Welcome to my post-series called “Quick review”. These are not as long as regular posts, given that they are very specific and I don’t want to pretend to know more than I do by writing a 3000-word post based on that one time I took that one bus company’s bus. These posts simply express my own opinion based on my limited experience with a company. I hope my experience helps you decide whether or not that specific company is for you! In this “Quick review” I will review Loca, the Laotian version of Grab or Uber.

When you travel in Southeast Asia, you get used to using the Grab app very frequently. Need to go to the airport? GrabCar. To the train station? GrabBike. To Angkor Wat? GrabTuktuk. And then you get to Laos – the only Southeast Asian country without Grab. We had accepted that we would need to negociate with tuk-tuk drivers when we found out that there is actually a similar app in Laos: Loca.

Context

Loca is only available in Vientiane, so we used it to go from the Southern Bus Station to our hotel. We had just arrived from Pakse with a night bus (you can read my King of Bus Quick Review here) and wanted something easy and comforable.

The Loca app

The app is very easy to use. The interface is practically identical to Grab, but even if you’ve never used a ride app before it’s very intuitive. Like on Grab, you don’t even need to enter a credit card. You can pay in cash once you’ve arrived.

Below: two screenshots of the app, one at 2PM Laotian time, the other at 2AM Laotian time. As you can see, there are not a lot of drivers but you’re pretty much guaranteed to always find someone.

Cost

The distance between the Southern Bus Terminal and the center of Vientiane is about 10km or 6 miles. We paid about 100 000 kip (10 euros) for the trip, which is way more expensive than any kind of tuk-tuk or public transportation. The lady at our hostel in Pakse told us that we shouldn’t pay more than 10 000 kip per person. We really wanted to try Loca as it’s only available in Vientiane, but if you want to save money it might not be the best option.

Comfort

The driver had a really nice, expensive-looking car (I don’t even own a car so I don’t know anything about them but it looked cool). I’ve noticed that most drivers on Grab, Uber etc. have nice cars so this wasn’t really a surprise. The driver was also very nice and helped us with our bags. If you’re traveling as a family this is a very hassle-free way of traveling.

User experience

We had a very comfortable ride, but there aren’t that many drivers so we had to wait 15-20 minutes at the Bus Terminal for a driver to accept and come pick us up. That’s not the driver’s fault, as he had to come all the way from Vientiane but it’s something to consider if you’re in a hurry. Also, it took the driver some time to find us, so make sure your GPS is on.

General usefulness

Overall, the Loca app is useful and I would recommend at least downloading it if you ever need to take a car in Vientiane. I don’t know if the developers are planning to expand to the rest of the country but for now it’s greatly limited and if you’re not in Vientiane it’s completely useless. What’s particularly great about Loca is that it’s a 24h/24h app. That’s especially useful when going to/from the airport.

Conclusion

The app is free so I’d recommend downloading it just in case if you’re going to Vientiane – it might come in handy! Loca is a nice, hassle-free way of traveling. Do remember that it will be more expensive than public transport or tuk-tuks, and you might have to wait a while for a driver to pick you up.

What do you think of ride-sharing apps? Have you ever tried Loca? Tell me in the comments!

You can find more quick reviews here and more posts about Laos here.

For more information, visit Loca’s website