Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Information
The
Tourism Authority of Thailand
(TAT;
0 4281 2812; tatloei@tat.or.th; Th Charoenrat;
8.30am-4.30pm)
provides a good map and has helpful staff.
There are extended-hour banks and an AEON ATM in the Big C department store on
the highway.
Getting There & Away
AIR
Nok Air
( 0 2900 9955;
www.nokair.com
)
connects Loei to Bangkok's Don Muang Airport once
daily with prices starting around 1700B.
Loei Travel
(
08 5010 2426;
www.loeitravel.com
;
10-5
Mon-Fri, 10.30am-4pm Sat)
, inside Loei Palace Hotel, sells tickets.
BUS
The most frequent service from Loei's
bus terminal
( 0 4283 3586)
is to Udon Thani (100B,
three hours, every 30 minutes). There are also buses to Khon Kaen (143B, 3½ hours,
hourly), Khorat (290B, six hours, hourly), Phitsanulok (154B, four hours, four daily) and
Chiang Mai (409B to 570B, 10 hours, four daily). The only bus to Nong Khai (130B, 6½
hours) leaves at 6am, and it's worth catching because it follows the scenic Mekong River
route. It's faster, however, to go via Udon Thani.
First-class buses to Bangkok (440B, 11 hours) are frequent and there are VIP buses
(697B) each evening with
Air Muang Loei
(
0 4283 2042)
and
999 VIP
(
0 4281 1706)
.
GETTING TO LAOS: THA LI TO KAEN THAO
Foreigners can get Lao visas at the seldom-used
Thai-Lao Nam Heuang Friendship Bridge
( 6am-6pm) in
Amphoe Tha Li, 60km northwest of Loei. But the road from Kaen Thao to Luang Prabang is rough and public
transport is scarce.
Getting Around
Sŏrng·tăa·ou
(10B) run from the bus station through town or you can take a túk-túk for
about 40B.
Sugar Guesthouse rents bicycles (50B per day) and motorcycles (250B per day) and
leads reasonably priced trips around the area. Loei Palace Hotel rents bikes (50/80B per
half-/full day).
