Search hotels in Ban Houayxay

As far as I know, the only reason to travel to Ban Houayxay as a tourist is because you are taking the slow boat to Luang Prabang from there. The town is getting some construction upgrades, so lots of dust. It looks like it could be a cool place to spend a day or more, but I recommend you not do it on a Sunday. Most everything was closed, and it was difficult finding a place where we wanted to eat a nice meal. And because they know you are tourists and are pretty much stuck there, prices are a bit high. If you didn't already purchase your boat ticket package, I recommend shopping around a bit. We got ours at our hotel, including a tuktuk ride. We could have paid a tiny bit less at the currency exchange place, but either way was much less expensive than booking through agencies in ChiangMai/ChiangRai. It's easy enough to figure out the rest on your own. Pro-tip: if you are going to take the slow-boat (and you most likely are), I recommend getting there early by tuktuk (way too far to walk- it's not where Google maps makes you think it is). You can buy food and beer at the drop-off, but don't dawdle around there. Get your ticket and walk down to the boat as soon as you can, because even though your ticket has a seat number, it's sit where you want- first come, first served. Make sure you don't have something you need for your time on the boat in your big backpack, because that is getting stowed out of reach. Sit nearer the front of the boat for less engine noise, but choose your seats carefully. Make sure they recline if that's important to you. The seats are basically minivan seats that have been nailed to wood skids and placed on the boat. So they are fairly comfortable.

You have to go to Ban Houayxay if you want to do the Gibbon Experience (highly recommended!). From my point of view it's the only reason to visit this place. I think getting decent accommodation is hard to find as it's such a transient place given it's a border town.

Definitely one of the saddest places I ever visited, would gladly not return! We stopped for a day waiting on a slow boat to Luang Prabang and met other travelers doing the same or participating in the Gibbon Experience. Not one single person we met found the town particularly interesting. The whole town is basically one street with overpriced restaurants and strange shops set in front rooms of local houses, with unfriendly locals. I was shocked by how expensive the food in restaurants was and the fact that you had no choice but to eat there! If you have time, visit far-away street food stalls in the evening (opposite direction of the pier) and save some money. It is quite far by foot if you’re staying near the pier so definitely take a bike! Overall if you can, avoid staying here and rather stay in Chiang Kong on the other side!