A calm Mekong town facing Thakhek in Laos, with a long river promenade and the revered stupa of That Phanom.
Nakhon Phanom is a small, tidy town on the Mekong, 736 km from Bangkok, looking across the river to Thakhek in Laos. The Third Thai–Lao Friendship Bridge has linked the two since 2011, and a special economic zone and a railway from Ban Phai are being built near it. The town has a strong Vietnamese thread: Ho Chi Minh lived at Ban Na Chok from 1928 to 1931, and a clock tower from 1960 stands on the riverside walk. Fifty-three kilometres south, Wat Phra That Phanom is the province’s most revered temple.
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