Cheapest and safe alternative for individual transportation
 

I am looking for cheapest -yet safe- minivan (or car?) transportation for the following segments. Each will be at different days, thu snot continuous:
* Vientiane-Vang Vien
* Vang Vien-Luang Prabang
* Luang Prabang-Xayabury
* Some excursions from LP, e.g. plain of jars
* Luang Prabang-Vientiane

Also, can you advise the approx. cost per segment?
I will be there in 1H November.

Thanks for any insight.

For inter-city, the bigger the vehicle the safer you should feel.

Vientiane (VT) to V V by bus is about 4.5 hours. There's plenty of agencies in VT, you'll probably get picked up from your accommodation in a van and taken to the bus depot. It's an unremarkable trip until the last half hour when the scenery gets much more appealing.

V V to LP takes a mountainous, very scenic, winding road. Takes about 6 hours. The bus park in LP isn't in the centre, and there'll be lots of touts waiting to pounce. And as it'll be late afternoon/early evening your accommodation options might be limited, so it's worth booking ahead.

I wouldn't do LP to VT by road in one day. V V is the natural place to break your journey. V V is very laid back, some decent places to stay, and the scenery around is A1.

The cost of bus travel is cheap.

Thks LancasterLad for the hint,
Sounds like driving myself would not be a reasonable option, right?

Our hotels are all booked already.

While aware of the bus option, I was wondering about "cheap(er)" mini van (or car?) option?
Current quotation from hotels appear rather on the high end and I would assume that there are cheaper ones, but do not know them nor how to find them.

I can only comment on my experience.

If nobody else comes on here with good suggestions then
have a look on the TA discussion forum for Laos. Just type 'car hire' into the Search box at the top of the opening page, and you'll get a lot of first-hand views from people who've either hired a self-drive, or taxi + driver, or tell you what the other options are.

Any guesthouse or hotel in Laos will organise a car or taxi for you. It will always be more expensive using transport arranged by a hotel as all get a kickback from form the driver which increases the cost. The better, the hotel the higher the cost. it will probably still be cheaper that ay than to go through any of the tour operators.

The cheapest way would be to have a word with any taxi drivers you use, say from the airport, hotel etc. and ask how much to get from A to B or for X hours. make sure it is clear what is and is not included, especially for longer trips. if possible try and find one that speaks a little English. A few words of Lao always helps. i can't help with current costs as i haven't been for around 5 years and things change. Always haggle.

Buses re no where near as bad as they used to be especially as roads have improved in recent years so i would not discount them entirely. Self driving in Laos is, i believe, no possible but could be expensive and fraught with problems ( insurance/damages/drunken lorry drivers/cows in the road etc.. at least in November you won't have to cope with the mud.

LL is absolutely correct about breaking your trip between LP-Vientianne. it is too long for one day by road. Also, the P o J from LP would be around 10 hours by bus, less by car but i would guess that would be very expensive.

We hired a taxi for 2 weeks in Myanmar.
Before we agreed to the hire, I wanted the driver to take us out for the day, show us a bit of the local sights and countryside.
I also wanted to make sure the vehicle was fit for purpose.

Be aware that the Plain of Jars is not an excursion from LP. I don't know what the current transport time is, but when I was there it was at least a 16 hour bus ride each way from LP to the Plain of Jars. I would want at least two nights at the Plain of Jars, so I'd have one full day there.

I missed crellston's comment on the length of the bus ride to the Plain of Jars. His estimate is likely more current than mine.

No it as about 8 hours one way from Luang Prabang to the POJ. Not 16!

I agree with the comment about the bigger bus feeling safer. A young couple we met at the Plain of Jars and later in VV said that they did that leg in an over crowded mini van and were not impressed. While I can't remember costs I don't think buses were very expensive. Maybe $10 - $12 per leg.

Don't be too surprised if these VIP buses maximise their passenger capacity by putting plastic chairs along the centre aisle.