Mohan

Mohan (Chinese: 磨憨 Móhān, Lü: ᦷᦙᧉ ᦆᦱᧃᧈ) is a small border town in Mengla County at very south end of Yunnan Province in China.

Understand

If you are planning to go to Laos from China or vice versa, you’ll be passing through this small town, because the immigration (border control) is here.

Get in

21°12′36″N 101°42′14″EMap of Mohan

By bus

It’s about a 50-min ride from Mengla (52 km away) by bus (van) for ¥19. Buses from Mengla depart a couple of hours apart, with the last of the day scheduled to leave at 17:10 as of October 2025, but in practice may leave up to an hour early if all tickets are sold and all passengers are present.

From Laos

From Luang Namtha 25,000 kip (to the Lao side of the border).

There are vans leaving from the Namtha City Bus Station every morning. But they don’t leave until they have at least five passengers, so you might have to wait for a while. It’s better to go to the bus station in the morning and ask how many passengers they have at the moment.

You can also catch a bus from Luang Namtha’s new bus station, 7 km away from the town. There are buses going to Jinghong every morning. They charge 30,000 kip to the border.

If you catch a van from Luang Namtha town bus station, the van will drop you off at the Lao side border passport control. It’s an easy process to get an exit stamp from Lao immigration. And from there, it’s about 500 m (6~7 min walk) to get to the Chinese side border control. This side has another easy process for getting an entry stamp in your passport (if you already have a visa for China). This whole border crossing process should take about 15 min, if there’s no queue at immigration. This particular border crossing is very easy.

By train

The China-Laos Railway passes through here on its way between Kunming and Vientiane. International trains stop here for Chinese customs and immigration checks, and you will need to alight the train with all your belongings to complete border formalities.

Get around

See

There’s not many things to see here except the Border Control.

Do

There’s not many things to do here except getting a stamp on your passport at the border.

If crossing from China to Laos and you don’t have an e-visa, the visa-on-arrival costs US$40 for most countries, as of Oct 2025, but the banknotes must be incredibly new and perfect. Perfect-looking notes with no tears or marks will often still be rejected. If you pay in any other currency, expect to pay US$16 extra. The price in Chinese yuan is ¥400. There are no official signs indicating this and unlike at some other Lao border crossings there is no bank available where you can exchange money at fair rates. There are banks in the town so you could try buying US dollars at one of those before heading to the border crossing.

There are touts offering to exchange money on the Chinese side but their rates are worse than on the Lao side. If you expect to eat or sleep in Boten on the Lao side, keep some yuan as it’s the primary currency there and prices will be slightly higher if paying in Lao kip.

Buy

Eat

There are many Chinese restaurants in the town along the main road, and if you go to the backstreet, you’ll find a lot of cheap small local diners. A bowl of rice with various ingredients is cheap and good at places near the bus station. Starting at about ¥10. There is one Lao place with some Thai dishes such as pad khaphrao on its menu: ¥25 for a larger portion than typical.

There are some shops that sell types of bread and cakes (Chinese style) and biscuits/cookies.

Drink

At least one of the milk tea shops, “Fresh Tea”, also has coffee and Wi-Fi.

Sleep

Most people continue on and stay the night in more traveller-friendly Mengla (about 50 min by bus), where there are more hotels, restaurants, bars, temples, and parks. But Mohan has a surprisingly vibrant and friendly atmosphere with a range of accommodation from basic for ¥80 up to quite fancy. The last bus to Mengla leaves at 18:00.

Alternatively, if you are going to Laos, the nearest town of interest in Laos is Luang Namtha. It’s just over an hour away on the other side of the border.

Contact

Go next

There is a bus station in Mohan (It looks more like a parking lot than a bus station, you can easily miss it.) It’s about 1 km from the border crossing.

From the Mohan Bus Station

• To Mengla 勐腊 (52 km), fare: ¥19. Departure: Every 20 min from 07:10 to 18:00.
• To Kunming 昆明 (722 km), fare: ¥252. Departure: 11:30, 17:00.
• To Jinghong 景洪 (190 km), fare: ¥66. Departure: 08:30, 09:50, 15:50

International buses

• To Vientiane (680 km), fare ¥260. Departure: 08:30.
• To Luang Prabang (300 km), fare ¥130. Departure: 09:00, 11:00 (every other day)

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