Things to Do in Laos

Laos is the slowest country in the region and, for many, the favourite. This page groups it by region and interest so you can see what a week or ten days actually hold, then points you to the tours page.

Luang Prabang

The old royal capital on the Mekong, a World Heritage town of thirty-three gilded temples and French colonial houses on a peninsula between two rivers, and the reason most people come. The alms round at dawn, when hundreds of monks collect rice from the town in silence, watched from across the street without a flash; Wat Xieng Thong, the finest temple; the Royal Palace museum; Mount Phousi at sunset for the river; the morning market and the night market; the Kuang Si waterfalls, 30 km out, turquoise tiers with a bear sanctuary at the gate; the Pak Ou caves’ thousands of Buddhas by boat up the Mekong; the Living Land rice farm for a morning in the paddies; and a sunset on the river from a slow boat. Three nights minimum, and it is the town people extend. Now two hours from Vientiane on the Laos–China railway.

The north: Nong Khiaw, Muang Ngoi and the Nam Ou

Three hours north of Luang Prabang by road, Nong Khiaw is the river town in the karsts where the Nam Ou runs between cliffs, and a boat upstream to Muang Ngoi reaches a village without a road: trekking to hill-tribe villages, the viewpoint climbs, kayaking, and the slowest days in a slow country. Two nights for the party that wants Laos beyond the temples. Further north, Luang Namtha and the Nam Ha protected area for the treks and the Akha villages; Phongsali for the tea and the far frontier.

Vang Vieng

The karst valley on the Nam Song, once the backpacker party town and now a landscape destination: the limestone towers at dawn from a hot-air balloon, the Blue Lagoons, the caves (Tham Chang, Tham Phu Kham), kayaking down the river, the viewpoint climbs at Nam Xay and Pha Ngern, and the rice fields by bicycle. Ninety minutes from Luang Prabang or Vientiane on the railway. One or two nights; a landscape stop rather than a town.

Vientiane

The quietest capital in South-East Asia, on the Mekong facing Thailand: Pha That Luang, the golden national stupa; Wat Sisaket’s thousands of Buddhas; Patuxai, the concrete arch; the COPE centre, which explains the unexploded-ordnance legacy that still shapes the country; the riverside night market and the sunset promenade; the Buddha Park’s concrete sculptures out of town; and a French-Lao food scene with the best bread in the region. One or two nights, and the railway’s southern terminus.

The Plain of Jars

Thousands of megalithic stone jars, up to three metres tall and two thousand years old, scattered across the Xieng Khouang plateau in a landscape still cratered by the most intense bombing campaign in history; three sites are cleared and visited with a guide, the old capital of Muang Khoun holds the ruins, and Phonsavan is the base. A flight from Vientiane or Luang Prabang, or a long day’s road. One or two nights, for the party that wants the history and the mystery.

The south: Pakse, Champasak and Si Phan Don

The Mekong widens toward Cambodia and the pace slows further. Pakse is the base; Wat Phou at Champasak is the pre-Angkorian Khmer temple on its hillside, the country’s other World Heritage site; the Bolaven plateau has the coffee farms and the waterfalls (Tad Fane, Tad Yuang) by car; and Si Phan Don, the Four Thousand Islands, is Don Det and Don Khon by boat — hammocks, bicycles, the Khone Phapheng falls, the last Irrawaddy dolphins in the Mekong, and the Cambodian border an hour away. A flight from Vientiane or Luang Prabang to Pakse; three or four nights; the route into or out of Cambodia.

By interest