Traveling on a Bike to Blue Lagoon – Vang Vieng, Laos

While asking around and deciding what to do in Vang Vieng, me and my friend decided to visit Blue Lagoon on our own by bike. Since we are on a tight budget, we don’t usually pay for tours and more often than not, we visit various tourist attractions on our own. And one of the places that we visited was Blue Lagoon.

Blue Lagoon is one of the most popular places to visit in Vang Vieng. You can arrange a tour to Blue Lagoon through any travel agencies in town or you can rent a motorbike or bicycle or go there yourself. Some tourists prefer to walk which I wouldn’t recommend to those who are not used to walking long distances since the distance of the Blue Lagoon from the town is about 8KM.

Bike Rental

Bicycle and Motorbike rentals are plenty and you can choose from a variety of bikes to rent. The cheapest bicycle (rent) that I saw was around 10,000 Kip and 30, 000 (and up) for Motorbikes. For mountain bikes, the cheapest rental fee that I saw was 20,000 Kip. You can also rent an ATV if you want.

The shop will ask for your passport and some shops might ask for a security deposit. The one where we rented our bicycles didn’t asked us for any deposit though but we left them our passports.

The shop will also give you a map of Vang Vieng which will help you find your way to the various sights that you can find around town.

On The Way

If you’re staying at the main town, you would have to cross a wooden bridge to cross the river and the fee is 6,000 Kip per bike. If you’re just walking then you’ll just pay 2,000 Kip.

As of the time of writing (July 2019), after you cross this bridge, get ready for a few kilometers of very rough road (uphill and downhill in some areas), potholes, gravels and rocks and mud. And at the same time, breath-taking landscapes!!!

There are farms on both sides of the road and behind those farms are lush vegetation and limestone hills. It’s really gorgeous and none of my pictures could do it any justice.

Along the way, you’ll also pass by small villages of local people. Some of them are selling woven fabrics made of cotton and silk. There were quite a few children playing along the way when we went there so just exercise caution when biking (especially downhill).

As soon as you arrived at the Blue Lagoon site, there’s a ticketing booth and the ticket cost 10,000 Kip per person.

The water looks murky and more like translucent green when we were but once you’re submerged, you’ll see that it’s still clear despite of the murky appearance. It’s also a bit cold and refreshing especially for those who cycled 8 kilometers just to get here.

Here are a few tips to ensure that you enjoy a safe and fun journey to Blue Lagoon:

1. Wear sunscreen. It might get very hot after 9AM so make sure to wear sunscreen to avoid getting sunburnt.

2. Keep yourself hydrated. If you’re going to walk or cycle your way to Blue Lagoon, be sure to bring your bottled water to keep yourself hydrated.

3. Be careful with your belongings. I didn’t see any locker where you can leave your things. We just left ours in a table near the river but kept an eye on it.

4. Be careful in case you decide to jump from the tree. Make sure no one’s swimming under you. Usually the crowd gives each other signal to stay clear of the path of the “jumpers”.

5. Leave nothing but footprints and take nothing but pictures.