Anyone with recent experience of crossing into or out of Laos from Yunnan? Procedures? Requirements? Thanks!

I did it two days ago. It was a bit off a nightmare because the visa centre can't handle the thousands of chinese tourists coming every day. After a week or two it may calm down though.

If you do go it's quite likely you may miss the 3pm fast train from boten so prepare for it (I'd recommend a taxi/shared car to luang nam tha which is infinitely nicer than boten which is a hell hole,.and you can take the fast train the next day around 12.30) you could make the earlier 12.15 fast train from boten but you'd need to stay a night in xishuangbanna to make it.

Visa fees are cheaper and easier in US dollars which can be easily changed in Kunming. Also best to have a passport photo for the form or you'll be charged more to scan your passport.

If you are trying to make the 3pm train don't take the 5yuan bus from the Mohan station. Take a taxi directly. It saves crucial minutes to avoid the big queue that may be awaiting. Queue (read scrample) for booth 1. Booth 2 is only for collection. You have to go to booth 1 first. It's very chaotic. A couple of fights nearly broke out. Good times. Boten has almost zero facilities. No toilet. Dust. Dust. And more dust. There are a couple of hotels but really better to go straight to luang nam tha where there is no dust and cheaper and better guesthouses and food.

Thank you! Quite helpful.

Has anyone done the Laos border crossing by fast train recently (since it started going straight over the border)and how long one needs to book tickets in advance. I.e. is it as in demand as mainland train tickets are?

And can one book online or only at the Kunming station? I'm presuming the Laos visa is made by hopping off the train then boarding again.

Friends have done it recently, but I don't know about demand levels. Capacity is significant, so if you're not going on a major Chinese holiday, there should be availability.

Note that visas can 'not' be paid for or processed as visa-on-arrival when taking the train. You must have a visa sticker in your passport already.

By the by, they recently reduced the border wait time from 1.5 hours at each border to 1 hour, so Kunmingnan to Vientiane travel time is now about 9.5 hours from station to station +/- the 1-hour time change.

Passengers can book online. For example, you can try Qunar. Just type 去哪儿 in your WeChat miniprogram search bar. The white camel logo with aqua color backdrop should appear.

Qunar is basically the subsidiary of Ctrip (aka Trip.com). So for the longest time they nearly monopolized the domestic travel/hotel booking market in the Mainland. Ctrip has been expanding aggressively in the tour packages market, making a killing with their vertical integrations.

After registration (or login), click the train tab and type in 老挝 for destinations in Laos. The specific high speed rail stations in Laos will appear in Chinese.

It seems only Kunming South is available for departure everyday fixed at 8:08am. A 7 hour 37 min journey to Luang Prabang for 413 rmb. 8 hr 30min for Van Vieng (475rmb), etc. Even cheaper after claiming vouchers for first-time users of Qunar.

Tickets seem to be available for booking, even for next day travel.

Perhaps all the fuss making the rounds on Chinese social media regarding Myanmar human trafficking for forced spam labor is scaring netizens from traveling to neighboring SE countries. Domestic travel has been booming in its place. That's good news if you're planning a less jam-packed trip to Laos, albeit in the monsoon season.

I'm out of the loop on current border wait time (as @baiyuxiang mentioned) or the latest visa-on-arrival situation, but I do know the best exchange rates for cash are specific Chinese owned shops across towns, not the ATMs or local exchange vendors.

Thanks for the info. It is true that you must have an evisa for Laos before buying a train ticket at the station(not sure why if you can buy one on trip.com without a visa). Small queues but both times I've been there are agents buying 50-100 tickets a time.

Thanks for the info. It is true that you must have an evisa for Laos before buying a train ticket at the station(not sure why if you can buy one on trip.com without a visa). Small queues but both times I've been there are agents buying 50-100 tickets a time.

Just to follow up. You do not need a visa in advance but the worker in Kunming station is lazy and will try to make you go away if you don't have a visa. Complain and persist!