How to Do a Hoi An Visa Run

What a visa run actually is

A visa run is a day trip to the nearest border crossing and back. You leave Vietnam, get your exit stamp, spend a short time in the neighboring country, then re-enter with a fresh visa or a new entry on the one you already hold. For people living in Hoi An, the border that matters is Lao Bao, about four hours up the coast in Quang Tri province. It's the closest land crossing to Central Vietnam, and it's the one our drivers use every day.

The whole thing fits in a single day. Departures run every two hours from 4am to 4pm, 365 days a year, so you can leave in the morning, cross into Laos, and be back in Hoi An by evening with a valid stamp. No flights, no overnight bus, no hotel near the border. You sleep in your own bed.

Why do people do this at all? Vietnam's e-visa gives you 90 days, single or multiple entry. Once you've used up your entries or your days are running down, the cleanest fix is a border run. You don't need a new visa from scratch; you need an exit and a fresh entry, and the run provides both in one go.

A few things make the Hoi An run smoother than the DIY version. The border has two sets of immigration windows, one on each side, and the paperwork has a rhythm that's easier to watch than to explain. Our drivers do this crossing every day, know the officers, and know which window to hit first. English-speaking guides stay with you from pickup to re-entry, which helps when the Laos side asks for things in a hurry.

This guide walks you through the whole process: whether you actually need a run, what to bring, what happens at each window, what it costs in 2026, and the mistakes that cost people time. If you'd rather not think about any of it, the short version is: book a seat, bring your passport, and follow the driver.

Do you actually need a visa run?

Before you book anything, check your current status. Three situations send most people to the border.

First, you're on a 90-day e-visa and you've used up your allowed entries. A single-entry e-visa is spent the moment you use that one entry. If you leave Vietnam for a weekend in Laos and come back, that's your single entry gone, and you won't be let back in without a new visa. A run fixes this by giving you a clean new visa or re-entry on a multiple-entry one.

Second, your 90 days are nearly up and you want to stay longer. The e-visa can't be extended from inside the country in the old way. You exit, you come back, and the clock restarts. This is the standard renewal loop for digital nomads and long-stay travelers in Hoi An.

Third, you've overstayed or you're close to it. Overstaying in Vietnam gets you fined, and repeat offenses attract more attention. If your stamp expires in the next week or two, don't wait. Book a run while you still have a few days of slack, because if something goes wrong at the border you want a buffer.

How do you know your exact expiry date? It's stamped in your passport, not the date your visa was approved. The stamp on arrival is the one that counts. If you're not sure, a mirror or a photo on your phone will show you.

One more check: your passport needs at least six months of validity for the e-visa application, and the border officers check it too. If your passport is close to expiry, sort that out before you spend money on a run, because a short passport can be refused at either window.

When in doubt, send us a photo of your stamp and current visa. We'll tell you if a run is needed, or whether the 90-day extension desk can handle it from Hoi An instead.

The route: Hoi An to Lao Bao

The run starts at your door. We pick you up in Hoi An (or Da Nang if that's where you're staying) and drive you to the Lao Bao international border crossing in Quang Tri province. It's roughly 300 kilometers of highway, most of it on the main coastal road before you turn inland toward the mountains. Count on around four to five hours each way depending on traffic.

Departures leave every two hours from 4am to 4pm, every day of the year. The early vans are the popular ones. Leave at 4am, you're at the border by mid-morning, you do the crossing while the queues are short, and you're back in Hoi An by early evening. Leave at noon and you'll still finish the same day, but you'll share the border with more travelers and the return drive lands you home late.

Two ride options. The shared van is the budget choice and runs from Hoi An for 45 USD. It's a normal passenger van with other travelers doing the same run. The private car costs more but goes when you go: no waiting for other pickups, you set the pace, and the car waits for you through both border crossings. Families and groups of three or four usually take the private car because the per-person price works out close to the van.

Every ride includes door-to-border transport and a bilingual guide who stays with you the whole day. That guide is the difference between a relaxed crossing and a confusing one. They handle the order of windows, translate for the Laos officers, and keep your documents moving when the queues back up.

The border itself is a proper international checkpoint, open daily, with immigration on both the Vietnamese and Lao sides. There are shops, money changers, and places to sit while you wait. You won't be roughing it.

One thing to know about the return leg: the drive back is the same four to five hours, and your guide will confirm your new stamp is valid before you leave the border area. Nobody wants to discover a problem an hour down the road.

What to bring

The list is short, but every item matters. Missing one can stall you at the border or, worse, send you back.

Your passport is the main thing. It needs at least six months of validity from the date you re-enter Vietnam, and the officers on both sides check that. If you have an old passport with a valid visa in it, bring both books; the new one gets the stamp and the old one proves your entry.

Cash for the Laos side. Laos charges a visa on arrival fee that runs roughly 30 to 45 USD depending on your nationality. They prefer US dollars in cash, crisp bills. Some nationalities don't need a Laos visa at all for short stays, so if you're from one of those, you skip that window entirely. Your guide knows which category you're in and will tell you before you get there. Bring a bit extra in dong or dollars anyway, for drinks, snacks, or a money changer if you need one.

Your current Vietnam visa or e-visa, printed if you have the file. The e-visa is checked against the immigration database, so a printout isn't strictly required, but it speeds things up when the officer can see it in your hand. If our desk submitted your e-visa, we have the PDF on file and can send it to your phone.

A photo of your passport photo page saved on your phone. You won't need it most days, but if a form gets filled in wrong, having the details on screen beats reading them off a worn passport in bad light.

Your Vietnam address and a phone number. The Laos arrival form asks where you're staying, and officers occasionally ask for a contact. Your hotel or apartment address in Hoi An plus your Vietnamese SIM number covers it.

That's it. No bank statements, no letters, no notarized anything for a standard run. If you're also adding the 90-day e-visa service to the same trip, you'll upload your passport page and a portrait photo before departure, and we handle the rest from the desk.

What it costs in 2026

Prices here are what we charge today, in USD, with the VND equivalent in brackets. They cover transport and, where noted, the visa itself.

Transport only. Shared van from Hoi An: 45 USD (1,200,000 VND). Private car from Hoi An: 140 USD for the car (3,400,000 VND), which makes sense for three or four people traveling together. Da Nang pickups are slightly cheaper: 40 USD shared, 135 USD per car.

Full packages from Hoi An. Standard: 140 USD (3,600,000 VND), shared van plus a single-entry e-visa. Comfort: 285 USD (7,300,000 VND), private car plus single-entry e-visa. Traveler: 310 USD (8,000,000 VND), private car plus a multiple-entry e-visa. The same packages from Da Nang run 135, 230, and 255 USD.

Visa processing on its own. Single entry: 95 USD (2,400,000 VND). Multiple entry: 120 USD (3,100,000 VND). If you already have a valid visa and only need transport, you don't pay for processing at all.

Push service, when you need the visa fast. Our desk can push a 90-day e-visa through in as little as one hour for 125 USD, down through 2 hours (90), 4 hours (60), 1 day (50), 2 days (40), 3 days (35), and 4 days (25). The rush tiers are popular with people who book late and realize their stamp expires tomorrow.

The Laos visa on arrival is paid directly at the border, 30 to 45 USD depending on nationality, and it's not part of our pricing. Bring clean dollar bills; the Laos officers are picky about torn or marked notes.

What you're not paying for: the guide, the border assistance, and the door-to-door pickup are included in every transport price. No hidden fees at the end of the day, and the price you see when you book is the price you pay. If you're booking for more than four travelers, tell us in the notes and we'll quote the car separately.

Payment is in cash or by bank transfer, and we confirm everything by WhatsApp before departure. One last note: prices can shift with exchange rates, so the number on the booking form is the one that counts, not this page.

Mistakes that cost people time

After hundreds of runs, these are the errors we see most. Every one of them is avoidable.

Booking the day your stamp expires. If the e-visa system is slow to sync, or the border is packed, you have zero buffer. Book with at least three or four days of slack. The run still happens the same day, but a delay stops being a crisis.

Forgetting cash for the Laos fee. There's no ATM at the border that reliably works for foreigners, and the Laos window takes dollars. Show up with 30 to 45 USD in clean notes per person, and a little extra for food and water.

Not checking the exit stamp. Once you're back in the car, a wrong date on the exit stamp means a redo. Look at it before you leave the window. Same for the re-entry stamp on the way back.

Skipping the photo of your visa approval. Our desk sends the e-visa PDF to your phone, but if you booked elsewhere, save the file before you leave Hoi An. Phones lose signal in the mountains, and the border's wifi is not something to rely on.

Treating the Laos side as a formality. Some nationalities breeze through; others pay and queue. The guide will tell you which you are, but it helps to know your own status before the trip. A quick search of "Laos visa exemption [your country]" takes thirty seconds.

Bringing a passport with less than six months of validity. This one ends the day before it starts. Check the expiry date at booking time, not at the border.

The other side of the coin: what works well. Early departures, morning crossings, and runs on weekdays are quieter. The 4am van gets you through before the midday crowd, and the return drive lands you home with daylight to spare. Groups of four save real money on the private car. And if you're adding a 90-day e-visa, upload your documents before departure so the desk can file the instant you cross out.

One honest note: visa runs are legal, routine border crossings, not a loophole. Thousands of travelers do them yearly from Central Vietnam. The rules can change, so if anything here conflicts with what an officer tells you on the day, the officer wins.