Asia
SE Asia

Laos

Laos is the only landlocked nation in . Formerly a colony, it is one of the few remaining communist states in the world, but Laotian official ideology is closer to the Chinese one.
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Photo: Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Photo: Tango7174, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Essential Destinations

Top destinations include Vientiane and Luang Prabang.

Photo: Benh, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is the capital of Laos, with stunning temples, vibrant night markets, beautiful French-Indochinese architecture, lively street food stalls, and traditional craft markets.

Photo: Jjtkk, CC BY 2.5.
, historically known as Xieng Thong and alternatively spelled Luang Phabang or Louangphabang, is the capital of in north-central Laos.

Photo: Tango7174, CC BY-SA 4.0.
is the relatively modern and friendly capital city of . The transport hub of , is not a tourist destination in itself, but a necessary and useful stop on the tourist trail to and the , and the nearest big town to Wat Phou.

Destinations to Discover

Explore places such as Central Laos and Northern Laos.

Photo: Wikimedia, CC0.
shares borders with and , as well as with and Laos.

Photo: Wikimedia, CC0.
is a mountainous region of Laos. It shares borders with , , and . The region encompasses the provinces of , , , Bokeo and Sainyabuli.

Photo: Wikimedia, CC0.
The southern region of Laos is comprised of 6 provinces: Attapeu, , Khammouane, , Savannakhet, and Sekong.

Laos

Latitude of center
18.17° or 18° 10′ 12″ north
Longitude of center
104.63° or 104° 37′ 48″ east
Population
6,200,000
Area
236,800 km² (91,429 miles²)
Elevation
702 metres (2,303 feet)
Capital
Currency
Kip (LAK)
Phone code
.la
Internet domain
856
Open­Street­Map ID
node 424316307
Open­Street­Map feature
place=­country
Geo­Names ID
1655842
Wiki­data ID
Q819
This page is based on OpenStreetMap, GeoNames, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons, and Wikivoyage.
We’d love your help improving our open data sources. Thank you for contributing.

Satellite Map

Discover Laos from above in high-definition satellite imagery.
© Stadia Maps, Airbus DS, CNES, PlanetObserver, and Copernicus

In Other Languages

From Abkhazian to Zulu—“Laos” goes by many names.
  • Abkhazian: “Лаос”
  • Abkhazian: “Лаостәи Жәлартә-Демократиатә Республика”
  • Achinese: “Laos”
  • Adyghe: “Лаос”
  • Afrikaans: “Laos”
  • Akan: “Laos”
  • Albanian: “Laos”
  • Albanian: “Laosi”
  • Amharic: “ላኦስ”
  • Amharic: “ላዎስ”
  • Amis: “Laos”
  • Angika: “लाओस”
  • Arabic: “لاوس”
  • Aragonese: “Laos”
  • Armenian: “Լաոս”
  • Arpitan: “Laos”
  • Assamese: “গণতান্ত্ৰিক গণপ্ৰজাতন্ত্ৰী লাউচ”
  • Assamese: “চাঠালানালাট্‌ পাছাঠিপাটাই পাচাছোন্‌ লাউ”
  • Assamese: “লাউ”
  • Assamese: “লাউচ”
  • Assamese: “লাওচ”
  • Asturian: “Laos”
  • Atayal: “Laos”
  • Avaric: “Лаос”
  • Awadhi: “लाओस”
  • Azerbaijani: “Laos Xalq Demokratik Respublikası”
  • Azerbaijani: “Laos”
  • Azerbaijani: “LXDR”
  • Balinese: “Laos”
  • Bambara: “Layosi”
  • Bashkir: “Лаос”
  • Basque: “Laos”
  • Bavarian: “Laos”
  • Belarusian: “Лаос”
  • Bengali: “লাওস”
  • Betawi: “Laos”
  • Bhojpuri: “लाओस”
  • Bishnupriya: “লাওস”
  • Bislama: “Laos”
  • Bosnian: “Laos”
  • Brahui: “Láos”
  • Breton: “Laos”
  • Buginese: “Lao”
  • Buginese: “Laosa”
  • Buginese: “ᨒᨕᨚ”
  • Buginese: “ᨒᨕᨚᨔ”
  • Bulgarian: “Лаос”
  • Bulgarian: “Народна Демократична Република Лаос”
  • Burmese: “လာအို”
  • Burmese: “လာအိုနိုင်ငံ”
  • Burmese: “လာအိုပြည်သူ့ဒီမိုကရတစ်သမ္မတနိုင်ငံတော်”
  • Burmese: “လောနိုင်ငံ”
  • Catalan: “Laos”
  • Catalan: “República Popular Democràtica de Laos”
  • Cebuano: “Kalawán”
  • Cebuano: “Laos”
  • Cebuano: “Láos”
  • Cebuano: “Lawng Makitawung Demokrasyanhong Republika”
  • Cebuano: “Lawng Makitawung Demokratikong Republika”
  • Central Bikol: “Laos”
  • Central Kurdish: “لاوس”
  • Chavacano: “Laos”
  • Chechen: “Лаос”
  • Chinese: “Láu-o”
  • Chinese: “寮人民民主共和国”
  • Chinese: “寮人民民主共和國”
  • Chinese: “寮国”
  • Chinese: “寮國”
  • Chinese: “老挝 / 寮國”
  • Chinese: “老挝”
  • Chinese: “老挝人民民主共和国”
  • Chinese: “老撾”
  • Chinese: “老撾人民民主共和國”
  • Chuvash: “Лаос”
  • Cornish: “Pow Lao”
  • Corsican: “Laos”
  • Corsican: “Republica Populare Demucratica di u Laos”
  • Corsican: “Republica Populare Demucratica Lao”
  • Crimean Tatar: “Laos”
  • Croatian: “Laos”
  • Croatian: “Laoska Narodna Demokratska Republika”
  • Czech: “Laos”
  • Czech: “Laoská lidově demokratická republika”
  • Czech: “Lidově demokratická republika Laos”
  • Dagbani: “Laos”
  • Danish: “Laos”
  • Dhivehi: “ލާއޯސް”
  • Dimli (individual language): “Laos”
  • Dotyali: “लाओस”
  • Dutch: “Democratische Volksrepubliek Laos”
  • Dutch: “LA”
  • Dutch: “LAO”
  • Dutch: “Laos”
  • Dzongkha: “ལཱ་ཝོས”
  • Eastern Mari: “Лаос”
  • Egyptian Arabic: “لاوس”
  • Esperanto: “LA”
  • Esperanto: “Laoso”
  • Esperanto: “Laŭio”
  • Esperanto: “Laŭujo”
  • Esperanto: “Popola Demokratia Respubliko Laoso”
  • Estonian: “Laos”
  • Estonian: “Laose Demokraatlik Rahvavabariik”
  • Estonian: “Laose DRV”
  • Ewe: “Laos nutome”
  • Ewe: “Laos”
  • Extremaduran: “Laos”
  • Faroese: “Laos”
  • Fiji Hindi: “Laos”
  • Fijian: “Laos”
  • Finnish: “Laos”
  • Finnish: “Laosin demokraattinen kansantasavalta”
  • French: “LAO”
  • French: “Laos”
  • French: “République démocratique populaire lao”
  • French: “République populaire démocratique du Laos”
  • Fulah: “Laos”
  • Fulah: “Lawoos”
  • Gagauz: “Laos”
  • Galician: “Laos”
  • Galician: “República Democrática Popular Lao”
  • Gan Chinese: “老撾”
  • Ganda: “Lawosi”
  • Georgian: “ლაოსი”
  • German: “Laos”
  • Ghanaian Pidgin English: “Laos”
  • Gilaki: “لائؤس”
  • Goan Konkani: “Laos”
  • Goan Konkani: “लाओस”
  • Greek: “Λαϊκή Δημοκρατία του Λάος”
  • Greek: “Λάος”
  • Greek: “Λατινική Αμερική”
  • Guarani: “Láo”
  • Guianese Creole French: “Laos”
  • Gujarati: “લાઓસ”
  • Haitian: “Laos”
  • Haitian: “Layòs”
  • Hakka Chinese: “Laos”
  • Hakka Chinese: “Liàu-koet”
  • Hausa: “Laos”
  • Hausa: “Lawas”
  • Hawaiian: “Laosa”
  • Hebrew: “לאוס”
  • Hiligaynon: “Kalawán”
  • Hiligaynon: “Láos”
  • Hindi: “लाओस”
  • Hungarian: “Laosz”
  • Hungarian: “Laoszi Népi Demokratikus Köztársaság”
  • Iban: “Laos”
  • Icelandic: “Laos”
  • Ido: “Laos”
  • Igbo: “Laos”
  • Iloko: “Laos”
  • Inari Sami: “Laos demokraatlâš aalmugtäsiväldi”
  • Inari Sami: “Laos”
  • Indonesian: “Kelauan”
  • Indonesian: “Laos”
  • Indonesian: “Republik Demokratik Rakyat Lao”
  • Interlingua: “Laos”
  • Interlingue: “Laos”
  • Inuktitut: “ᓛᐅᔅ”
  • Inupiaq: “Laos”
  • Inupiaq: “Lausaq”
  • Irish: “Laos”
  • Italian: “Lao”
  • Italian: “Laos”
  • Italian: “Repubblica Popolare Democratica del Laos”
  • Jamaican Creole English: “Laus”
  • Japanese: “ラオス”
  • Japanese: “ラオス人民民主共和国”
  • Javanese: “Laos”
  • Kabardian: “Лаос”
  • Kabiyè: “Lawɔsɩ”
  • Kadazan Dusun: “Laos”
  • Kalaallisut: “Laos”
  • Kalmyk: “Лаосин Улс Орн”
  • Kannada: “ಲಾವೋಸ್”
  • Kara-Kalpak: “Laos”
  • Karachay-Balkar: “Лаос Халкъ-Демократ Республика”
  • Karachay-Balkar: “Лаос”
  • Karachay-Balkar: “ЛХДР”
  • Kashmiri: “لاؤس”
  • Kashmiri: “لاس”
  • Kashmiri: “लाओस”
  • Kashubian: “Laòs”
  • Kazakh: “Лаос”
  • Khmer: “ឡាវ”
  • Kikuyu: “Laos”
  • Kikuyu: “Laosi”
  • Kinaray-A: “Kalawán”
  • Kinaray-A: “Láos”
  • Kinyarwanda: “Lawosi”
  • Kirghiz: “Лаос”
  • Komering: “Laos”
  • Komi: “Лаос”
  • Kongo: “Laos”
  • Korean: “라오스”
  • Kurdish: “Laos”
  • Kurdish: “لاوس”
  • Ladin: “Laos”
  • Ladino: “Laos”
  • Lao: “Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxôn Lao”
  • Lao: “ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ”
  • Lao: “ປະເທດລາວ”
  • Lao: “ລາວ”
  • Latin: “Laotia”
  • Latvian: “Laosa”
  • Ligurian: “Laos”
  • Ligurian: “Laòs”
  • Limburgan: “Laos”
  • Lingala: “Laos”
  • Lingala: “Lawosi”
  • Lingua Franca Nova: “Lau”
  • Literary Chinese: “老撾”
  • Lithuanian: “Laosas”
  • Livvi: “Laos”
  • Lojban: “laus”
  • Lojban: “luaos”
  • Lombard: “Laos”
  • Low German: “Demokratiske Volksrepublik Lao”
  • Low German: “DVR Lao”
  • Low German: “Laos”
  • Lower Sorbian: “Laos”
  • Luba-Katanga: “Lawosi”
  • Lule Sami: “Laåvså demokratidjalasj álmmukrepublihkka”
  • Lule Sami: “Laåvså demokratidjalasj álmmukrepublijkka”
  • Lule Sami: “Laåvsså”
  • Luxembourgish: “Laos”
  • Macedonian: “Лаос”
  • Madurese: “Laos”
  • Maithili: “लाओस”
  • Malagasy: “Laôs”
  • Malagasy: “Laôsa”
  • Malagasy: “Laôsy”
  • Malay: “Laos”
  • Malay: “Republik Demokratik Rakyat Laos”
  • Malayalam: “ലാവോസ്”
  • Maltese: “il-Laos”
  • Maltese: “Laos”
  • Maltese: “Repubblika Demokratika tal-Poplu tal-Laos”
  • Manipuri: “ꯂꯥꯑꯣ ꯄꯤꯄꯂꯁ ꯗꯦꯃꯣꯛꯔꯦꯇꯤꯛ ꯔꯤꯄꯕ꯭ꯂꯤꯛ”
  • Manipuri: “ꯂꯥꯑꯣꯁ”
  • Manx: “Yn Laos”
  • Maori: “Rāoho”
  • Marathi: “लाओस”
  • Mazanderani: “لائوس”
  • Min Dong Chinese: “Laos”
  • Min Dong Chinese: “Lō̤-kuŏ”
  • Min Nan Chinese: “Liâu-kok”
  • Minangkabau: “Laos”
  • Mingrelian: “ლაოსი”
  • Mirandese: “Laos”
  • Moksha: “Лаос”
  • Mongolian: “Лаос”
  • Moroccan Arabic: “لاووص”
  • Nauru: “Raot”
  • Navajo: “Dziłtah Binááʼádaałtsʼózí Dootłʼizhí Bikéyah”
  • Neapolitan: “Laos”
  • Nepali: “लाओस”
  • Newari: “लाओस”
  • Nias: “Laos”
  • North Ndebele: “Laos”
  • Northern Frisian: “Laos”
  • Northern Sami: “Laos”
  • Northern Sami: “Laosa demokráhtalaš álbmotdásseváldi”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Den demokratiske folkerepublikk Laos”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Den demokratiske folkerepublikken Laos”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Laos, Den folkedemokratiske republikken”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Laos”
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: “Laos, Den folkedemokratiske republikken”
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: “Laos”
  • Norwegian: “Laos”
  • Novial: “Laos”
  • Nyanja: “Laos”
  • Occitan (post 1500): “Laos”
  • Occitan (post 1500): “Laòs”
  • Official Aramaic (700-300 BCE): “ܠܐܳܣ”
  • Old English (ca. 450-1100): “Laoland”
  • Oriya: “ଲାଓସ”
  • Oriya: “ଲାଓସ୍”
  • Oromo: “Laa’os”
  • Ossetian: “Лаос”
  • Pa'o Karen: “လာအိုခမ်းထီ”
  • Pali: “लाओस”
  • Pampanga: “Kalawan”
  • Pampanga: “Laos”
  • Pampanga: “Láus”
  • Pangasinan: “Laos”
  • Panjabi: “ਲਾਉਸ”
  • Panjabi: “ਲਾਓਸ”
  • Papiamento: “Laos”
  • Persian: “لائوس”
  • Picard: “Laos”
  • Piemontese: “Làos”
  • Pitcairn-Norfolk: “Layos”
  • Polish: “Laos (Demokratyczna Republika Ludowa)”
  • Polish: “Laos”
  • Polish: “Laotańska Republika Ludowo-Demokratyczna”
  • Portuguese: “Laos”
  • Portuguese: “Lau”
  • Portuguese: “Laus”
  • Portuguese: “República Democrática Popular Lau”
  • Portuguese: “República Popular Democrática do Laos”
  • Pushto: “لاوس”
  • Quechua: “Laos”
  • Quechua: “Law suyu”
  • Rakhine: “လာဝ်နိုင်ငံ”
  • Rakhine: “လာအို ပြည်သူ့ဒီမိုကရက်တစ်သမ္မတနိုင်ငံတော်”
  • Rakhine: “လာအိုနိုင်ငံ”
  • Romanian: “Lao, Republica Democratică Populară”
  • Romanian: “Laos”
  • Romansh: “Laos”
  • Rundi: “Layosi”
  • Russia Buriat: “Лаос”
  • Russian: “Лаос”
  • Russian: “Лаосская Народно-Демократическая Республика”
  • Russian: “ЛНДР”
  • Rusyn: “Лаос”
  • Sakizaya: “Laos”
  • Samoan: “Laos”
  • Samoan: “Laosi”
  • Samogitian: “Lauosos”
  • Sango: “Lùaôsi”
  • Sanskrit: “लाओस”
  • Santali: “ᱞᱟᱣᱚᱥ”
  • Saraiki: “لاؤس”
  • Sardinian: “Laos”
  • Scots: “Laos”
  • Scottish Gaelic: “Làthos”
  • Serbian: “LAO”
  • Serbian: “Laos”
  • Serbian: “Лаос”
  • Serbian: “Лаоска Народна Демократска Република”
  • Serbo-Croatian: “Laos”
  • Shan: “မိူင်းလၢဝ်း”
  • Shona: “Laos”
  • Shona: “Raosi”
  • Sicilian: “Laos”
  • Silesian: “Laos”
  • Sindhi: “لائوس”
  • Sinhala: “ලාඕසය”
  • Skolt Sami: “Laoozz demokraattlaž meertääʹssväʹldd”
  • Skolt Sami: “Laos”
  • Slovak: “Laos”
  • Slovak: “Laoská ľudovodemokratická republika”
  • Slovenian: “Laos”
  • Slovenian: “Ljudska demokratična republika Laos”
  • Somali: “Laos”
  • South Azerbaijani: “لائوس”
  • Spanish: “Laos”
  • Spanish: “Republica Democratica Popular Lao”
  • Spanish: “República Democrática Popular Lao”
  • Sundanese: “Laos”
  • Swahili: “Laos”
  • Swahili: “Laosi”
  • Swati: “ILawoso”
  • Swedish: “Demokratiska folkrepubliken Laos”
  • Swedish: “Laos”
  • Swiss German: “Laos”
  • Tagalog: “Kalawán”
  • Tagalog: “Laos”
  • Tagalog: “Láos”
  • Tagalog: “Law na Makamadlang Demokratikong Republika”
  • Tagalog: “Law na Makataumbayang Demokratikong Republika”
  • Tagalog: “Makamadlang Demokratikong Republika ng Kalawán”
  • Tagalog: “Makataumbayang Demokratikong Republika ng Kalawán”
  • Tai Nüa: “ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥘᥣᥝᥰ”
  • Tajik: “Лаос”
  • Talysh: “Laos”
  • Tamil: “லாவோஸ்”
  • Taroko: “Laos”
  • Tatar: “Лаос”
  • Telugu: “లావోస్”
  • Tetum: “Laos”
  • Thai: “LAO”
  • Thai: “ประเทศลาว”
  • Thai: “ปะเทดลาว”
  • Thai: “เมืองลาว”
  • Thai: “ล้านช้าง”
  • Thai: “ลาว”
  • Thai: “ลาวส์”
  • Thai: “สปป.ลาว”
  • Thai: “สาธารณรัฐประชาธิปไตยประชาชนลาว”
  • Tibetan: “ལའོ་སུ།”
  • Tibetan: “ལཱ་འོས།”
  • Tigrinya: “ላኦስ”
  • Tok Pisin: “Laos”
  • Tonga (Tonga Islands): “Laosi”
  • Tonga (Tonga Islands): “Lau”
  • Tosk Albanian: “Laos”
  • Tsonga: “Laos”
  • Tswana: “Laos”
  • Tumbuka: “Laos”
  • Tunisian Arabic: “لاوس”
  • Turkish: “Laos”
  • Turkmen: “Laos”
  • Twi: “Laos”
  • Udmurt: “Лаос”
  • Uighur: “لائوس”
  • Ukrainian: “Лаос”
  • Ukrainian: “Лаоська Народно-Демократична Республіка”
  • Upper Sorbian: “Laos”
  • Urdu: “لاؤس”
  • Uzbek: “Laos”
  • Venetian: “Làos”
  • Venetian: “Łàos”
  • Veps: “Laos”
  • Veps: “Laosan Rahvahaliž-Demokratine Tazovaldkund”
  • Veps: “LRDT”
  • Vietnamese: “CHDCND Lào”
  • Vietnamese: “Cộng hoà Dân chủ Nhân dân Lào”
  • Vietnamese: “Cộng hòa Dân chủ Nhân dân Lào”
  • Vietnamese: “Lao”
  • Vietnamese: “Lào”
  • Vlaams: “Laos”
  • Volapük: “Laosän”
  • Võro: “Laos”
  • Waray (Philippines): “Kalawán”
  • Waray (Philippines): “Laos”
  • Waray (Philippines): “Láos”
  • Welsh: “Laos”
  • Western Frisian: “Laos”
  • Western Panjabi: “لاؤس”
  • Wolof: “Lawos”
  • Wolof: “Réewum Lawos”
  • Wu Chinese: “老挝”
  • Yakut: “Лаос”
  • Yiddish: “לאאס”
  • Yiddish: “לאַאס”
  • Yoruba: “Láọ̀s”
  • Yoruba: “Laosi”
  • Yue Chinese: “寮”
  • Yue Chinese: “寮人民民主共和國”
  • Yue Chinese: “寮國”
  • Yue Chinese: “老”
  • Yue Chinese: “老撾”
  • Yue Chinese: “老撾人民民主共和國”
  • Zeeuws: “Laos”
  • Zhuang: “Lao”
  • Zhuang: “Laujvoh”
  • Zulu: “i-Laos”
  • “LA”
  • “Lao”
  • “LAO”
  • “Laos”
  • “Lauosos”
  • “ma Lajo”
  • “लाओस”

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About Mapcarta. Data © OpenStreetMap contributors and available under the Open Database License". Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, except for photos, directions, and the map. Description text is based on the Wikivoyage page “Laos”. Photo: Tango7174, CC BY-SA 4.0.