asia • LAO
Laos
Location marker · geographic overview
18° N / 105° ETHE WORLD, ONE COUNTRY AT A TIME
- Capital
- Vientiane
- Population
- 7,769,819 2024
- Area
- 236,800 km² (year unavailable)
- Languages source-listed
- Lao
- Currency
- Lao kip (LAK)
- Geography
- Landlocked
Population: World Bank 2024. Other facts: REST Countries snapshot. Sources & limitations.
STAY A LITTLE LONGER
Discover Laos
FROM THE TRAVEL GUIDE · Laos
Laos (ເມືອງລາວ mư̄ang lāo or ປະເທດລາວ pa thēt lāo) is the only landlocked nation in Southeast Asia. Laos is rich in both the diversity of its people and its landscapes.
Landscape & landmarks
The whole of the ancient capital of Luang Prabang is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Befitting that status, it is a unique city. Beautifully preserved gilded temples with their attendant orange-robed monks mold almost seamlessly with traditional wooden Lao houses and grand properties from the French colonial era.Read the see section ↗
Food & everyday culture
Lao food is one of the underappreciated cuisines of the world and can be a real highlight of your trip. It's very similar to the Isaan food of northeastern Thailand: very spicy, more often bitter than sweet, and using lots of fresh herbs and raw vegetables. These cool your mouth when the chilli gets too intense.Read the eat section ↗
Excerpts from Wikivoyage contributors, revision 2026-09-12. CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected excerpts; wiki formatting removed; omissions marked […]. Guide wording and any figures belong to this dated source; they do not replace the atlas statistics above. Food descriptions are not official national-dish designations.
A little more to discover +
- National flower
- Not yet verified
- Official national dish
- Not yet verified
- Representative food
- Not yet verified
- Subregion
- South-Eastern Asia
- Calling code
- +856
- Internet domain
- .la
- Land border codes
- MMR, KHM, CHN, THA, VNM
Quick facts
- Traffic keeps to the right side of the road. Source ↗
- The country-code web domain is .la. Source ↗
- The source lists monday as the start of the week. Source ↗
Population: World Bank 2024. Other facts: REST Countries snapshot. Source-matched September 26, 2026; not live data. Sources & limitations.