The most com­mon ques­tions I’ve heard or seen asked about the Thakhek Motor­bike Loop. A 450-kilo­me­ter motor­cy­cle adven­ture through the heart of Laos. If you have a ques­tion that isn’t list­ed here please ask in the com­ments. I will try to incor­po­rate every­thing into this page. 

I wrote up a com­plete guide to the Thakhek Loop includ­ing infor­ma­tion about the caves and swim­ming holes, a sug­gest­ed itin­er­ary for The Loop as well as accom­mo­da­tion options along the Thakhel Loop. The guide I wish I’d had. Check it out here.

Thakhek Loop FAQs:

 

What is the Thakhek Loop?

The Thakhek Motor­bike Loop is one of the more adven­tures attrac­tions of Laos. It’s a 450-kilo­me­ter motor­bike loop through the heart of Laos in the Kham­mouane Province. Tow­er­ing karst peaks, the 7.5‑kilometer Kon­glor Cave, indige­nous vil­lages, lush forests, water­falls and count­less caves and swim­ming holes. All explored at your pace, from a motorbike.

With mul­ti­ple motor­cy­cle and scoot­er rental options, guest­hous­es and places to eat through­out the 450 km loop it is a well estab­lished and high­ly rec­om­mend­ed part of a more adven­tur­ous trip to Laos. It might just be the high­light of your whole trip!

(Also called Tha Khaek Loop, The Loop, and Kong Lor Loop)

Won­der­ing about Kong Lor Cave (Tham Kong Lo)? Check out the guide for Kong Lor Cave here.

Where is the Thakhek Loop?

The Thakhek Loop is in the Province of Kham­mouane in Cen­tral Laos. It’s one of the best places to see the caves of Laos. From Vien­tiane, it’s about a 7‑hour bus ride South. If you are going to South­ern Laos from Vien­tiane, Luang Pra­bang or Vang Vieng it’s a good place to stop before Pakse or the 4,000 Islands.

How do I do the Thakhek Loop if I’m in Vientiane?

Bus­es leave the South Bus Sta­tion in Vien­tiane every hour or two in the morn­ing. For logis­tics check out the Wik­i­trav­el arti­cle. You can buy a bus tick­et direct­ly from your hos­tel or hotel in Vien­tiane but there will be a markup.

I’ve never driven a motorcycle before. Can I still drive the Thakhek Loop?

The short answer from me would be “Prob­a­bly”, with some notes of caution/qualifiers, but it depends on your lev­el of com­fort and adven­ture. Here are some tips if it’s your first time dri­ving a motorcycle.

1. Rent an automatic.

2. Don’t dri­ve fast or at night.

3. Real­ize that there prob­a­bly isn’t any trav­el insur­ance that will cov­er you.

4. Ride the motor­bike first a bit around town to get a feel for it.

5. If you can, go with friends, espe­cial­ly friends who have dri­ven motor­bikes before.

6. Wear pro­tec­tive cloth­ing, long pants, long sleeve shirt, and gloves min­i­mal­ly (I think there is a slid­ing scale, with in-expe­ri­ence and road rash on one end and expe­ri­ence and no road rash on the oth­er). I per­son­al­ly have a full face hel­met and a safe­ty cer­ti­fied motor­cy­cle jack­et and gloves.

7. Don’t dri­ve with some­one on the back, if this is real­ly your first time or you feel uncom­fort­able. Rent sep­a­rate bikes. It’s actu­al­ly much more fun hav­ing your own motor­bike anyway.

8. Dri­ve slow. Did I say that already? Well, it’s worth repeat­ing. Dri­ving slow will give you time to stop if you see some­thing like a pot­hole, cow, pup­py (these last 2 caused me two small acci­dents) or anoth­er motor­bike. You’ll enjoy your sur­round­ings more as well. Hey! Eyes on the road!

Of course, it’s all up to you and what you’re com­fort­able with and your life is 100% in your hands. And as a final note, I’ve seen a num­ber of crash­es on the road and a num­ber of for­eign­ers with road rash.

 

Can I still drive The Loop in Laos’ Rainy Season? Rainy Season vs Dry Season.

I’ve done both. The rainy sea­son was quite a bit more beau­ti­ful as every­thing is green and lush (August). The sky was also much clear­er. Some­times they will burn crops in North­ern Thai­land and Laos in the dry sea­son cre­at­ing an ugly haze (March). We got lucky dur­ing the wet sea­son and had 5 days with just a lit­tle rain. It can be very wet which isn’t too fun and more dan­ger­ous to dri­ve in. Both sea­sons have pros and cons. I would just rec­om­mend that if you’re in Laos (no mat­ter what the sea­son is) just do it if there isn’t heavy rain in the forecast.

Rainy Season (May to October):

The Good:

 1. The land­scape is GREEN, so green and lush (Rice fields and foliage).

2. Water­falls are flowing.

3. Not as many people.

4. Air is clearer.

The Bad and the Ugly:

1. It could be rain­ing, hard! And who likes dri­ving in the rain?

2. Your trip might be delayed if it’s rain­ing too much

3. Some caves will be flood­ed and not acces­si­ble (Drag­on Cave). But unless it’s huge flood­ing Kong Lor Cave should be open.

4. Dirt roads will be mud­dy mak­ing some places hard­er to reach or inaccessible.

If you do go dur­ing the rainy sea­son def­i­nite­ly bring good rain gear for your­self and your bag and try to sched­ule in a flex­i­ble day or two in case it’s rain­ing heav­i­ly and you can’t dri­ve as far.

I have a large backpack or suitcase, can I leave it?

Don’t wor­ry, any of the Guest­hous­es should be able to store your stuff for free while you dri­ve The Loop. Or the shop where you rent the motor­cy­cles will do it. Just bring a small­er bag of the things you will need for the loop and leave your big­ger bag behind.

 

Should I be worried about Police on the Thakhek Loop?

I’ve only heard of police being a prob­lem in Thakhek itself and not else­where on The Loop. In Thakhek the police have been known to stop lots of for­eign­ers charg­ing fees of 50,000 kip (About $6 US). 

At the KGB Guest­house (Wang Wang) they have a map of where the police are sta­tioned. I took a pic­ture of it here and col­ored it in. The blue line is the sug­gest­ed route. The Thakhek police have sta­tions in the red cir­cles. Feel free to down­load the map of the Thakhek Police.

Want some inspi­ra­tion? Check out this post of just pic­tures along the Thakhek Loop includ­ing Kong Lor Cave, as well as the oth­er caves along The Loop.

What items should I pack for The Loop?

Don’t pack too much! A large day­pack is suf­fi­cient. If you can fig­ure out how to attach your back­pack to the back of your bike it will be more enjoy­able than dri­ving with it on your back the entire time.

1. Real shoes (not flip-flops)

2. Flip flops or san­dals (rugged are bet­ter as you can use for climb­ing rocks)

3. Clothes for 3–4 days (who are we kid­ding, you’re going to reuse clothes so you don’t have to have a dif­fer­ent set for each day). I per­son­al­ly rec­om­mend wear­ing long sleeves and pants, in case you fall off the bike as well as for sun pro­tec­tion. I’ve seen lots of road rash and sunburns.

4. Shorts for swim­ming (or do as I do and swim in your quick dry underwear)

5. Sun­screen

6. Hat

7. Sun­glass­es

8. Phone & Charger

9. Hygiene Sup­plies. Tooth­brush, tooth­paste, deodor­ant etc.

10. Water bot­tle (you can fill up at the guest­hous­es. Use less dis­pos­able bottles.

11. Paper map of the loop (avail­able when you rent your motorcycle)

12. Maps.me with the Laos maps loaded (offline)

13. Enough cash = 1,000,000 LAK (detailed in the next question).

14. Cam­era & Extra bat­ter­ies, cam­era charg­er, extra lens­es etc.

15. Hel­met. Ide­al­ly, one that cov­ers your ears and the best case is actu­al­ly a full face hel­met that is prop­er­ly safe­ty rat­ed. Short of that def­i­nite­ly make sure it has a work­ing and adjustable chin strap.

16. Rid­ing gloves (pro­tect your hands from sun­burn, road rash and (if they’re real rid­ing gloves) mit­i­gates vibra­tion and hand blisters.

17. Clear visor for hel­met or clear sun­glass­es (oth­er­wise bugs make it near impos­si­ble to dri­ve at night). Even if you don’t plan on dri­ving at night, be prepared.

18. Rain Gear. Rain Coat and Rain Pants.

19. Dust mask or ban­dan­na (option­al).

20. Head­lamp for caves. Some caves are light. If you have a bright head­lamp then bring it (option­al).

 

How much money should I bring? How much does The Loop Cost?

Bring at least 1,000,000 (1 mil­lion LAK) cash for 4 days on The Loop (does not include the motor­bike rental fee which is paid when you return to Thakhek. It’s bet­ter to return with a bit too much mon­ey than run out. I’ve round­ed up a little.

Cost breakdown:

Lodg­ing: 90,000 — 30,000 a night x3 nights = 90,000

Food:400,000 100,000/day

Fuel: 240,000 60,000/day (return the bike emp­ty or close to it if that’s how you got it)

Entrance Fees: 150,000 (Kong Lor, Tham Nang Aen, var­i­ous oth­er caves, swim­ming areas)

Safe­ty fund: 150,000 (Repairs, More Beer Lao etc.)

Motor­cy­cle Rental Fees: 320,000 LAK (almost $40) (paid when you return. NOT includ­ed in the 1,000,000 cash to bring with you.)

The dai­ly cost of a scoot­er or motor­bike rental ranges from about 60,000 to 150,000. A semi-auto­mat­ic scoot­er is the cheap­est. Wang Wang being the cheap­est option. Per­haps you don’t want to pay the absolute cheap­est so let’s say 80,000 ($10) a day x 4 days = 320,000 LAK (almost $40).

 

Are there ATMs?

Yes, there are ATMs. Try and start with all the mon­ey that you need, but if you do need to get mon­ey while on the trip there are a few places. The first is at the junc­tion to Mahax­ay. There’s a gas sta­tion then police check­point and a road on the right to Mahax­ay. The ATM is on the left-hand side at this junction.

ATMs are locat­ed in the major towns along the route. Although it’s always pos­si­ble some aren’t work­ing. The major towns are Mahax­ay, Gnom­malath, Nakai, Na Hin, Lak Xao and Vieng Kham. They are marked on the maps.me app which you should def­i­nite­ly have for The Loop.

 

I have Travel Insurance but no Motorcycle License, will my insurance still cover me?

Prob­a­bly not. Even if you have a motor­cy­cle license in your home coun­try, it’s a good idea to check with your insur­ance com­pa­ny ahead of time to see if they will cov­er you. Some com­pa­nies will cov­er you if you’re dri­ving a small­er bike and have a motor­cy­cle license back home.

 

Thakhek Loop vs Pakse Loop (Bolaven Loop). Wich one should I do?

 

Thakhek Loop

The Thakhek loop is more about caves. There are some water­falls but they aren’t that great in the dry sea­son and don’t com­pare to the water­falls on the Pakse Loop.

Pakse Loop (Bolaven Loop)

 

The high­light on the Pakse Loop is def­i­nite­ly its water­falls, espe­cial­ly Tad Fane, the high­est water­fall in Laos, and this pic­ture is from the “Dry Season”.

I would prob­a­bly rec­om­mend doing the Thakhek loop over the Pakse Loop if I had to choose one. I love water­falls and caves, but caves offer some­thing a lit­tle more adven­tur­ous and as a pho­tog­ra­ph­er, they are more fun to shoot. The Thakhek Loop is also more rur­al and has beau­ti­ful karst moun­tains that don’t exist on the Bolaven Plateau. Though the Bolaven Plateau Pakse Loop have cof­fee plan­ta­tions and I love cof­fee. You can’t go wrong with either choice.

Clockwise or Counter-Clockwise?

Most peo­ple do The Loop Counter-clock­wise, head­ing East on Route 12 out of Thakhek. This puts you right into Cave Alley with­in just min­utes of leav­ing Thakhek. It also leaves Kong Lor Cave to the end of The Loop. You save the long straight 100 km sec­tion of High­way 13 until the last day.

But some peo­ple opt to do it clock­wise and dri­ve the 100 km “bor­ing” sec­tion on the first day. The ben­e­fit of this might be that this “bor­ing” sec­tion might actu­al­ly be a bit excit­ing if you haven’t dri­ven a motor­bike in a while (if ever).

One oth­er option is to avoid the 100 km sec­tion on Hwy 13 alto­geth­er by dri­ving the “inter­est­ing” or “beau­ti­ful” por­tion of The Loop twice. To do it this way, after see­ing Kong Lor Cave dri­ve up to the Lime­stone For­est View­point then head back East on Rte 8 then South on Rte 1E at Lak Sao, retrac­ing the way you’ve been dri­ving over the pre­vi­ous days.

 

Should I be worried about running out of fuel?

Not real­ly, there are lots of gas sta­tions along the route. But be wise and fill up before every 150 km. A tank of gas will prob­a­bly last you from 150 to 200 kilo­me­ters depend­ing on your motor­bike and how you dri­ve it. A safe bet is to fill up after every 100 km which is easy to do. If you hap­pen to get very low or run out of fuel you can buy water-bot­tles filled with fuel at most stores in small towns where there isn’t a gas station.

You should know that most motor­cy­cle rental shops will give you the motor­bike emp­ty, so fill up on your way out of Thakhek. Fill up in Nakai, on your way to Lak Sao. Fill up in Ban Nahin before your dri­ve to Kong Lor Cave, fill up again in Ban Nahin as you leave.

 

Is there still a dirt road portion of The Loop?

There is no longer a long unpaved sec­tion on the Nakai Plateau, or any­where. There are how­ev­er some rough patch­es of road. Leav­ing Thakhek there are pot­holes on route 13 (This is a busy sec­tion with big semis as it’s the pri­ma­ry road to Viet­nam for this region).

The last kilo­me­ters on the road out to Kong Lor are a bit rough with dirt and pot­holes and there’s a rough sec­tion of dirt road head­ing out to Kong Lor at the start of the dri­ve. In the hills before and after Kong Lor, there are also some rough patch­es. 

There are fix­es and more pot­holes get­ting cre­at­ed all the time. Always be on the lookout.

 

What is The Extended Loop? (Extended Thakhek Loop)

 The Extend­ed Thakhek Loop usu­al­ly refers to includ­ing a dri­ve out to Xe Bang Fai Riv­er Cave. It’s a beau­ti­ful addi­tion that adds at least 2 days to the trip on most­ly dirt roads. You won’t see many for­eign­ers here. A guide to Xe Bang Fai is in the works.

 

Why do so many of the villages start with Ban?

Sim­ple.

Ban = Village

Tham = Cave

So Ban Nahin = Nahin Vil­lage and Tham Kong Lor is Kong Lor Cave 

Ban Tham thank you, Ma’am! I just thought of that.

 

Why are there 10 different ways to spell everything?

Okay that’s a lit­tle exag­ger­a­tion but you will find mul­ti­ple spellings for caves and towns includ­ing Thakhek, I mean Tha Khaek I mean… Well, you get the point. And don’t get me start­ed on all the dif­fer­ent ways to spell the cave names. Gave me a headache when I’m writ­ing about them and the Kong Lor Loop, or is it the Tha Khaek Loop? (Face-palm

I’ve tried to use the most com­mon names for the places on The Loop in my guide and save you the headache.

 

Can I camp or sleep in a hammock the whole time?

Cer­tain­ly. If you like to wild camp just start look­ing for places well before dark. It’s a pret­ty rur­al area and I don’t think there will be any prob­lem find­ing some­where to set up for the night. The oth­er option is to set up at a guest­house where you can get access to a toi­let, show­er, and the on-site restau­rant. I’ve talked to var­i­ous peo­ple camp­ing and they say they usu­al­ly pay 10,000 kip (~$1.20) when using a guest­house for hammocks/camping. 

You can stay at the “Cool Pool” on your sec­ond night. A beau­ti­ful swim­ming hole. Costs 10,000 kip per person.

 

Can I do the Thakhek Loop on a Bicycle?

 Yes! def­i­nite­ly. Depend­ing on your fit­ness lev­el you might set aside a bit more than the nor­mal 4 days. Most towns along the way have Guest­hous­es if you need to stop ear­ly. Camp­ing or sleep­ing in a ham­mock is anoth­er option. Food is avail­able reg­u­lar­ly as well as fuel….oh yeah for­get that last one.

That being said, I haven’t actu­al­ly done it. But heck, you could even Hitch­hike The Loop or walk it if you want­ed to. Just be flex­i­ble with time and the world is your oys­ter. Hitch­hik­ing the Thakhek Loop! Sounds like an adven­ture. I’d love to hear from any­one who’s done this or plans to.
 

I’d still like to do The Loop but don’t want to ride a motorbike. What are my options?

Are there any Thakhek Loop Tour companies?

Green Dis­cov­ery in Laos does trips to the caves, most notably their Kong Lor Cave Tour and can prob­a­bly do a tour of the entire Loop

https://www.greendiscoverylaos.com/

Mad Mon­key in Thakhek might offer tours by car. Check them out on Face­book here

https://www.facebook.com/madmonkeymotorbike/

Or you can check with these guys

https://www.insideasiatours.com/insidevietnam/about-us/contact-us/

 

I think caves are boring. Should I still do The Loop?

No. Just go home.

 

More Questions?

Have a ques­tion that has­n’t been answered here? Ask in the comments. 

And don’t for­get to check out the com­plete guide to the Kong Lor Loop.…I mean the Thakhek Loop. Who calls it the Kong Lor Loop anyway?