Crossing Borders

As of September 2026 there is no open land crossing between Thailand and Cambodia. They shut in stages from late June 2025 during the border conflict, and none has reopened. That includes Poipet–Aranyaprathet on the Bangkok to Siem Reap road, Cham Yeam–Hat Lek on the coast at Trat, O’Smach–Chong Jom in Surin, Ban Pakard–Pailin in Chanthaburi, and Choam–Chong Sa-Ngam in Si Sa Ket.

A ceasefire agreed at the end of 2025 reportedly broke down within weeks. The Thai government has said that reopening will follow a step-by-step restoration of relations rather than a single announcement, and has given no timetable.

Flights are not affected. Bangkok to Siem Reap and Bangkok to Phnom Penh run as scheduled services, take about an hour, and go several times a day. Every Thailand to Cambodia leg we operate is now flown, and has been since 2025. If you read an older guidebook or an itinerary that still shows the Poipet road, it is out of date.

Four crossings matter, and they do not work the same way.

Dansavanh–Lao Bao, on Route 9 between Dong Ha and Savannakhet, is the only one of them that issues a Lao visa on arrival. It is the busiest, the best staffed, and the one we use wherever the route allows. Bring dollars in cash and passport photographs.

Nam Phao–Cau Treo west of Vinh, Nam Can in Nghe An, and Bo Y–Phou Keua in the central highlands all require a Lao visa obtained from an embassy or consulate before you travel. Reports of visas being issued at these gates surface regularly and are not reliable enough to plan a trip around.

The critical point: the Lao eVisa is not accepted at any land border with Vietnam. Travellers turn up at Cau Treo every month with a printed eVisa approval and are refused entry. If your route enters Laos overland from Vietnam anywhere other than Lao Bao, we arrange the embassy visa in advance as part of the booking.

The Lao eVisa is valid at nine ports, and it is worth knowing exactly which. Three airports: Wattay in Vientiane, Luang Prabang, and Pakse. Four land crossings, all of them facing Thailand or China — Friendship Bridge I at Vientiane and Nong Khai, Friendship Bridge II at Savannakhet and Mukdahan, Friendship Bridge IV at Houayxay and Chiang Khong in Bokeo, and Boten in Luang Namtha on the Chinese border. Two railway stations on the Laos–China line: Boten and Khamsavath in Vientiane.

That covers the way most travellers actually enter the country. Arriving from Thailand at any of the three bridges, flying into any of the three airports, or coming down by train from Kunming — the eVisa is straightforward, applied for online and printed out.

What it does not cover is Vietnam, Cambodia, Friendship Bridge III at Thakhek and Nakhon Phanom, or the smaller river crossings. If your itinerary uses one of those, you need a different document, and we will tell you which before you apply for anything.

Two crossings carry almost all the traffic between the two countries, and both are straightforward.

Bavet–Moc Bai sits on the road between Phnom Penh and Ho Chi Minh City. Buses run the route several times daily and take six to seven hours including formalities; on our journeys it is a private transfer with the guide handling the paperwork. Both posts are busy, modern enough, and used to foreign passports.

Kaam Samnor–Vinh Xuong is the river crossing, taken by the boats that run between Phnom Penh and Chau Doc. It is slower and considerably more interesting, and it puts you into the delta rather than into a bus station on the edge of Saigon.

The detail that catches people out is on the Vietnamese side. The Vietnam e-visa requires you to nominate your port of entry when you apply, and immigration will only admit you at that port. An e-visa issued for Tan Son Nhat airport will not get you through Moc Bai. Tell us the route before you apply for anything.

Two changes matter this year. From 15 September 2026 the visa exemption for most Western nationalities — Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States and around sixty countries in total — drops from 60 days to 30. Seychelles and Mauritius passports get 15. For a two- or three-week journey this changes nothing. For anyone planning a longer stay either side of the group trip, it changes a great deal.

The second change applies at land borders. Entry under the visa exemption by land is limited to twice per calendar year, with exceptions for citizens of Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and Indonesia. Arrivals by air are not capped.

Separately, every foreign national entering Thailand by air, land or sea must file the Thailand Digital Arrival Card. It is free, it takes a few minutes, and it can only be submitted within 72 hours of arrival. Several commercial sites charge for it and none of them needs to. We send the official link with your final documents and check that everyone has filed.

Myanmar has no land border we would use. The crossings from Thailand at Mae Sot and Mae Sai open and close with the fighting and lead into contested territory; the routes from Laos, China and India are not options for tourists. Every Myanmar itinerary we run is flown, in and out of Yangon.

Within the country only Yangon, Bagan, Mandalay and Inle Lake are realistically reachable, and even these sit inside a picture that several governments describe in strong terms. The United Kingdom advises against all travel to a long list of states and regions, and against all but essential travel to most of the rest, including Shan State South, where Inle Lake is. Travel insurance is commonly void where you travel against that advice. Read your own government’s current wording, and your policy, before you commit to anything.

Everything above was checked in September 2026. Borders, visa rules and advisories here change with little notice and sometimes overnight — ask us for the current position rather than relying on this page.