It’s hard, throughout Southeast Asia, to find off-the-beaten-path gems that are still genuinely exciting to travel to. Tham Kong Lo — also called Kong Lo Cave or Kong Lor Cave, in central Laos — strikes that balance perfectly. In fact, visiting this cave was the most exciting adventure I had in four months in South East Asia.
Tham Kong Lo is 7.5 km long. That makes it the biggest cave in Asia, and one of the largest in the world. It was formed by a river that runs the entire length of the cave.
The only way to see the cave is on a longtail boat trip. The inside pitch black, save for your boatman’s headlamp. The ceiling gets as high as 100 meters in some places.
Sound like your kind of adventure? Keep reading for all the details of how to make it happen — without booking an expensive tour!
Note: Sorry for the lack of photos in this post, y’all. I wanted to show you all sorts of beautiful angles on the cave, but alas, I went for an inadvertent swim with my camera on my tour. When I went scouring the Internet for stock photos I couldn’t find a single usable one. Just goes to show how off-the-beaten-path this experience is!
Note: This post contains affiliate links. If you decide to purchase through these links, I receive a percentage of the sale at no additional cost to you, which helps me keep this site up and running.
How to get to Tham Kong Lo
Tham Kong Lo is in a remote village in central Laos, inside the boundary of Phu Hin Bun National Park. The nearest big city is nearly 200 km away. So your adventure to the cave starts from the moment you arrive at the bus station.
In this guide, I’m assuming you’re coming from Vientiane and heading south. If you’re traveling in the opposite direction, simply reverse these directions (although transport is more of a hassle).
If you time it right, you can get a direct bus from Vientiane to Tham Kong Lor. The bus departs at 8 am every day from the southern bus station. It’s easiest to book tickets through your guesthouse, which will include transfer to the bus station.
The bus costs 140,000 kip. Theoretically it takes 5 hours, but in reality it’ll be more like 9. You may well be the only falung (tourist) on the bus.
The bus meanders painfully slowly down Highway 13, stopping every couple minutes to pick up large groups of Lao farmers touting chickens, dead pigs (those had to ride on the roof), and dozens of kilos of rice. It stops for lunch near Paksan, at a roadside rest stop where the food looks anything but appetizing (bring snacks).
Shortly after lunch, the bus turns off to Highway 8. This is one of the most beautiful roads in Laos — it weaves up and down the mountains and around and above the limestone karsts jutting out of the valley.
The next stop is Ban Na Hin. This tiny village is the last settlement before Kong Lo Village. Most of the other passengers get off the bus here. It’s another hour to your final destination.
Where to stay and what to do in Kong Lor village
You’ll arrive in Kong Lo Village fairly late in the afternoon. This tiny settlement is nothing but a few houses, a restaurant or two, and a couple small shops.
In high season, homestays abound along the road to the cave. However, outside of the January-March peak season, most of them close up shop. I visited in May and there were only two open, even though it was still dry season.
Luckily, one of the year-round options is the charming Kong Lo EcoLodge. This family-run guesthouse offers incredible value for money. You can get a nice, clean, en-suite room for only $3 per person. The owners are very knowledgeable about cave tours, and they can arrange onward transport for you the following day. Check prices and book Kong Lo EcoLodge here.
There isn’t much to do in the town itself, but it’s a very friendly place. Wander around for a few minutes and you’ll surely be invited to join a karaoke party or a petang game.
Alternatively, stroll the 1 km down to the mouth of the cave. It’ll be too late to do your cave tour this evening, but you can watch the locals load up boats heading through the cave with products they’re shipping to the other side. It’s a very atmospheric spot, and you can swim in the river to cool off.
The restaurants in Kong Lo Village are nothing to write home about. You’ll only have a couple options, and they all serve the same menu of Lao and Thai classics for reasonable prices. Of course, you can get a cold Beer Lao anywhere.
The boat trip through Kong Lo Cave
Set your alarm early the next morning — you want to arrive at Tham Kong Lo by 8 am to join the first boat tour.
A small shack at the mouth of the cave organizes tours on longtail boats. You must book here — don’t even think about trying to bargain with the local workers for a cheaper ride. By booking the correct way, your money goes back into the community rather than into the pockets of vendors who travel from bigger cities throughout central Laos.
You can book your boat on the spot. It costs 65,000 kip for the whole boat, so try to form a group of at least four to keep costs down. You’ll be provided with life jackets, and your boat captain will have a headlamp to light the way.
You’ll enter the mouth of the cave and almost immediately be surrounded by pure blackness. After a few minutes, you’ll come to the biggest room in the cave. You can’t see the 100-meter-high ceilings, but you’ll know you’re in a big room as your voice echoes off the walls. Bats screech above you and the temperature drops 10 degrees.
After another 15 minutes, you’ll come to a dimly lit section of the cave where you can get out of the boat and walk. You’ll climb a 50-meter underground “hill” of stalactites and get a 360-degree panorama of the cave formations. A 15-minute walk takes you down the other side and back to the boat.
If you visit in rainy season, the boat trip will be relatively quick. But in dry season you often have to get out and haul the boat up rapids. You won’t be able to see anything — just follow your guide’s instructions closely. At some points, it’s safe to step out of the boat on one side, but the other side might be 15-foot-deep water.
After 7 km you’ll finally see a small ray of light coming in. The river empties into the prettiest, cleanest little jungle lagoon. You can go for a swim, wander around in the forest a bit, and buy a cold drink from the soda shop here before going back the other way.
The entire adventure takes up to two hours. It’s bizarre, creepy, beautiful, terrifying, and utterly unlike anything else I have ever experienced.
Onward transport from Kong Lo Village
After visiting Tham Kong Lo, you’ll head back to the village to pick up a ride on to your next destination. You really only have two options: You can return to Vientiane, or you can head south to Thakhek.
For Vientiane, the journey is the same as you did yesterday, but in reverse. You’ll have to spend a second night in Kong Lo Village, as the bus departs at 8 am. Book your seat through your guesthouse.
If you’re heading to Thakhek, you can continue your journey right after getting back from the cave. Ask your guesthouse owner when a songthaew (pickup truck with wooden benches in the back) is leaving. Usually there’s one a day, which departs around 1 pm. It costs around 50,000 kip per person.
I’m not going to lie — the songthaew journey is extremely uncomfortable. It takes about five hours. It’s very dusty and bumpy, at least for the first half. It’s hot — so much so that my group demanded that the driver stop halfway so we could buy ice cream at a roadside food stall. But it’s the only way out of the area without going all the way back to Vientiane.
Overnight in Thakhek
You’ll arrive in Thakhek around dinnertime. If you’re a glutton for punishment, you could immediately hop on a night bus south to Pakse (for the Bolaven Plateau or Four Thousand Islands).
But since it’s been a long and exhausting travel day already, I’d recommend staying for a night in Thakhek. The city doesn’t have a ton to do, but it’s a relaxed place to hang out for a few hours while you recover from the songthaew trip.
The only place you should consider staying in Thakhek is Hostel Bike and Bed. It’s a great place to meet fellow travelers. If you want to explore more of the caves and mountains in the area, they have motorbikes for rent and lots of trip planning resources. Check prices and book Hostel Bike and Bed here.
From Thakhek, you can pick up a bus in the morning to just about any destination in southern Laos. If you have time, Savannakhet makes a great next stop. It’s only a three-hour bus trip away.
Motorbiking “The Loop” — the other way to see the cave
If you’re researching travel to Kong Lo Cave, you’ve probably come across a number of blogs talking about “The Loop.” This is by far the most popular way to reach Tham Kong Lo.
Instead of taking the bus from Vientiane to Kong Lo Village, you go directly to Thakhek. From there, you rent a motorbike and do a three-day loop stopping at caves and waterfalls along the way.
The entire route is now surfaced, making this an easy beginner-motorbike journey. You’ll pass through charming villages and beautiful limestone scenery, with maximum flexibility to stop where you want.
I opted to do the Bolaven Plateau loop instead of this one — mainly because I like waterfalls more than caves. But you can read a full account of the Thakhek Loop here.
However you choose to travel, Kong Lo Cave is 100% worth the journey. There’s nothing quite like the excitement of discovering a place that few other tourists see. Forget the over-touristed natural attractions around Vang Vieng — Kong Lo is where the real adventure lies.
