Luang Prabang - The Jewel of Indochina
Evening prayers at Wat Xieng Tong
Luang Prabang is Laos’ magnificent medieval capital, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and almost the only city in Laos that you visit as a destination in itself -- most cities are just a place to base yourself for trips into the surrounding countryside. If you only go ONE place in all of Laos, go here. Stay for a bare minimum of 3 days, preferably 4-5.
The oldest part of the city dates back to around the 7th century, and the city served as the royal national capital from the 1300s until 1560, when King Setthathirath moved the capital to Vientiane. Vientiane was completely destroyed by Siam (Thailand) in 1828 and the capital moved back to LP. LP in turn was largely destroyed by Chinese guerillas in 1887, at which time the Lao king asked the French (who were then jockeying for position with the British) to create a protectorate. The French built their modern capital in Vientiane but the king remained in Luang Prabang. This was a blessing for Luang Prabang — both cities had to be rebuilt from the ground up, but Luang Prabang retained much more of its historic essence and ambience in the process.
Lodging is more expensive in Luang Prabang than in most of Laos – in most of Laos, as of early 2023 you could get a good, basic private room in a guesthouse for 100,000 kip / $6. But in LP the cheapest private rooms where around 300,000 kip / $18. Prices go as high as several hundred dollars per night for 5-star luxury. As elsewhere in Laos, a lot of good lodging is not listed on the internet. On weekends in peak season (November to February), the city does fill up, so you should book in advance on the internet, even though you will have to pay more to cover the internet booking sites’ massive commissions. The is even more true during the Chinese and Vietnamese New Years, when the city gets overpriced and badly overcrowded by tourists from those countries (only in LP - this is not an issue anywhere else in Laos). At any other time, you can just arrive, see a few places, and choose one.
The heart of the tourist district is in the oldest part of town (more than 1,000 years old), between Phousi Hill and Wat Xieng Tong monastery. You can get very nice accommodation further out and sometimes a little cheaper. But I always stay here because I love the colonial architecture and the atmosphere. Just one block away from the busy main street, you’ll be amazed how quiet it is.
Luang Prabang gets really crowded at weekends, thanks to Chinese weekend-trippers and the new high-speed train. Hotels fill up, and the most popular sites (especially sunset from Phousi Hill in the town centre and the Night Market) get really crowded. But don’t worry, it will get quieter starting Sunday night.
Much fine dining is available in Luang Prabang. With two or more people, the set dinners at Tamarind Restaurant on Kingkitsarath Street by the Nam Khan (Khan River) are fabulous. We paid $12 per person for a 4-course feast including drinks, which is twice the cost of an average Lao dinner. But it was superb.
Motorcycle rental should be booked at least one day in advance. Prices vary widely, so shop around. Bicycle rental can be had at the last minute. For general advice on renting and driving motorbikes in Laos, click here .
Luang Prabang Sights:
A top attraction is the Night Market. Starting in late afternoon, traffic on a long stretch of Sissavangvong Street (the main street) will be closed down and the street taken over by vendors from dozens of Laos’ ethnic groups, selling a wide range of souvenirs. The more items you buy from a single vendor, the greater your leverage to negotiate on price. If you’re short on cash, you can get kip from several ATMs nearby, or most vendors will happily accept US dollars or Thai baht.
The Day Market (which runs from pre-dawn to well past sunset) is the place to haggle for fresh produce, or get a cheap grilled dinner to go.
The Royal Palace complex includes the palace (occupied until the Communist takeover in 1975, you can walk through in about an hour), plus a building where traditional dance is performed 4 evenings per week, and the very ornate temple housing the Pha Bang, a centuries-old metre-high gold Buddha that is Laos’ holiest relic. The complex is located on the main street, in the heart of the Night Market.
You’ll spend a lot of your time both day and evening just relaxing in the restaurants, cafes and bars, watching the world go by. You’ll find many good places on Sissavangvong Street.
Heritage House near Sissavangvong Street has historic homes, musical instruments and home furnishings from middle- and upper-class homes in centuries past. You can also try on traditional Lao clothing (see picture)
Luang Prabang has dozens of monasteries. If you visit only one, visit Wat Xieng Tong (below), at the far end of the Old City near where the Khan River flows into the Mekong (picture below). Get to the monastery at around 17:00 for perfect lighting, and stay for evening prayers. If you visit a second monastery, go to Wat Mai Suwannaphumaham very near the Palace.
Definitely climb Phousi Hill (above) in the city centre for sunset. Weekends are very crowded, weekdays are better. The steps up to the hilltop start on the main street, directly opposite the Royal Palace. Admission currently costs 20,000 kip ($1.18).
Another great sunset point is where the Nam Khan (Khan River) flows into the Mekong. From the far end of Old Town right by Wat Xieng Tong temple, there should be a bamboo footbridge across the Khan River -- it gets washed away every monsoon and rebuilt every autumn. The toll to cross is $1.
Go back to Phousi Hill daytime to see the monastery on the gently sloping hillside behind the sunset viewpoint. Late morning is best for photography.
For a sunset cruise on the Mekong, try Sa Sa Lao or Laosrivercruises.com. As always everywhere in the world, you should book it through the provider directly rather than through TripAdvisor, where prices are wildly inflated. Here is their website, and you can also google them or check out their Facebook page for reviews and further info: https://www.sasalao.com/sasacruise
On at least one morning, wake before dawn and stand on Sissavangvong Street (the main street in the old town) to watch the monks collect their daily alms from the faithful. If you wish to participate, many vendors will sell you balls of sticky rice wrapped in banana leaves. to drop in the monks’ alms buckets.
If you are interested in native arts and crafts, and want to know more than you can learn in the Night Market, visit the Traditional Arts and Ethnology Centre (TAEC) in the city centre.
Also rent a bicycle or hire a tuk-tuk and visit some of the silk weaving and traditional Saa paper-making workshops a few kilometres north of the town centre. Use Google Maps to find the “Nalongkone Shop: Saa Paper Handicraft”, and when you get there you’ll see several other paper and silk workshops along that street. Guides in the town centre will sell you tours to this area for $30-40 per group, but it’s easy to do by yourself.
Everyone – especially Americans – should visit the UXO Museum which tells the tragic story of Unexploded Ordnance (UXO). Lao people are still dying every day from the anti-personnel bombs dropped by the USA on civilian areas from 1964-73, in an undeclared war that Johnson and Nixon insisted wasn’t happening.
Half-day boat trip to the Pak Ou Caves. Set in gorgeous karst scenery where the Ou River flows into the Mekong, these caves have been a religious site for over 1,000 years, since even before Buddhism. The best photo op is from deep inside the cave looking out.
Half-day tuk-tuk or motorcycle trip to Kuang Si Waterfall. Note that the first 7 km of the road are smooth, but then it gets rough. GO EARLY! The falls are quiet and beautioful in the early morning; by late morning the site is heaving with crowds, and by afternoon the main falls are in shadow. The cascades are absolutely beautiful, and swimming is very refreshing on a hot day (the water is COLD – usually below 20 C). The restaurant right by the falls is pretty shit, but some of the food stands further back by the site entrance are ok. The Butterfly Sanctuary is also worth a stop – on your free shuttle bus between the main parking lot and the Falls, tell your driver that you want to stop to see the butterflies. You’ll jump out there, spend 30 minutes or so, and get another bus when you’re ready to continue on.
Every night at 6:30 PM, a young man tells traditional Lao folktales in excellent English at Garavek Storytelling in Luang Prabang’s old town (https://garavek.com/Laos.html). Some stories are more interesting than others, but the storyteller is consistently good. The cost is $5. It sometimes sells out.
If you want a nice day hike, take the ferry across the Mekong to Chomphet district. The town itself is quiet and pleasant, and you can get a nice view by walking up to Wat Chomphet (the small hilltop monastery), and/or stopping for a riverside coffee at the Island View Cafe. For a longer walk, head upriver to Wat Khokphap and the jungle shrine while visiting all the temples on the way.
Or cross the river with a motorbike or scooter (or a good bicycle if you are quite fit) and ride 17 km / 11 miles west (beyond the village of Pak Long) to Green Jungle Park (greenjunglepark.com) with ziplines and a rope course.
If you go anywhere by motorbike, watch constantly for potholes and sand. Sand is a cheap way of filling the potholes, but it scatters around the road and is hazardous for motorbilkers. For general advice on renting and driving motorbikes in Laos, see here.
Other, less well-known trips and activities in Luang Prabang
If you have a spare half-day, the Living Land Farm on the outskirts of Luang Prabang offers The Rice Experience, a hands-on course in every step of rice production, from planting the seedlings through to eating both steamed and sticky rice, and fermenting Lao-Lao rice wine whisky. You’ll be knee-deep in a rice paddy for over an hour, so wear shorts. The morning tour is less hot than the afternoon. https://www.livinglandlao.org/rice-experience/
In years past, elephant rides were very popular in Luang Prabang. Now that most tourists understand how painful and damaging these are for elephants, elephant conservation is much more popular. The Elephant Conservation Centre (https://www.elephantconservationcenter.com/) near Xayaboury runs 2-, 3- and 4-day trips from Luang Prabang to their sanctuary to observe the elephants. 4 days is too much. 2 days (including 3 hours’ transit each day) is a bit rushed and you don’t get to observe the bull (male) elephants at all. 3 days / 2 nights is best.
Finally, for stunning mountain views, do a day-trip via motorbike south on Highway 13 (in the direction of Vang Vieng). This is that infamously steep, rutted, dangerous road you’ve heard about (sometimes called “the 3,000 Turns”), but the views are amazing. Don’t motorbike all the way to Vang Vieng unless you are a very experienced biker. And don’t do the bone-jarring 6-hour bus ride all the way to Vang Vieng, either (take the train instead — it takes one hour). But motorbike as far as you feel comfortable, enjoying the wonderful views, and then head back to LP whenever you like.