Bueng Kan - A Complete Guide To The Isan Town
Sitting in the corner of northeastern Thailand, in the very northern fringes of Isan lies the sleepy, market town of Bueng Kan. Clinging to the banks of the mighty Mekong River and overlooking Laos, Bueng Kan is a small but charming town with a bustling market, lots of street-side eateries and a lively weekend Walking Street. Further afield the town and province are home to the famous Three Whale Rock, Wat Phu Tok as well as national parks, waterfalls and caves.
The town and province of Bueng Kan rarely feature on any travellers itinerary of Thailand, but if you’re looking to delve deeper, explore some untrodden paths, get a taste for Isan food and see a different side to Thailand, then this guide is for you!
Read on to find out everything you’ll need to know about visiting Bueng Kan.
What’s in Our Bueng Kan Guide?
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What To Do In Bueng Kan
Bueng Kan Walking Street Market
(location)
Open every Friday and Saturday, Bueng Kan’s Walking Street Market opens up to locals and travellers from late afternoon until mid-evening.
The night market is huge, sprawling all along the banks of the Mekong River. As with all weekend markets in Thailand, it is a mix of stalls; some selling vintage clothing others mobile phone accessories, local crafts and street food.
We love a Walking Street Market - we love wandering between the stalls, browsing through the wares and munching down on sticks of moo ping (grilled pork), sets of sushi (our guilty pleasure), fried chicken and mango sticky rice. A Walking Street Market is a place where you can eat as much or as little as you want!
In Bueng Kan it was rammed with families, it felt like the whole of Bueng Kan province had descended on the night market! Come the weekend, it’s definitely the busiest spot in town.
If you haven’t experienced a Thai Walking Street Market you haven’t travelled Thailand!
Opening times: Friday and Saturday from 16:00 until 20:30pm.
We were lucky to visit the town during the annual Loy Krathong festivities. A huge Buddhist festival that takes place during the 12th lunar month (based on the Buddhist calendar) where Buddhists pay homage to the spirits of the water and place offerings (krathongs) into rivers and lakes to wash away bad luck and ensure good fortune.
In Bueng Kan during Loy Krathong, the whole town was abuzz. There was a huge stage set up with live music and the market was full of families buying flowers, incense and krathongs to release into the nearby Mekong.
Bueng Kan Market
(location)
As with any small Thai town, Bueng Kan’s Market is the beating heart of the community. The main market sits inside a covered building, stuffed full of rows upon rows of stalls selling everything from fresh fruit to curry pastes, lingerie to children’s toys. A Thai market is always a great place to have a wander!
Bueng Kan’s Market is a wet market in every sense, with stalls dripping in melted ice, selling live fish and big haunches of meat.
Our favourite thing to do in any Thai town (Bueng Kan was no different) is to head to the market for breakfast. It’s always great fun seeing the markets in full swing and just wandering around snooping at what’s for sale - you’ll never know what you’ll find! When you’re hungry, just head to any of the food stalls that take your fancy, attempt in very broken Thai (if you’re us) to order whatever their selling and we can guarantee you’ll get one of the freshest, tastiest meals you’ll ever have eaten - we promise you won’t get fresher than the ingredients from a market food stall!
We’d recommend heading to the market in the early morning to see it at its best as by lunchtime, the majority of the market is winding down.
Surrounding the market on all sides are plenty of sit-down eateries, so even if you don’t want to dine inside there’s plenty of places to get some munch.
When we visited, a lot of the local market was taken up with ‘krathong’s’ for sale ready for the upcoming Loy Krathong festival. There were lots of stalls selling the traditional floral krathongs as well as these newer, very cute modern takes on krathongs!
City Pillar Shrine - San Chao Mae Song Nang San Lak Mueang Bueng Kan
(location)
Sitting in the middle of a busy roundabout, a short walk south of the main market, sits Bueng Kan’s City Pillar Shrine. Guarded by two stone elephants and swathed in yellow and orange marigold garlands, the small red and gold shrine was always busy with locals leaving offerings and lighting incense. If you can, pass by the shrine at night as it’s lit up in red Chinese lanterns and is very pretty!
Walk Along The Banks Of The Mekong River
(location)
Bueng Kan town stretches away from the banks of the Mekong. Where the town meets the river, there’s a long walking path and road running alongside it which is stuffed full of small parks, cafes, restaurants and bars.
Whilst we were visiting, the whole area was undergoing a huge renovation project, with what looks like a new park being built and a huge curving walking path that will eventually lead out into the middle of the Mekong.
We’d recommend picking up a coffee from the White House Cafe (more on this later) and walking along the riverfront.
There’s a couple of temples to visit along the way, including the red and gold Wat Bupparat Samoson, Wat Pummibal Wattana with its golden Buddha statue seated outside, as well as the colourful Grandfather Shrine of Ya Bueng Kan. You’ll know you’ve reached the Grandfather's shrine when you see the ornate, Chinese style, stepped roof gateway covered in naga’s at the top.
If you’re heading into one of the temples, just remember to dress respectfully with shoulders and knees covered!
Along the walk, don’t miss the big sign which is watched over by two enormous, shimmering green, coiled Naga statues. The sign translated says “The northern border of Isan” and when we visited, was draped in lots of colourful offerings.
“The northern border of Isan” sign guarded by two nagas. It’s called the northern border as if you went any further north you’d be in Laos!
It is also along this road and riverbank where the Friday and Saturday Walking Street Market opens up.
If you’re looking for a beer and a meal, we’d recommend heading to this street in the evening. There were lots of restaurants and bars dotted along this strip.
Visit The Three Whale Rock
(location)
Perhaps the province's most famous tourist attraction, the Three Whale Rock are just a 30 minute drive away from Bueng Kan.
Looking like a pod of rocky red whales beached on top of a hill in the middle of a Thai jungle, the Three Whale Rock are super impressive. From the top you can get an incredible panoramic view over the flat landscape below!
Check out our full guide to visiting below:
Visit Wat Phu Tok Rock Temple
(location)
Wat Phu Tok lies around 50 minutes away from Bueng Kan. Clinging to a massive rock that dominates the flat landscape, Wat Phu Tok is a fascinating temple with wooden plank walkways and precarious lookouts sprouting from the rock face.
To read more about our visiting the temple and what to expect when you’re there, check out our full blog below:
Explore Bueng Kan Province - National Parks, Waterfalls and Caves
Bueng Kan town is only a tiny part of the much larger Bueng Kan province. Outside the small market town, there’s plenty to see and do.
The most popular spot for travellers to head to is the Phu Langka National Park which runs along the border of both Bueng Kan and Nakhon Phanom provinces. In the park there’s lots of hiking trails, the famous Naga Cave and plenty of waterfalls.
As it was the dry season we decided not to visit the national park as it’s best visited during Bueng Kan’s Wet Season (May to November) when the waterfalls are at their peak flow. Let us know in the comment what we missed!
We will be back in Isan and next time it’ll hopefully be the right time to explore the national park properly.
The easiest way to explore more of the province would be by motorbike or car. The province is very remote and rural and there’s very little (if any) public transport to the attractions themselves. Although you can easily hop between major towns by local bus - just ask at the bus station for more information.
Entrance fees to Phu Langka National Park are 200 baht per adult and 100 baht per child.
Where To Eat And Drink In Bueng Kan - Our Food and Coffee Recommendations
Dining in Bueng Kan is a very local affair, with lots of brilliant Isan cuisine on offer, if you’re an adventurous eater like us, you’re in for a treat! However, if you’re a fussy eater (please don’t be, you’re in Thailand and the food is amazing) then you might find your dining choices are limited to cafes and 7-Eleven. If you’re ever unsure of where to head to for food in a Thai town we’d always recommend heading to the weekend Walking Street Market or the local markets in town - there always stuffed full of great local eats.
We only dipped our toes in to the local food scene, there’s so much more to offer, but here’s just some of our favourite eats in the town.
Fried Eggs at Banpu Porridge
(location)
This super popular breakfast eatery became our go-to almost every morning we were in Bueng Kan. Serving pan eggs, congee, pork rib noodle soup and pork floss baguettes, this small street side restaurant was packed with locals munching down their breakfast every time we visited.
We always ordered the pan fried eggs which never failed to be delicious and set us up for a full day of exploring.
Served on a scalding hot metal pan, two fried eggs were cooked to perfection and topped with slices of sweet Chinese sausage, minced pork, chunks of Vietnamese style pork sausage and slithers of spring onion. You can eat it just as it comes like we did, or you can ask for a crispy baguette to dip in the eggs. Coming in at 30 baht a plate, the fried eggs from here were some of the cheapest and tastiest breakfasts we’ve had in the whole of Thailand!
Isan Style BBQ Chicken, Sticky Rice and Som Tam Salad
(location)
It should be a law in Thailand, that if you’re exploring Isaan, there’s no way you can leave without trying some of its incredible barbecued chicken, sticky rice and spicy som tam salad.
There’s no proper Google listing for this restaurant, but it’s located just next door to the PTT garage. You’ll know you’re in the right place when you see the huge spatchcocked chickens spread out over smoking BBQ grills.
We ordered half a chicken, a spicy som tam salad and two portions of sticky rice and out came an Isan feast!
The som tam was delicious. The plate was piled high with snappy papaya, sweet tomatoes and plenty of crunchy peanuts all sitting in a zingy, sharp and spicy sauce. The star of the show was definitely the chicken. As we pulled it apart, the meat was so moist, the juice would literally soak into every grain of the sticky rice.
If you’re after a good Isan feast, we cannot recommend this restaurant enough!
Streetside Wonton Soup
As evening draws in, almost every village, town and city in Thailand will have a wonton and noodle soup stand pop up on the street.
Bueng Kan’s streetside wonton soup stand was always set up on the main road heading into town. It was so good, we ended up dining here twice!
Two big bowls of plump, juicy pork and prawn wontons sat plunged in a delicate porky broth all topped with crispy shards of pork belly and slices of red pork. It was a huge steaming bowl of porky goodness. The stall also sells noodle soup dishes and wonton and noodle plates with soup on the side.
If you’re unsure what to eat but want to dabble at street-side eating in Thailand, just look out for the yellow signs hung above the street carts with the words ‘Chaixi noodles’ written on it in red. We’ve never had a bad meal at any of these stalls.
Stir Fry Street Food Stall - Pad Kra Pao With Preserved Egg
This small stir fry food stall served up plate after plate of Thai favourites. From pad thai to fried rice, pad kra pao to fried morning glory and pork, whatever Thai style stir fry you fancied, you’d be able to order it at this street-side restaurant.
We headed in and decided we would order two plates of pad kra pao. As we were ordering, both of us completely forgot the Thai word for fried egg. We gingerly pointed towards the neon pink shelled eggs and hoped the server would understand what we wanted. He nodded and quickly got to work stir-frying.
What came out was a plate of pad kra pao, but our egg was definitely not the fried variety!
The slithers of black amongst the pork are the preserved egg!
The pink shelled eggs were in fact preserved eggs. On our plate amongst the steaming pork sat half an egg, its yellow interior surrounded in a thick, black jellied coat. Being adventurous eaters we had no choice but to dive in. At first we were a little unsure. The egg was super strong, almost pungent to the taste, but mixed with the spicy pad kra pao and rice, it all came together in a perfect balance of flavours - sometimes when travelling it pays to make mistakes!
P.S. If you’re after a fried egg with your pad kra pao, the word you need is kai daao!
Roo-seuk-dee Cafe & Studio
Our first mission in almost any new town or city on our travels is to find good coffee. Luckily, we found Roo-seuk-dee Cafe and Studio soon after checking into our accommodation.
The interior of the cafe is super stylish with painted white brick walls, modern furniture and lots of trinkets scattered around.
The cafe itself served up phenomenal coffee - our two lattes were delicious. The best bit about this cafe though is their cakes! We ordered an apple crumble muffin and it was some of the best cake we’ve eaten in Thailand. Sweet, crumbly and stuffed full of almonds it was a naughty but necessary purchase!
25 July Coffee
This is another super modern coffee shop in Bueng Kan set amongst a pretty garden. Inside, the cafe is painted white with a sleek concrete bar, a leather sofa and lots of antique style wooden furniture.
We ordered two lattes and they were delicious. Nutty, milky and not too sweet, they were everything we wanted them to be for a post breakfast beverage! If you’ve eaten your breakfast at Banpu Porridge (like we did most days) it's only a short walk to this cafe.
Also the staff are super friendly and helpful!
White House Cafe
This tiny, welcoming coffee shop serves up tasty coffee alongside slices of layered cake, cheesecake and other sweet treats.
We picked up a couple of iced americanos to walk with as we explored the Mekong Riverfront and they hit the spot perfectly.
The cafe is also open till late during the Walking Street Market so if you’re in need of a caffeinated brew before your market munching, head here!
Why Go To Bueng Kan? Essential Information For Visiting The Town
Where Is Bueng Kan?
Bueng Kan is part of Thailand’s largest region - Isan and sits clinging to the banks of the Mekong in the very north east corner of Thailand. You can find Bueng Kan on a map here.
Bueng Kan is sometimes referred to as Bung Kan.
The town of Bueng Kan is also the provincial capital of the Bueng Kan district; Thailand’s newest province created in 2011. Bueng Kan sits between Nong Khai in the south west, Sakhon Nakhon to the south and Nakhon Phanom to the south east. To the north of Bueng Kan, across the Mekong, lies the province of Bolikhamsai in Laos.
Bueng Kan lies 768 KM (around a 10.5 hour drive) away from the Thai capital in Bangkok.
How To Get To Bueng Kan?
For most travellers, Bueng Kan will be part of a larger Isan trip. In fact it was our second stop on our very own Isan Mekong discovery trail, where we would follow the Mekong and stop in the Isaan towns and cities along the way!
For those spelling geeks out there, you’ll probably have spotted that we’ve been spelling Isan in two different ways: 'Isan’ or ‘Isaan’. The northeast district of Thailand can be spelt in a variety of ways with Isan being the most popular. Some other variations of its spelling are Isaan, Esan or Isarn.
Isan is the name given to the northeast region of Thailand. The region consists of over 20 different provinces including Bueng Kan.
Almost all travellers heading to Bueng Kan (unless you’ve hired a car or motorbike) will arrive at Bueng Kan’s Bus Station, located 2KM away from the Mekong River. The bus station sits just off the main road that connects Nong Khai to Bueng Khan and onto Nakhon Phanom. You can find the bus terminal on a map here.
Bueng Kan’s bus station is very quiet, clean and has plenty of seating whilst you wait for your bus. There are toilets on-site and, just over the main road, opposite the bus terminal is a good sized 7-Eleven - perfect to stock up on snacks and supplies for wherever you’re heading to next - if you’re lucky and catching the bus late afternoon the roti man may also be there!
Bueng Kan’s bus station is very quiet!
When you arrive, there’ll be a couple of tuk tuk drivers and taxis eagerly waiting to see if they can offer you a lift into town. We declined their offers as we were staying at the Wisdom Residence Hotel only a short walk from the bus terminal.
Getting to Bueng Kan From Within Isan
Wherever you are in Isan, you’ll have no problem catching a bus or minivan to get to Bueng Kan. All the major towns and cities will have a bus station and there’ll be plenty of buses criss-crossing the region.
To get to Bueng Kan ourselves, we caught a minivan from Nong Khai Bus Station in the morning and arrived in Bueng Kan by lunchtime - our bus tickets cost 250 baht per person.
Make sure to have Google Translate on your phone - a lot of the time the bus timetables are written in Thai!
There’s very little information online for the smaller bus routes in Thailand so wherever you’re starting your journey from within Isan, we’d recommend heading to the nearest bus station and asking there for up to date times and ticket prices.
The nearest train station to Bueng Kan is either in Nong Khai or Udon Thani. Both cities have direct trains to Bangkok. From there you’ll need to catch a bus or minivan to Bueng Kan itself.
Getting to Bueng Kan From Bangkok
The easiest way to get to Bueng Kan from Bangkok is to catch a bus. Buses depart every day from Bangkok’s Mochit Bus Station, with around 6 departures per day. Most buses will travel overnight, leaving Bangkok early evening and arriving early the next morning. Journeys will take anything from 11 to 13 hours depending on traffic / number of stops along the way.
We have used the overnight buses in Thailand extensively and have always had a comfy ride. With your bus ticket, you’ll almost certainly be given a pillow, blanket, water and snacks. There is usually a toilet on board and the bus will stop halfway for a food / toilet break.
Getting To Bueng Kan From Chiang Mai
Overnight buses depart from Chiang Mai’s Bus Terminal 3 everyday leaving at 17:00 pm and arriving at Bueng Kan at 08:25 am the next morning.
Getting To Bueng Kan From Laos - Crossing the Thai/Laos Friendship Bridges
If you’ve come to the end of your Laotian visa and are looking to explore northeastern Thailand, you can easily cross into Thailand from one of the Thai/Laos Friendship border crossing points. From Vientiane you can enter Thailand at Nong Khai or if you’re in southern Laos, you can cross the border at Thakhek and arrive at the riverside city of Nakhon Phanom.
From both Nong Khai and Nakhon Phanom you will need to head to the bus station to catch an onwards bus to take you all the way to Bueng Kan.
Where To Stay - Hotels And Guesthouses In Bueng Kan
During our trip to Bueng Kan, we stayed at the very comfy Wisdom Residence Hotel about a 1KM walk from the banks of the Mekong. Our room was very comfortable, with a big double bed, balcony, en-suite bathroom with hot shower, air-conditioning and a small table and chair set - perfect for munching down any treats we had picked up from the Walking Street Market! The room was cleaned everyday and despite a little difficulty with communication (our Thai is appalling) the reception staff helped us with all our questions about the town and helped to find a scooter to rent for the day.
To book a stay at the Wisdom Residence Hotel, click here.
Despite its small size, there’s still plenty of accommodation to choose from in Bueng Kan. From a 4-star hotel to local guesthouses, whatever your budget there’ll be a bed for you. To check out all the accommodation available during your stay in Bueng Kan, click here.
If you’re planning to visit on a Friday or Saturday or during a Thai festival or holiday, make sure to book your accommodation well in advance. The town does get busy and you don’t want to be left stranded without a bed!
It can get very busy in Bueng Kan at weekends!
How To Get Around In Bueng Kan?
The easiest way to explore Bueng Kan is by foot. The town is very small and is easily walkable. From Bueng Kan’s Bus Station to the banks of the Mekong, it’s only a 2KM walk. There’s plenty of pavements and even after dark, the town is well lit and as with the whole of Thailand, we never felt unsafe!
If you’re planning to head out to explore the countryside, the Three Whale Rock or Wat Phu Tok you’ll need a set of wheels.
Scooter / Motorbike Rental in Bueng Kan
Bueng Kan is very much finding its feet with tourists and at the moment, there isn’t actually a rental shop in town where you can rent a scooter or motorbike. Our advice would be to speak to your accommodation to see if they can help.
On our first day we stopped in almost every shop or garage that looked as though it dealt in motorbikes, but couldn’t find anywhere to rent a scooter. In the end we headed back to our accommodation, the Wisdom Residence and asked the receptionist there if they could help. Luckily for us, she knew a person she could ask and a scooter was delivered to the hotel's car-park for us to rent the next day.
We rented the scooter for 250 baht per day.
Unfortunately on the way back from the Three Whale Rock the bike broke down, with some help we managed to get it to limp home, but we couldn’t rent it the next day, which meant we had to find another way to reach Wat Phu Tok. This brings us nicely on to …
Taxi / Tuk Tuks in Bueng Kan
The easiest place to hail a taxi / find a tuk tuk driver is at Bueng Kan’s Bus Terminal located just off the main road here. In town we rarely saw a taxi and Grab definitely doesn’t work in Bueng Kan.
This is the taxi driver we used!
As soon as we arrived at the bus station a man appeared offering his services. We explained we wanted to get to Wat Phu Tok and negotiated a pick up time / price.
The total cost to pay for a driver to take us to Wat Phu Tok, wait for us to explore and then drive us back to town cost us 1500 baht, an awful lot more than what we would have paid if we had a scooter for a day! But still, for a driver, an air conditioned taxi and an all day exploration it's hardly a rip off! If you can find a scooter rental, it’s definitely the cheaper option, but as we’ve said above it’s not the easiest find. Bueng Kan is definitely not on the usual tourist trail!
Where To Go Next?
From Bueng Kan the next logical step would be to delve deeper into Isan. After our stay, we did just that. We caught the 2.5 hour bus southeast to the riverside city of Nakhon Phanom and after that, continued travelling down the Mekong to Mukdahan before turning inland to visit the Isan cities of Sakhon Nakhon, Khon Kaen and Udon Thani.
If you had already come up through Isan, you could continue north and visit Nong Khai and its mysterious Buddha Park before heading further into Northern Thailand to visit Loei or Phitsanulok.
If you’re at the end of your Thailand trip you could always catch an overnight bus all the way back to the international airports at Bangkok or Chiang Mai. Alternatively, you could head to the Thai / Laos Friendship Border Crossing bridges at Nong Khai or Nakhon Phanom and cross over into Laos. From Nong Khai the closest city in Laos is Vientiane (read our guide to Vientiane here) and at Nakhon Phanom you will cross into the town of Thakhek. From Thakhek you can explore the town or hire a motorbike and ride the epic Thakhek Loop - find out everything you need to know here.
Final Thoughts - Why Go To Bueng Kan?
Bueng Kan is definitely far from the normal, well-trodden tourist trail in Thailand. It’s a small town boasting endless Isan charm with great food, a bustling market and plenty of things to see and do.
Bueng Kan is never going to be at the top of anyone’s Thailand itinerary. In fact if you asked most people to find it on a map, they’re going to struggle - Bueng Kan is a town that definitely feels undiscovered!
We only scratched the surface on what there is to see and do in the province, but we really enjoyed our time in this charming Isan town.
If you’re looking to head far from the well-trodden tourist trail and see a completely different side to Thailand, then yes you should definitely go to Bueng Kan!
Thanks for reading,
John & Ellie x
#adventuresofjellie
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One of Thailand’s unknown treasures, the Three Whale Rock bursts out of an Isan mountaintop in the lesser travelled Bueng Kan province of Thailand. An adventure for those in the know, the Three Whale Rock is an incredible place with unmatched views, jaw-dropping scenery and very few other Western travellers. Read our guide for everything you need to know about visiting this less travelled corner of Thailand.