That Luang festival?

Is it worth a visit to Vientine to see this?

Also, does anyone know the dates? What are the best days to go and should I book a hotel in advance?

Thanks

Where to go and what to see topics,under Laos!FrazeeDK has a particularly informative post!

The festival should be around the first weekend of November as Monday November 6th is the actual Lao government holiday for the That Luang Festival.. I'd expect it will start on the 2nd or 3rd and last through perhaps the 7-8th or later.

Primary location is the That Luang square beside That Luang. It's located on the NE side of the city about 1.5km past the large Patouxay Victory monument (Lao Arc de Triomphe wannabe). Expect food booths, Luk Thung stages with singers, lots of crafts booths, and lots of governmental booths and NGO/Foreign government booths. The attraction of this festival is that it harkens back to festivals/fairs in Udorn 35 years ago.. Many many country folk come to the big city.. It's just interesting sitting and watching people walk by..
A night time visit is best as the That Luang Stupa will have numerous strings of lights festooned in long chains from it's top to the outside walls of the temple.. Very impressive..
Second big venue for That Luang is the Lao ITECH Convention center on the east ring road.. Very big air conditioned center.. It will have numerous booths along with the Cineplex, 24 lane bowling alley and Snooker center on the 2nd floor...
An interesting aside... Every year the government wants to keep weapons and riff-raff out of the fair venues.. You'll see battalions of male and female high school students making people queue up for pat down searches before entering the fairground.. Immediately behind them will be their backups; Lao Army soldiers with AK-47's..

So is it worth a visit during that time?

I think I'll fly from BKK to Udon Thani then bus or train up to Vientine, then to Luang Prabang.

The Hose, not meaning to split hairs, but just to clarify:

From Bangkok you can fly to Luang Prabang or Ventiane; or you can bus, train or fly to Udon. Or you can bus or train to Nong Khai.

From Udon there is no rail connection to Ventiane, though there is to Nong Khai. From Nong Khai (and Udon) it's by road to Ventiane over the (road) bridge.

You can fly or bus to Luang Prabang from Ventiane. It's a long bumpy windy (as in lots of hills and bends) bus journey.

per the Lao government, the Thai government has agreed to provide about 42 million Baht funding and a large low-interest loan to extend the Thai railway across the Friendship Bridge to 3.5KM into Laos.. The Lao government said it took 1.5 years to get all the paperwork done and it will take two more years for the track to be laid...
Now considering that the bridge was built in 1994 with Thais laying track to the center, and in 1996 the Lao government announced that in "two years" the tracks would terminate in a station near That Luang.. I'm not holdin' my breath...
But, perhaps it will happen and the currently predicted 3.5km will actually be 25km to the north side of Vientiane..

By far the most impressive festival that I have seen any where has been the Saturday morning portion of the fair when hundreds of monks exit from the temple to accept food offerings from the faithful. It appears that the only changes in the last 35 years have been the absence of the Royal Family and an increase in crowds. It has been a truly moving ceremony one that I'll never forget

The International School of Vientianne has a wonderful web site at

http://www.vis.laopdr.com/llps/festivals_fold/nov.htm I'll quote a little

Saturday, 27 Nov. Tak baat at That Luang. People arrive before 5:30 a.m. when it is still dark to get a place on the ground. Women dress in their finery and men wear a pha bieng , too. Again, this is a wonderful photo opportunity. A thousand monks border the area with their bowls on a table before them, and the crowd, seated on mats or newspaper in a multitude of colors, fill every inch of ground.

Please note there is a difference of date of the fair reported by the school and the date reported by our own FrazeeDK. I'm betting he is right but check again if going.

I have a few photos from the fair at http://www.flickr.com/photos/capt_tom/

More photos will be add as I scan and edit during the next week