Introduction You can find French colonial buildings.
We stayed here during the boat race festival with a nice colourful boat racing competition.
Savannakhet is one of the best cities to go and see some remains of the Ho Chi Minh trail.
If you want to continue into Vietnam, this is one of the legal border crossings.
Accommodation We stayed at the Riverside resort. It's a bungalow style hotel just out of town. To get there, go South, pass the hospital and walk about 1,5 km further on the dirt road. We payed 11.000 Kipp pp for a double + bathroom + fan. It was clean and quiet. They have an outdoor restaurant, but it's not too good. The walk back to the center of town takes about 15 minutes.
There aren't many other hotels in town.
The Savanabanhao hotel is where many NGO worker stay. it's more upmarket, expect to pay 30.000 Kipp pp.
What to do Well...... in fact there's not much to do. It(s a quiet colonial city near the Mekong. You can have a city walk and see the French colonial houses. Some of them are ruins now.
We were there during the October boat festival. The city had changed into a fair with food stalls, games etc. The boat races were held between different teams, and there were all kinds of entertainment.
If you can catch a bus to Sepon, you can visit the Ho Chi Minh trail. This is a complex network of dirt paths and gravel roads used during the Indochina and Vietnam war to supply the Viet Cong. In the surrounding villages, you can still find a lot of war junk (tanks, bombs...).
Savannakhet is also a good place for a rest before you go on to Vietnam.
Restaurants The restaurant at the Riverside resort is not recommended.
The Haan Aahaan Lao Paris restaurant near the river is good. Vietnamese, Lao and Western dishes for 15.000 Kipp pp.
At the center of town, you can find some noodle shops and places for self catering.
Getting out The busstation is North of town, a Tuk Tuk to get there costs 3000 Kipp pp. There are direct buses to Vientiane at least twice daily. The trip takes about 8 to 9 hours on a dirt road. There are now doing construction on this road, but for now it's still a very sandy road (10/99).
To Pakse it's 6 hours on a dirt road, price is 16.000 kipp pp.
To Vietnam, there is 1 bus a day continuing to Hue or Dong Hoi. If you come from Laos, make sure your visa says "crossing at Lao Boa", otherwise you will be sent back. There's a Vietnamese consulate at Savannakhet.
To Thailand, you simply get your exit stamp at the customs building, take the ferry to Mukdahan (Thailand).
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