Road to Laos

In December 2017, Nomadic Road's Road to Laos expedition took a group of overlanders 1,300 kilometres across Laos over eight days. The route mixed tarmac and dirt roads, working through one of Southeast Asia's least developed countries at the start of its dry season. December delivers Laos at its most comfortable: cool nights, warm days, low humidity and the kind of soft, dust-tinted light that defines the region's dry months. Laos is a landlocked, mountainous country dominated by the Mekong River and rolling karst topography. The 2017 expedition worked through several distinct regions, including the limestone landscapes around Vang Vieng, the colonial-era streets of Luang Prabang, and the more remote northern highlands where dirt roads thread through hill-tribe villages. The country's mix of Theravada Buddhist culture, French colonial residue and pre-modern village life made every stop visually layered. Driving days were shorter than on Nomadic Road's longer expeditions, with more time built in for cultural stops, river crossings and the slow rhythm that Laos almost requires. Several nights were spent in small guesthouses, with food that leaned heavily on noodles, sticky rice, river fish and the occasional Beerlao. The convoy crossed several wooden bridges, navigated muddy sections from the last of the wet season, and made one of the longer Mekong-adjacent runs in clear weather. The December 2017 Road to Laos expedition delivered Southeast Asia at a slower pace than most travellers experience it. Cultural, scenic and quietly demanding, it remains one of Nomadic Road's most distinctive regional routes. For Nomadic Road, the December 2017 Laos route remains one of the company's most distinctive Southeast Asian entries, threading culture, river and mountain into a single eight-day overland trip across a country few travellers reach overland.