In case anyone is thinking of doing a visa run to Savannakhet Laos I just went this week and will share details about the trip for anyone who might find this information helpful
I took the bus from bangkok (nakonchai air) at 9:30pm Tuesday night for about 650 baht and arrived at mukdahan bus station Wednesday at 7:30am (10 hour ride).
From there I was able to get on the 7:45am bus to savannakhet for 50 baht. They pass first through thai immigration and the bus waits for everyone. Then we go through laos immigration. I had an evisa but they still charged me 100 baht to enter. Alot of other passengers were still busy doing their visa on arrival (its a huge stamp that will take a whole page, so the evisa is better). The bus this time doesn’t wait long and will leave without you. You will have to take a tuktuk or wait for the next bus in their service. I got on the bus and it takes us past the thai embassy. We asked if they can stop but they only stop at the savannakhet bus station.
From the savannakhet bus station to the thai embassy one of the tuktuks charged us 50 baht each (3 people). We arrived at the embassy at 8:45am. The line had maybe 15 people. It was short. From what I understand Mondays are the busy day to avoid, Tuesday Wednesday Thursday are the best days. There is a copy place across the street that offers to do the paperwork for you for 200 baht and photocopies for 20 baht. Gates open at 9 and we all got in to wait at the window that takes your documents. I gave all the expected documents but I also had printed out recent bank statements from my US bank because I heard they recently started requiring financial proof for the visa type I requested and I ended up needing that or else they would have only given a single entry and not multiple entry. Finished at 9:30am.
For the hotel I walked across the street to macchiato resort. On the travel websites they have it as 2700+ baht a night but when I walked up in person and asked they said only 1000 baht (+300 if you want breakfast +300 for early check in, or wait until 2pm). I took early check in but not breakfast. They have good wifi and can accept thai prompt pay (qr code for paying with thai baht on your phone)
The “target” supermarket down the street like most places accepts thai baht. I used coins in other places but this supermarket only accepted paper baht not coins. I bought some stuff for 81,000 kip and they charged us 150 baht. I gave 160 and she gave back 14,000 or 16,000 kip in place of 10 baht change. I don’t know if that was a good exchange rate or not. But seemed fair. If i was staying longer it would have been a good idea to exchange to laos money.
Went the next day to the embassy at 2pm Thursday and everyone got their passports back within a few minutes. I took a tuktuk back to the bus station 2 people for 50 baht each. The bus back to mukdahan was 110 baht total for 2 people and the bus started at 2:30 or 2:45. Laos immigration charged everyone 100 baht to exit. At thai immigration they had non thais fill out the TM6 arrival card which I thought they had stopped doing. After thai immigration the bus was extra crowded and people standing.
We were at mukdahan bus station by 3:30pm. From there we got a “sahaphan” bus 5:30pm back to bangkok for about 700+ baht. We arrived in bangkok at 4:30am (11 hour trip)
It seems intimidating if you have never gone but once you go in real life everything is pretty easy when you use Savanakhet if you need to go out for a visa. The big tip I would suggest is if you have time to reserve tickets a day or two in advance then try to use “nakonchai air” bus. Also our thai sim cards had no service so maybe download google maps to offline for when you are outside if you don’t buy a local sim card. When you exit thailand get a departure/arrival card so you can have it ready and save time when you come back into Thailand
