with a restaurant and shared lounge, room service and free parking; the front desk speaks English, Lao and Thai.
≈ $34 a night
Photo: Sala Thongyon
A guesthouse with a garden and terrace, bike rental and a shuttle; every room has a private bathroom, some a balcony.
≈ $22 a night
Booking affiliate links · average nightly price checked in October 2026
Southern Bus Station → Savannakhet · 7 to 14 hrs
Sleeper buses in the evening, between 6 and 8 pm, €11 to €16; the other way, day buses leave between 6 and 10 am. Lao Airlines also flies Vientiane to Savannakhet once or twice a day.
Buses and times on 12Go Affiliate linkInternational bus → Mukdahan · about 1 hr
About a dozen departures a day, 8:15 am to 7 pm, for 40,000 kip or 60 baht. The Second Friendship Bridge is one of the Lao e-Visa entry points.
Bus · about 6 hrs
Six departures a day, 8 am to 3:30 pm, about €11.
Tickets and times on 12Go Affiliate linkBus → Hue · 8 to 12 hrs
Departures around 8 am to Hue (€29 to €37) and Da Nang (€38 to €46), via the Dansavanh – Lao Bao crossing, which you walk across. The Lao e-Visa is not accepted at this crossing.
Buses and times on 12Go Affiliate linkTimes and fares checked October 13, 2026, on 12Go and Bucketlistly: check again before you travel.
November to February is the dry season: 5 to 19 mm of rain a month, 17 to 18 °C at dawn in December and January, 28 to 30 °C in the afternoon. April climbs to 34 °C. From May to September the monsoon peaks at 305 mm in August.
| Month | J (current month) | F (current month) | M (current month) | A (current month) | M (current month) | J (current month) | J (current month) | A (current month) | S (current month) | O (current month) | N (current month) | D (current month) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airhigh / low | ||||||||||||
| Rainmm | ||||||||||||
| Daysof rain | 1 | 3 | 6 | 11 | 22 | 24 | 27 | 28 | 24 | 12 | 3 | 1 |
| Mekonglevel | Low | Low | Low | Low | Low | Low | Rising | High | High | High | Low | Low |
| Our take | Ideal | Ideal | Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Difficult | Difficult | Fair | Good | Ideal | Ideal |
| Month | Low – high | mm | River |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan (current month) | 5 | Low | |
| Feb (current month) | 13 | Low | |
| Mar (current month) | 38 | Low | |
| Apr (current month) | 68 | Low | |
| May (current month) | 190 | Low | |
| Jun (current month) | 215 | Low | |
| Jul (current month) | 282 | Rising | |
| Aug (current month) | 305 | High | |
| Sep (current month) | 261 | High | |
| Oct (current month) | 104 | High | |
| Nov (current month) | 19 | Low | |
| Dec (current month) | 5 | Low |
Sources: climate, Open-Meteo (ERA5 archive, 1991-2020 averages); town and sights, Tourism Laos, Lao news agency KPL and Wikivoyage (2025-2026); old town, church and night market, We Are Lao and Bucketlistly (2026); Tangvayosaurus, Allain et al. (1999); That Inghang, Tourism Laos and KPL (November 2025); Hor Tai Pidok, Tourism Laos (April 2025 and March 2026) and KPL (March 2026); bridge and bus to Mukdahan, Bucketlistly (October 2025) and 12Go; buses, 12Go (checked October 13, 2026); flights, Flightsfrom (October 2026); border, official Lao e-Visa portal; unexploded ordnance, France's foreign ministry (September 2026) and FCDO (August 2026). Updated October 12, 2026 by Pierre-Marie Coupry.
