How to Do a Visa Run from Da Nang Vietnam to Lao Bao, Laos: A Step-by-Step Guide

This is not a photography or videography post and the photos are quick shots from my phone.

Last week was the dread of any foreigner who has been in one place a long time. The dreaded stamp date was coming up and that meant a visa run.

Visa runs are a necessary part of staying legally in the country. One of the most popular and straightforward routes is the trip from Da Nang to Lao Bảo, a border town in Quảng Trị Province that connects to Laos. In this guide, I’ll walk you through the entire process, from preparation to your return.

Lao Bao is the closest border crossing from Da Nang, making it a convenient option for a same-day visa run. The route is relatively simple and offers a scenic journey through central Vietnam’s countryside and mountains.

Preparation: What You’ll Need

Here are a few essentials for the trip:

Your Passport: Valid for at least six months and with enough blank pages.

Vietnam Visa Information: Confirm the type of visa you need to renew or apply for.

Two Passport Photos: These are typically required for visa applications. Although I didn’t have to have any, more later.

Cash: Bring both VND and USD. You’ll need USD for the Laos visa fee (about $30-$45, depending on your nationality). It’s also wise to carry extra money for unforeseen expenses (also more on this later)

Snacks and Water: The journey can take several hours, so pack refreshments.

The Process

All of this can be done independently. You can travel from Da Nang to Lao Bao by car or motorbike however how long you have to stay outside of Vietnam before re-entering will depend on your nationality. For those nationalities like me a Canadian getting back into Vietnam on the same day requires the help of a visa agent who can do a rush visa service. Otherwise this process would have meant that I needed to be out of Vietnam for at least 3 business days because that’s how long a normal tourist visa takes to process. If your nationality allows for visa exempt or visa on arrival into Vietnam then your process independently will work roughly the same as with an agent although you’ll be navigating it all yourself.

My journey started at 7am at the Lynn Visa office in the southern part of the city. They provided a light breakfast if you arrive before 7am and there were about 30 people and 2 busses there to shuttle us all from Da Nang to the Lao Bao border.

The bus itself had comfortable seats that reclined VERY far. It’s not one of the sleeper busses but it was a step up from a North American Greyhound bus or British Mega Bus which are the only inter-city busses that I have ever used.

I booked this 3 days before leaving and this was the cost breakdown from the agent in early January 2024:

We offer a one-day trip (7:00 AM–10:00 PM) by limousine bus with full support. Cost for a 90-day single-entry visa: • E-visa: 1,800,000 VND • Bus: 1,000,000 VND • Laos visa: 1,170,000 VND • Border fee: 100,000 VND Total: 4,070,000 VND For a multiple-entry visa, add 700,000 VND to the cost of the evisa. Total is 4,770,000 VND You need a clear immigration record (no overstays or violations). If rejected due to overstays or cancellations, 900,000 VND (if a single-entry visa) or 1,560,000 (if a multiple entry visa) of the E-visa fee is non-refundable. Payment options: Cash, bank transfer, or card via payment link. What we need: 1. A clear photo of your passport (all corners visible). 2. Your photo (from chest up, no glasses, or hat). 3. Address (home country & Vietnam). 4. Phone number (Vietnam or your home country) 5. Payment

Payment was done upfront, I chose to pay by Vietnam QR Code/bank transfer to save the 3% credit card fee.

Even though it’s the end of rainy season the sun was out when I went and this made for beautiful views up in the mountains. The driver was as good as expected for a bus journey in Vietnam. He was very aggressive but at no time did I feel unsafe.

View on the way to the border crossing

I had planned to take more photos and videos of the whole journey but motion sickness had other ideas. Not long into the journey into the twisting mountain roads and I felt unwell. This is pretty rare for me and unfortunately it lasted the whole trip while driving, the entire 9 hours.

On the way to the border there were 10 minute stops every 1.5 hours. This was enough time for a washroom break and both places had little stores for snacks and drinks.

5 minutes before the border there was a last stop at a local restaurant but I guess it was more like a cafeteria for lunch. It was local Vietnamese and not something I wanted to partake in. The only review I heard was one guy say to another guy “food options aren’t great here”. So my advice is to pack a lunch.

After a 20 minute stop it was on to the border.

Building 1 - Lao Bao Border - Vietnam Immigration

This is the part of the trip where going with a visa agent group makes things painless. Everything was already paid for. They had done all the applications and they guide you through every step.

The first step on entry is to show your passport and your current visa stamp to a guard who then allows entry into the building. From there those in the agent group gave their passports to the agent staff members who went into a special lane to get Vietnam exit stamps. If you were there on your own you would go into the building to an lane with an agent and get your own exit stamp. For me and the group this process took about 35 minutes.

Once the exit stamp is in your passport. The agent will hand it back to you with your already filled out Laos entry application and then it was time for about a 200 meter walk to Building 2. Laos Immigration.

Vietnam/Laos Border

Building 2 Laos Immigration

First you enter this building 2, which is the Laos visa application building. Again this process may differ depending on your nationality. The visa agent had the forms filled out already or if you were doing this process yourself you would just fill out the form yourself and pay the fee.

The form requires 2 visa photos, I didn’t have any and the visa agent told me it was not a problem it would just cost 50,000VND. I was told by the agent to just put the 50k into my passport. I assumed I would be called up and they would take photos at another counter but no. I was called up when done like everyone else with the photos never being mentioned again. If this went directly into the pocket of the person granting the visa I can’t tell you.

From here there were a lot of no photo/video signs and a lot of Lao security agents so for this part there are no photos.

After being granted the visa it was time to get stamped into Laos. You line up like any normal border crossing and then a man behind a counter takes you passport and gives you a stamp. Only this time, he was asking everyone for 20,000VND. This is about 80 cents USD or 0.75 euros. The staff that was guiding everyone on the visa run had briefly and discreetly mentioned this might happen and when it did he would run over give a nice crisp 20k note and then the process would be done. This is not an official fee. I am really curious what would happen if you said no or if you were traveling alone and had no cash to pay it. So this is something that might happen on either side of this border crossing so it is good to have some cash with you just in case.

After being granted your entry to Laos it was now time to go to the other side of the building and get stamped out of Laos. I was given 1 month entry into Laos and I don’t think I used a full 5 minutes of that. The nice lady stamping out asked for no further fee and she must have been new or they don’t get many Canadians there because she had to ask a colleague something about my Canadian passport. But all was fine and I was officially stamped out and it was time to walk back to Building 1 - Vietnam immigration.

Border back to Vietnam

Bridge Between Laos and Vietnam

Building 1 - Vietnam Immigration

The next step is back into the Vietnam immigration building to hand passports over to the visa agents while waiting to get our Vietnam Visa’s processed. If you are doing this independently and have a Vietnam Visa or you have a visa on arrival you can just take your passport to an immigration agent to get a stamp and entry into Vietnam.

This wait took about 50 minutes. In total from stamping out of Vietnam, into Laos, out of Laos and back into Vietnam was about 2 to 2 and a half hours. I thought this was pretty reasonable because the visa run agents were getting Vietnam visas rush processed within those two hours.

Building on the other side of the truck lanes where you can buy snacks, drinks and souvenirs. Also where the restrooms are located.

If you’re doing a service with a visa agent there will be some waiting around like mentioned. Please note there is nothing at all to do or see in this area. Nowhere to walk around and nothing to see. So bring some kind of entertainment for yourlself. My Viet sim worked as normal on the Vietnam side and then slowed to a crawl on the Laos side.

Once the visas were done we were all given back our passports with Vietnam entry stamps already in them. The last step was putting my bag through an xray scanner and then showing a guard on the way out my entry stamp where he waved me through. It was then back to the waiting busses and the 4.5 hour trip back to Da Nang with 2 of the same rest stops on the way back.

I was asked to be let off in the north end of the city closer to my home and thankfully the driver stopped for me and saved an extra 20 minutes on the bus and then a 20 minute taxi back north.

The next day I was sent my e-visa by the visa agent. This is an important step to save this because sometimes you will get asked for it while inside Vietnam.

The entire process with a visa agent and bus group was extremely smooth and hassle free. I think the cost was reasonable for the service provided.

However, unless desperate I would not take this route again and that is down to feeling sick on the bus. It was a miserable experience for me. I had planned to watch movies or read but was unable to do anything except sit and try and wish away feeling badly. This wouldn’t be the case for everyone though and I’m sure some people enjoyed it. As for me I will plan better in advance and try to get cheap 4 or 5 day trips to Bangkok, Singapore, HK or somewhere else in the area and apply for a new visa while out of the country and wait the 3 days.