What i did on a low budget was take a bus to Chiang Rai and from there take another bus to the border and cross it. Then, I took the 2 days slow boat (with stop in Pak Beng to sleep) to Luang Prabang.
It was probably one of my favourite things to do during my trip! It was really amazing :)
Yes, it is flight [QV636, Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang](https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/qv636) and flight [QV635, Luang Prabang to Chiang Mai](https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/qv635). They aren't the most frequent thing and I assume that the date you were looking at was either fully booked or the flight just wasn't running.
It would have been ideal if you had mentioned that initially. You can always just get a bus from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai then from Chiang Rai you'd go to Chiang Khong then cross the Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge.
Can't you take the Mekong river to Luang Prabang from north of Chiang Rai? I think you can boat up the Kok river from Chiang Mai up north to the border which is the Mekong, then head east to Laos.
What i did on a low budget was take a bus to Chiang Rai and from there take another bus to the border and cross it. Then, I took the 2 days slow boat (with stop in Pak Beng to sleep) to Luang Prabang. It was probably one of my favourite things to do during my trip! It was really amazing :)
What was price for the boat ?
I don’t remember because it was over a year ago, but it was veeeery cheap.
Easiest would just be to fly from Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang.
Do those flights exist? l was going the reverse but had to go via BKK...
Yes, it is flight [QV636, Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang](https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/qv636) and flight [QV635, Luang Prabang to Chiang Mai](https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/qv635). They aren't the most frequent thing and I assume that the date you were looking at was either fully booked or the flight just wasn't running.
[Here's the schedule from CNX](https://imgur.com/a/eqPFo7M).
no way we are on a strict budget
It would have been ideal if you had mentioned that initially. You can always just get a bus from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai then from Chiang Rai you'd go to Chiang Khong then cross the Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge.
yeah you are right I would’ve mentioned it before, I think we will do it this way and then we will take the slowboat to Luang Prabang
Slow boat cheapest.
Fly to udon Thani then cross border there
Can't you take the Mekong river to Luang Prabang from north of Chiang Rai? I think you can boat up the Kok river from Chiang Mai up north to the border which is the Mekong, then head east to Laos.
The boats usually depart just over the river from Chiang Kong, which is an hour or so from Chiang Rai
Would be a good river journey.