China-Laos: how to cross the border between Mohan and Boten

In this travel guide, I explain how you can easily cross the China-Laos border between the cities of Mohan(磨憨) and Boten.

In a previous article, I explained how can you cross the border between China and Vietnam, specifically between the cities of Hekou in Yunnan and Lao Cai in Vietnam. Yunnan also borders Laos and since January 2023 there is a really convenient train that connects them. So if you are thinking of traveling between these two beautiful countries, this is the right article for you.

There are three daily trains leaving from Kunming to Mohan (磨憨), two in the morning and one in the afternoon but only train D887 connects China directly to Laos. The other two stop in Mohan and then return to Kunming.

I originally wrote the article before it was possible to cross the border using the train, and you had to get off at the Mohan train station, go through passports checks and then take a taxi to Boten (a few Km away).

It’s now possible to take train D877 (if you arrive from Kunming) or train D888 (if you arrive from Laos) and it will stop for 90 minutes in Boten and Mohan, to complete the passport checks. Then you can get on the same train and continue your journey.

The China-Laos railway is the first part of a bigger project that is supposed to connect Yunnan to Singapore. As of now, only the Yunnan-Laos part is completed and you can travel from Boten to Vientiane. The second part of the project should connect Vientiane to Bangkok and then Bangkok to Singapore.

China-Laos border crossing on a train

As of now, you have to use two different apps depending on the direction of your train, to book your tickets. Keep in mind that in China you can book the ticket up to 14 days in advance (I suggest you book the ticket as soon as possible since they are often sold out for this train) and in Laos only 3 days in advance.

• If you arrive from Kunming you can easily book the ticket using Trip.com. If the tickets are sold out you can alternatively arrive in Mengla(勐腊), which is a city located about one hour from Mohan, and head there by taxi. Mengla is not too far away from another interesting place I talked about: Xishuangbanna (here is my travel guide). If you arrive in Mengla you have to complete the border crossing on foot as I explain later on.
• If you are in Laos and you want to enter China you can use the LCR Ticket to book the ticket

Keep in mind that sometimes you will find the Chinese version of the name of the cities in Laos. For reference, these are the translations:

• Moding: Boten
• Langbolabang: Luang Prabang
• Wanrong: Vang Vieng
• Wanxiang: Vientiane

As you can see the train will stop for 90 minutes both in Mohan and Boten, to complete the passports and Visa checks.

When booking the Laos-China ticket you’ll have to pick up your ticket at the departing train station in Laos.

China-Laos border crossing on foot

The main issue when crossing the border on foot is that the time between the arrival of the train in Mohan and the departure of the other train in Boten is very short and it’s basically impossible to buy a train ticket at the Boten train station for the same day because the tickets are all almost immediately sold out. Everyone on your train will most likely cross the border with you and this means hundreds of people queueing at the custom and waiting to get a visa. It’s quite possible that you’ll miss the train in Laos if it’s a busy day and there is some issue at customs.

This is the current timetable for the trains in Laos (credit to hobomaps.com):

Remember that Laos is one hour behind China and the timetable above is using the Laos timezone.

Since it’s now possible to cross the border on the train I DON’T recommend this option but if for whatever reason you want to do it there are some things to keep in mind.

At the moment, unless you already have a train ticket from Boten to your next destination in Laos, the best option is to arrive in Mohan, or Boten, a day earlier. That’s what I did. This is especially important if you have already booked all of your hotels. You can only find a couple of hotels to stay in Mohan (I stayed here).

I took the second train, the one that arrives in Mohan at 19:33, stayed in the city for one night, and then crossed the border as soon as it opened, way before the first train from Kunming arrived. This gave me enough time to complete all the paperwork at customs, buy a Laos sim card, and finally buy a ticket at the train station (and I barely made it in time: there were only 11 tickets left for the day).

You can take a taxi from the train station to the border (口岸) and enter the building where you’ll have to complete a form and have your passport checked.

There is both a paper slip and a WeChat mini-app that you need to fill in with your personal info. Unfortunately, the mini-app is only in Chinese and so are the instructions on how to complete it.

Leaving China is usually easier than getting in, but in my experience, there isn’t really any issue besides a few routine questions (when entering China). Nothing really too intimidating.

You’ll have to pass your bags through the X-ray machine and soon enough you’ll be on the other side of the building.

Just keep walking for a couple of hundreds meter and you’ll see the Boten checkpoint

When inside the building, fill out the immigration paper slip, head to counter 1, hand over your passport, and pay the 40$ fee for the visa. Then get to counter 2 to take your passport with your Laos visa and complete the customs check. That’s all.

Right after the checkpoint, you’ll see a lot of minivans that can take you to the train station, which looks exactly like any Chinese train station. There even is the same public announcement voice that you hear in China at every train station.

Buying a ticket at the train station in Laos is a very long process because there are agencies that buy tens of tickets at a time. It took me one hour to get mine even if I only had about 30 people in front of me (and there are 4 counters selling tickets in Boten) so I recommend using the LCR app.

Tips for crossing the China-Laos border on foot

• The opening times for the border are from 8:30 to 17:30 on the Chinese side and from 7:30 to 16:30 on the Laos side
• Bring one picture of yourself for the Visa
• Bring a pen to complete the immigration forms, because most likely there won’t be any available and you’ll have to ask around wasting a lot of time
• To get the Laos Visa you first have to go to Counter 1 and then Counter 2
• I’ve received reports of scammers right inside the Laos customs building. Apparently, they take advantage of the confusion when hundreds of people arrive from the Kunming-Mohan train. If people ask you for money to speed up the Visa process, that’s a scam. You should only give the money to the people behind the counters
• The Laos Visa should cost 40$ or 300RMB for most nationalities. You can pay in RMB or USD
• If you arrive from China, you most likely have RMB. Keep in mind that you can pay everything in RMB even in Boten. So my suggestion, if you have to exchange RMB to KIP, is to exchange only a small about in Boten, and then exchange the rest of your money in your next destination. This is because the money changers in Boten will give you a very bad exchange rate

Here you can find my detailed China travel guide.

If you are planning to visit Vang Vieng don’t miss my travel guide. If you are heading straight to Luang Prabang check out my travel guide. Here you can read my other articles about Laos.