Nong Khai is a small town in Northeast Thailand that is mostly known to tourists as a border crossing town. It sits directly across from Laos and serves only a short distance from the capital of Vientiane. However, after living in that area of Thailand for several years, we found that Nong Khai has plenty to offer those who visit it. It has many attractions that are unique in their own right, and it is worth sticking around for a day or two to check them out.
Where is Nong Khai Located
Found in northeast Thailand, Nong Khai is a small town that sits against the Mekong River. It is the capital city of its little province, also called Nong Khai.
Even though it is a small town, Nong Khai is conveniently located because it is the location of the First Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge. Added to that, Nong Khai is the end of one of Thailand’s main highways, Highway 2. Highway 2 starts just outside of Bangkok and makes its way through northeast Thailand, ending at the Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge.
Is Nong Khai Kid Friendly?
Thailand is frequently called “The Land of Smiles” and this fits with the attitude towards children as well. People are extremely loving towards children. With big families, Thais will help you with your children along the way, as well as take pictures of your children, and often give treats to your kids.
Nong Khai is an extremely laid-back town filled with small alleys and uneven pavement. Strollers should work fine along the boardwalk that runs alongside the Mekong River. Once you leave that area using a stroller would be more difficult as the roads of the town are not designed for them. Inside the Tha Sadet Market, it becomes extremely crowded, so a stroller will be cumbersome to have along there as well.
How to Get Around Nong Khai
Having your own vehicle is the easiest way to get around Nong Khai with kids. It allows you to get places much easier and quicker than relying on public transportation.
If you do have to take public transportation, then you will be able to do a good amount right along the Mekong with simply walking. Ordering a Grab taxi is also an easy option in Nong Khai if you are going withing the city itself. If you wish to go further outside the city to the Aquarium or even further to an adjacent city, then you may need to order a Grab taxi ahead of time to make sure there is availability.
You can also get public vans to take you to other town such as Udon Thani. You can catch public vans here. They leave once the van fills up and driver decides to go. We’ve waited up to 30 minutes sitting in a van for the driver to decide it was full enough to go. We recommend using Grab with kids. It costs a bit more, but it saves on time and attitudes.
Nong Khai Attractions
Naga Statues on Nong Khai’s Riverfront Boardwalk
The river’s edge has a large concrete boardwalk running alongside it. There you will find the large naga statues guarding the riverfront.
The naga, a serpent who bestows onto the land, is a significant figure in Thai and Lao mythology. There is an abundance of Thai folklore that includes the naga serpents in the Mekong. Some myths even attribute the creation of the Mekong river to the naga! The statues found on the boardwalk are a good reminder of the importance Thais place on the naga serpents.
After viewing the Naga statues, a family walk on the boardwalk is a must – a lookout to climb, statues of the fish of the Mekong, and multiple photo op stops. But the real gem of the walk, of course, is looking out at the Mekong River with Laos, the neighboring country on the other side.
Our kids enjoy watching the boats zipping around the river.
Tha Sadet Market
The Tha Sadet Market, also known as the Indo-Chine Market, is a bustling covered market that runs alongside the boardwalk. The market is huge, covering many street blocks.
Inside, the market houses a variety of international goods. From Chinese tea to Laotian dried water buffalo hide, Vietnamese sandwiches and Thai handicrafts, this market is a great place for exploring.
It is easy to spend several hours here as each stall in the Tha Sadat Market is unique. It truly has items from all over Asia, not just Thailand or Laos. Our kids loved the variety of items and enjoyed perusing and finding items that were not locally found.
Most items have prices marked, so I don’t recommend bartering unless you are buying larger quantities from the same stall.
Take note: there are only a few bathrooms spread out throughout the market. Bring your own toilet paper! Expect to pay a few baht to use the toilet.
There are several cafes where you can buy a coffee and snacks. The outside of the market also has some stalls where you can buy coconut ice cream or fruit smoothies.
One restaurant to take note of in the market is Daeng Namnuang Nong Khai, a Vietnamese restaurant. This is a specialty Vietnamese restaurant that is very popular amongst Thais. You can find a seat in the restaurant that has a view of the Mekong River.
Tha Sadet Market is open during the day. We recommend going in the morning, if possible, as it can get extremely crowded during the afternoon.
Night Market on the Boardwalk
At night, the Nong Khai boardwalk transforms into a night market. Beginning late afternoon, the first stalls will be set up and by sunset, you will have all stalls set up. What was once a peaceful boardwalk overlooking the Mekong River has transformed into a bustling market.
You will find lots of snack options as well as dinner options in take away containers. It is popular among the locals to shop at the night market, so you will find lots of clothes and toys stalls as well as food. People sit along the river’s edge and look out at the Mekong while enjoying their night market goodies.
If you are in Nong Khai for dinner, we recommend the night market as a good option for finding local street food to eat. You can find all sorts of different variety.
If you are have a picky eater, I recommend you read our post on what you can feed picky eaters while in Thailand.
Eating on a Floating Restaurant
For a great lunch option, we recommend trying one of the many floating restaurants on the Mekong river!
From the boardwalk, you can access a number of restaurants on the Mekong. There are stairs leading down to the floating restaurants. At the top of the stairs, you will find a menu and information about the restaurant.
There is a wide variety of food sold and the prices are reasonable for the experience. The dishes are mostly Isaan cuisine, the Thai food of the northeast. These would include well-known Thai dishes like fried rice and papaya salad. But there are specialty Mekong dishes as well, such as the Mekong catfish.
Food is brought out and expected to be shared family-style. Each person at the table will receive their own plate and the dishes will be placed in the middle of the table with a utensil to dish the food onto your personal plate. Menus have English translation and there are bathroom facilities on board.
Our family really enjoys the experience of sitting over the water and watching the Mekong rush past.
Nong Khai Aquarium
One of the Nong Khai attractions specifically for your kids is the Nong Khai Aquarium is found on the west side of town. It is only accessible by car or Grab taxi.
Despite being a relatively small aquarium, it hosts an abundance of fish found in the Mekong river. My kids enjoyed seeing the variety of catfish found in the Mekong and then matching them with the fish statues found along the boardwalk.
The names of fish are in English with most other signs in Thai. We recommend using a translation app to help if you want more information.
The aquarium follows the dual pricing system of Thailand with a price for Thai citizens and a separate price for international visitors.
Cost
Foreign
Adults - 100 Baht
Child - 50 Baht
We recommend spending an hour to an hour and a half here. There are feeding shows and a gift shop at the end which can add more time.
Sala Keo Kou Sculpture Garden
The Sala Keo Kou Sculpture Garden is a religious site found on the east side of the city, closer to the city center. The garden is full of large unusual concrete sculptures. You can easily take a Grab taxi or drive your own car to this location.
Although this attraction is more geared to Thai tourists, as they understand the religious symbolism of the sculptures, we highly recommend this attraction to international visitors as well.
Sala Keo Kou was created by Luang Phu Boonlua Surirat, a religious teacher in the 1960’sm who mixed Buddhism with Hinduism. Because of this mixing of religious ideology, the statues at Sala Keo Kou sculpture garden are unique to others around Thailand. It is because of the uniqueness we recommend going. You will see things you can’t find elsewhere.
There is very little English at the sculpture garden, so you can use a language translation tool on your phone or just use observation to compare and contrast the different statues throughout the gardens.
The price for an international visitor is 40 baht per person. We recommend staying between one to two hours. There is also fish feeding inside the gardens of Sala Keo Kou Sculpture Garden for the kids to enjoy.
Cost
40 baht per person
Nong Thin Public Park
Much of the nature found in Nong Khai is looking out over the swirling water of the Mekong and into Laos on the other side. There is a small park, called Nong Thin Public Park, found in the center of town with a small lake that is relaxing to walk around if you want to get away when the Mekong boardwalk is too crowded.
The For Rest Cafe
We highly recommend going to the For Rest Cafe (นาบัวกระด้งยักษ์ หนองคาย) with your kids. This restaurant is a true GEM with kids. Our kids love it. You enter the cafe on a cute path filled with beautiful plants and mist machines set all around creating a magical feel.
In the back of the restaurant, they have created a lotus lake with tons of lotus flowers. They also have a few cement lotus’s you can climb into and pretend you are sitting on the leaves. What kid doesn’t love that! You can choose to sit and look over the lotus pond, or you can choose a table or booth scattered along the misty path.
Final Thoughts on Visiting Nong Khai with Kids
This list is by far not the only thing that Nong Khai has to offer. Our family has visited Nong Khai many times and always enjoy our time in the town. Mostly our family enjoys the delicious Thai food at the cafes the town offers. We also very much enjoy eating on the restaurant-boats that are built over the Mekong. Those restaurants offer an excellent selection of Thai food that is perfect for sharing and sampling many different dishes.
In the surrounding area near Nong Khai we recommend spending time exploring Udon Thani a slightly larger city 30 minute to the south. Of course a visit to Thailand would not be complete without a kid friendly 10-day Bangkok itinerary.