Hoi An Visa Run Bus | Schedules & Pickup

What the Hoi An visa run bus is

The visa run bus is a shared van that takes you from Hoi An to the Lao Bao border crossing and back in a single day. It seats up to 10 passengers, picks you up at your hotel, and runs on a fixed schedule, so you know exactly when you leave and roughly when you get home.

For most people in Hoi An this is the whole visa run. The van drops you at the Vietnamese immigration windows, waits while you cross into Laos and back, and brings you home the same evening. You do not rent a car, you do not figure out local buses, and you do not haggle with motorbike taxis in Dong Ha. The driver and the guide handle the route; you handle your passport.

Who rides it? Solo travelers, couples, and digital nomads who want the cheapest reliable way to renew a visa. It is also the option that makes the numbers work if you are on a budget: a seat costs 45 USD from Hoi An, and that includes door-to-door pickup, the round trip to the border, and an English-speaking guide for the whole day.

The van itself is a normal passenger van, air conditioned, with room for luggage. Nobody is squeezed into a sleeper bus. You sit, you nap, you watch the coast go by for a few hours, and you are at the border before lunch if you take the early departure.

One thing worth saying up front: the bus is not the only way to do this run, but it is the one most people take. The private car exists for families and groups, and this guide covers both, because the schedule and the border steps are the same. What changes is the price and how much of the day belongs to you.

Departure schedule from Hoi An

Vans leave Hoi An every two hours from 4am to 4pm, 365 days a year. There is no weekly schedule to memorize and no day the service stops. If your visa expires on a Tuesday, you run on a Tuesday.

Times assume a four to five hour drive each way and about an hour at the border, which covers the crossing itself and the wait for a new e-visa to sync.

The 4am and 6am vans are the ones regulars book. You cross before the border gets busy, the immigration queues are short, and you are back in Hoi An in time for a late lunch. The afternoon vans work, but you share the border with more people and the return drive lands you home well after dark.

Book the day before whenever you can. Same-day bookings work if there is a seat, but the early vans fill up, and the whole point of a visa run is not having to stress about timing. Pick your departure, get a confirmation with a pickup window, and the van comes to you.

Pickup points across Hoi An

Pickup is door to door from your hotel, homestay, or apartment anywhere in Hoi An. The van does a round of the city before heading out, and your pickup window is one hour, so the van can reach every corner of town without rushing.

The main pickup zones are:

• Minh An (Old Town): the historic center, including hotels on Tran Phu, Nguyen Thai Hoc, and the riverside lanes. The van pulls up where it can; the driver calls or messages when close.
• An Hoi: the island side across the Japanese Covered Bridge, popular with boutique stays. Easy pickup, usually early in the round.
• Cam Nam: the quieter side of the Thu Bon river, a mix of homestays and villas. Included in the same round as An Hoi.
• Tan An: the strip along the main road out of town toward Da Nang, convenient if you want to be last on, first off.
• Cam Chau: the rice-field neighborhood behind the Old Town, full of villas and guesthouses. Pickup here is standard, not special.
• An Bang Beach: the beach village north of town. The van detours for An Bang and Cua Dai pickups, so expect your window to sit later in the round.
• Cua Dai: the beachfront hotels at the end of the peninsula.

If you are staying outside these areas, put your address in the booking notes anyway. Most of the time the driver still comes to you; the one-hour window exists precisely so the van can cover the whole city.

Riding from Da Nang instead? The same vans pick up along My Khe beach, the Han River, and the city center, and the seat costs 40 USD. You get the same schedule, the same guide, and the same border. Pick the city that matches your bed.

Where you actually board

There is no bus station involved. The van comes to you, and you board at your hotel door. That is the entire boarding process, but a few habits make it go smoothly.

Be ready at the start of your pickup window, not the end. The window is one hour, and the van runs through the round in order. If your window opens at 4:00, the driver may arrive at 4:05, and he will not wait until 4:55 for a guest who is still packing. Stand outside or near the lobby with your things and watch your phone.

Keep your phone charged and your messages open. The driver or guide sends a message when the van is a few stops away, usually on WhatsApp or the app you booked with. If you booked through the website, check the confirmation for the contact number and save it the night before.

Have three things in your hand, not buried in your bag: your passport, cash in US dollars, and your phone with any e-visa PDF saved on it. The border officers want the passport first, the Laos side takes cash for the visa on arrival if your nationality needs one, and the e-visa PDF matters only if you are entering on an approved e-visa rather than a new one filed at the border.

When the van arrives, tell the driver your name, hop in, and pick any seat. There are no assigned seats. Window seats on the left side get the coast views on the way up and the mountains on the way back, if that matters to you.

The guide introduces themselves at pickup and stays with the group the whole day. From the moment you board, your only job is to follow them through the border. Everything else is handled.

The ride to the Lao Bao border

From Hoi An the van heads north on the coastal highway, National Road 1A, passing through Da Nang, Hue, and Quang Tri before turning inland on QL9 toward the mountains. It is roughly 300 kilometers and four to five hours each way, depending on traffic through Da Nang and Hue.

The first hour is the slowest. Morning traffic in Da Nang is real, and the van threads the city before you hit open road. After that the ride settles into a long, straight coastal cruise, and most people sleep. The stretch past Hue runs through the lagoons and the Hai Van tunnel area, and the final leg on QL9 climbs into the hills where the forest closes in on both sides.

There is one scheduled rest stop on the way up, about halfway, at a roadside cafe where the coffee is strong and the toilets are clean. Tell the guide if you need another stop; vans stop on request, the driver would rather pause twice than listen to someone suffer for an hour.

You reach Lao Bao around four and a half hours after leaving Hoi An on the early runs. The border is a proper international checkpoint, not a shack in the woods: immigration buildings on both sides, a no man's land between them, plus shops, money changers, and places to sit. The van parks on the Vietnamese side, the guide leads the group through the windows, and the vehicle stays put until you come back through with your new stamp.

The return ride is the same route in reverse, minus the border crossing. Same rest stop, same driver, same van. If you took the 4am departure, you are back in Hoi An by mid-afternoon, and the whole day has cost you a seat on a bus and a few hours of waiting.

Ticket prices for 2026

Transport pricing is flat and quoted up front, in US dollars or Vietnamese dong. Nothing gets added at the border, and the guide is included in every fare.

The private car is a flat rate for the vehicle, so the per-person price drops as your group grows. Two people pay 70 each, three pay about 47, and four pay 35. At three or four people the car costs about the same as the van, with a better seat and rest stops on demand.

If you also need a new e-visa, the packages bundle everything into one price: 200 USD for a van seat plus a single-entry e-visa, 285 USD for a private car plus single entry, and 310 USD for a private car plus a multiple-entry e-visa. The same packages from Da Nang run 135, 230, and 255 USD. The e-visa itself, filed at the border while you wait, is 95 USD single entry or 120 USD multiple entry.

The full breakdown with every line item lives on the Hoi An visa run cost guide. If you want the short version: a solo traveler pays 45 USD for transport, and the Laos visa on arrival, 30 to 45 USD depending on nationality, is the only cash you hand over at the border.

How to book, and what to bring

Booking takes two minutes on the booking form on the homepage: your name, your hotel, your preferred departure, and whether you need a new e-visa with the run. You get a confirmation with your pickup window and the contact number for the day. For anything unusual, like a group over four or a pickup outside the usual zones, add a note and you will get a direct reply, or write to book@hoianvisarun.com or WhatsApp +84 342 351 970.

What to bring, the full list:

• Your passport, with at least six months of validity left
• Cash in US dollars for the Laos visa on arrival if your nationality needs one
• Your e-visa PDF on your phone if you are entering on an approved e-visa
• Your Hoi An address and a phone number for the forms
• A light layer for the border, which sits in the hills and runs cooler than the coast

What not to bring: big expectations about a quick crossing. The border takes about an hour including the e-visa sync, and the drive takes the drive. Plan the day around that and the run is genuinely easy.

For the step-by-step version of the crossing itself, with what happens at each window, read the complete Hoi An visa run guide. If your stay in Vietnam is longer than a visa run covers, the 90-day extension desk guide explains the alternative. And if you're weighing the bus against the DIY route or a private car, the cheapest visa run guide compares all three side by side.

Running from a different city? The same vans pick up in Da Nang, and the Da Nang visa run site covers that side of the schedule. Hue is closer to the border, so its runs are shorter days; the Hue visa run site has the local times and prices.

Visa run bus questions, answered

**What time does the first visa run bus leave Hoi An?**

The first van leaves at 4am, and departures run every two hours after that until 4pm, every day of the year. The 4am and 6am vans are the ones to book if you want the border crossing done before the queues build up.

**Where does the bus pick me up?**

At your hotel, homestay, or apartment anywhere in Hoi An, including the Old Town, An Hoi, Cam Nam, Tan An, Cam Chau, An Bang Beach, and Cua Dai. Your pickup window is one hour, and the driver messages you when the van is a few stops away.

**How much does the visa run bus cost from Hoi An?**

45 USD per seat from Hoi An, 40 USD from Da Nang, including pickup, the round trip to Lao Bao, and an English-speaking guide. A private car for up to four people is 140 USD flat. Packages with a new e-visa start at 200 USD.

**How long is the bus ride to the border?**

Four to five hours each way, about 300 kilometers up the coast to Quang Tri and inland on QL9. There is a scheduled rest stop halfway, and the van waits for you through both border crossings.

**Can I do the whole visa run in one day on the bus?**

Yes. That is the point of the schedule. The 4am van gets you back to Hoi An by mid-afternoon, and even the 10am departure finishes the same day, just later in the evening.