Laos is a tiny country in the hills north of Thailand. It feels almost like a secret: little villages sit on misty mountainsides, where people live among the rice paddies. It is a calm kind of place, where life moves to the beat of a slower drum. It is landlocked, but that doesn’t mean that a Laos scuba diving trip is out of the question.
We don’t know of any dive spots in Laos itself, although there might be opportunities for cave diving or lake diving in future for example in Nam Ngum Laos’s largest lakes. For now, you’ll need to head over the border into Thailand, Cambodia or Vietnam. Luckily, it’s easy to get to any of them, with trains, buses and flights from the capital Vientiane. There is good diving in all three, too – warm, tropical waters, coral reefs and lots of fish!
In Vietnam, Nha Trang is the most popular dive centre. This relaxed seaside town has an established dive scene, and has a protected marine park just offshore. Cambodia is being developed as a dive destination, with new operators springing up all the time. Overfishing has destroyed some of the Cambodian coral, but there is enough to see to keep most happy for a few dives. The Koh Sdach islands have the most interesting diving.
The best diving near Laos is to be found further south in Thailand. Pretty much anywhere you dive off the Thai coast is spectacular, and it’s the world’s cheapest place to learn to dive, too. Pattaya is the nearest dive spot to Bangkok, although the best diving is further south, in places such as Koh Tao.
Take a Laos scuba diving trip, and explore warm tropical waters, with their colourful coral and teeming fish.
