Laos and Cambodia: Luang Prabang to Siem Reap

1. Day 1: Arrive in Luang Prabang

   Luang Prabang International Airport to your hotel in the old town

   • Drive about 15 min
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Luang Prabang
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Luang Prabang International Airport (LPQ), about 4 km from the old town, where a driver meets you after immigration for the short drive in. Luang Prabang sits on a narrow peninsula where the Nam Khan runs into the Mekong, and the whole town, with its gilded monasteries and shuttered colonial shophouses, has been on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 1995. If you land early, walk down to the Nam Khan and cross the old steel bridge on its narrow plank walkway for the view back over the rooftops, or climb Mount Phousi for sunset over the river. In the early evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing on the twelve days ahead: the train, the two flights, the border and what to pack for the islands. Then we walk to dinner together at a Lao restaurant in the old town. Plan to land by mid-afternoon; the exact briefing time is sent with your final itinerary.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Luang Prabang International Airport (LPQ)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Welcome dinner in the old town

   Optional experiences

   • Mount Phousi at sunset (small entry fee, about 330 steps)

   Free time: Free until the evening briefing

   

2. Day 2: The alms, the market and the royal town

   A day on foot in Luang Prabang, with a sunset boat on the Mekong

   • By boat
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Luang Prabang
   Day 2 details

   Those who want to rise early walk out before 6 am to watch the alms round, when lines of monks in saffron robes pass silently along the main street collecting sticky rice from kneeling residents. We watch from across the road, quietly and without flash, and do not buy rice from the hawkers who sell it to visitors. Straight after, the morning market is in full swing in the lanes nearby: river fish, herbs, chillies and buffalo skin laid out on sheets. After breakfast your guide walks you through the old town to the Royal Palace Museum, the last king's residence (closed on Tuesdays and over lunch, so on a Tuesday we visit it the next afternoon instead), and on to Wat Xieng Thong at the tip of the peninsula, its roofs sweeping almost to the ground and its rear wall covered in a glass mosaic tree of life. Lunch is in a garden restaurant by the Nam Khan, and the afternoon is free. In the late afternoon a boat takes us out on the Mekong past the fishermen working the shallows, back as the sun drops behind the hills.

   Included

   • The alms round at dawn, watched from across the street with your guide
   • The morning market
   • The Royal Palace Museum (on the days it opens) and Wat Xieng Thong with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch by the Nam Khan
   • Sunset boat on the Mekong

   Easier option: Skip the dawn start and join the group after breakfast for the old town walk.

   Free time: Afternoon free; evening free for the night market

   Activity: About 5 km on foot on flat streets. Cover shoulders and knees for the palace and the temples.

   

3. Day 3: Kuang Si at opening

   Luang Prabang to Kuang Si Falls and back

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Luang Prabang
   Day 3 details

   We leave after an early breakfast and drive about 30 km south-west through villages and low hills, so we reach Kuang Si as the gate opens, around 8 am, ahead of the minibuses that arrive from mid-morning. Just inside the entrance is the bear rescue centre run by Free the Bears, home to Asian black bears and sun bears taken from poachers and the bile trade. The path then climbs beside a chain of turquoise pools, coloured by the limestone the water carries, to the main fall, which drops in several streams over pale terraces. Swim in the lower pools where it is allowed, or sit by the water while the forest is still quiet. Lunch is at a restaurant near the falls, and we are back in town by early afternoon. The rest of the day is yours: a massage, a weaving workshop, a cooking class or a slow walk through the night market, which fills the main street every evening.

   Included

   • Kuang Si Falls at opening, with time to swim in the lower pools
   • The Free the Bears rescue centre at Kuang Si
   • Lunch near the falls

   Optional experiences

   • A boat up the Mekong to the Pak Ou caves (afternoon, price shown at booking)
   • A natural-dye weaving workshop at a textile studio (price shown at booking)

   Easier option: Stay at the lower pools and the bear centre, a gentle path of about 1 km, while the others climb.

   More active option: Climb the steep, often muddy trail beside the main fall to the pools above it and come down the other side, about 45 minutes.

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free

   Activity: Paths are wet and slippery near the falls. Bring swimwear, a towel and water shoes; there are changing rooms.

4. Day 4: The train to Vang Vieng

   Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng on the Laos-China Railway

   • Drive about 45 min
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Vang Vieng
   Day 4 details

   A slower morning, then a transfer to Luang Prabang station, about 20 minutes out of town, for the Laos-China Railway. The line opened in December 2021 and the ride south to Vang Vieng takes about an hour, mostly through tunnels and over viaducts, with glimpses of karst peaks and rice valleys in between. It replaces a mountain road that takes four to five hours by van. In Vang Vieng we check in near the Nam Song river and have lunch facing the limestone cliffs on the far bank. In the afternoon we cross the river to Tham Chang, a cave reached by a short climb of stairs, with a view over the valley from its mouth and a cool spring at the bottom where you can swim. Late in the day we take a long-tail boat up the Nam Song for the light on the karsts at sunset. The evening is free in town.

   Included

   • Train from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng (about 1 hour)
   • Sit-down lunch facing the karsts
   • Tham Chang cave and its spring
   • Sunset long-tail boat on the Nam Song

   Optional experiences

   • Kayaking on the Nam Song (half day, price shown at booking)

   Easier option: Skip the cave stairs and spend the afternoon by the river before the boat.

   Free time: Morning in Luang Prabang and evening in Vang Vieng free

   Activity: Train seats are assigned and luggage space is limited: one suitcase plus a day bag works best.

5. Day 5: A Vang Vieng morning, then Vientiane

   Vang Vieng to Vientiane by train, then the capital

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Vientiane
   Day 5 details

   The morning is free in Vang Vieng. Early risers can watch the hot-air balloons lift over the river at dawn, or take the guided viewpoint hike, a steep scramble of about an hour to a lookout over the town and the karst. After lunch we take the train south, about an hour, to Vientiane, the low, unhurried capital on the Mekong. From the station, about 15 km out, we drive straight into the centre. Your guide takes you to Wat Si Saket, the city's oldest standing temple, its cloister walls lined with thousands of small Buddha images; to the COPE visitor centre, which tells the story of the bombs dropped on Laos during the Vietnam War and the people still injured by them; and to Pha That Luang, the gold stupa that is the national symbol. We end at Patuxai, the capital's victory gate, as the light softens, then walk the Mekong riverside, where the night market sets up and Thailand is visible across the water.

   Included

   • Train from Vang Vieng to Vientiane (about 1 hour)
   • Sit-down lunch in Vang Vieng
   • Wat Si Saket, the COPE visitor centre, Pha That Luang and Patuxai with your guide
   • The Mekong riverside at dusk

   Optional experiences

   • A hot-air balloon flight over Vang Vieng at dawn (price shown at booking)

   Easier option: Rest at the hotel while the others visit Pha That Luang; the guide meets you at Patuxai.

   More active option: The guided viewpoint hike above Vang Vieng in the morning, about an hour of steep, rocky path.

   Free time: Morning free in Vang Vieng; evening free in Vientiane

6. Day 6: Fly south to the Bolaven Plateau

   Vientiane to Pakse by air, then up to the Bolaven Plateau

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Bolaven Plateau
   Day 6 details

   We fly south to Pakse, about an hour and a quarter on a scheduled flight. By road this is a 10-hour day; in the air it is a morning. From Pakse we climb east onto the Bolaven Plateau, a volcanic tableland at roughly 1,000 to 1,300 m that is noticeably cooler than the Mekong valley below. The French planted coffee here in the early 20th century, and the plateau still grows most of Laos's crop. We stop first at Tad Fane, where twin streams drop well over 100 m into a forested gorge, seen from a viewpoint across it. Lunch is at a coffee farm, followed by a walk through the bushes with the grower, who explains picking, drying and roasting, and a cup brewed from the farm's own beans. Late in the afternoon we visit Tad Yuang, a wide fall you can walk down to and stand beneath. The evening is free at our lodge on the plateau.

   Included

   • Scheduled flight from Vientiane to Pakse
   • Tad Fane waterfall viewpoint
   • Lunch and a guided walk at a coffee farm, with a tasting
   • Tad Yuang waterfall

   Easier option: Stay at the top of Tad Yuang, where the path is short and level.

   More active option: Walk down the stairs to the pool at the foot of Tad Yuang for a swim, about 15 minutes each way.

   Free time: Evening free

   Activity: Bring a warm layer: evenings on the plateau are cool in December and January.

7. Day 7: Wat Phou, then the 4,000 Islands

   Bolaven Plateau to Champasak for Wat Phou, then south to Nakasang and by boat to Don Khone

   • Drive about 4 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Don Khone
   Day 7 details

   We come down off the plateau after breakfast and cross the Mekong to Champasak, about two hours away, to reach Wat Phou while the morning is still cool. This Khmer temple complex, older than Angkor Wat and on the UNESCO list since 2001, climbs a mountain slope in terraces: a causeway between two great barays, a pair of ruined palaces, then a steep stone stairway lined with frangipani to the sanctuary, where a spring still flows from the cliff. The view back down the axis to the river is the reason to climb. After lunch in Champasak we drive south for about two hours to Nakasang, where small boats carry us across to Don Khone, one of the larger of the Si Phan Don, the 4,000 Islands, where the Mekong spreads up to 14 km wide in the dry season. Dinner tonight is your choice in the village, with an evening on the river and no traffic.

   Included

   • Wat Phou with your guide, entry included
   • Sit-down lunch in Champasak
   • Boat from Nakasang to Don Khone

   Easier option: Walk the causeway and the lower palaces and wait at the foot of the stairway, where there is shade.

   Free time: Evening free on Don Khone

   Activity: The final stairway at Wat Phou is long, steep and uneven stone; take it at your own pace or wait at the lower terraces. Bring a hat and water.

   

8. Day 8: A day on Don Khone

   Don Khone and the Khone falls

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Don Khone
   Day 8 details

   This is the slow day most trips leave out. After breakfast we cycle, or ride by tuk-tuk, along the line of the old French railway, a short track built around 1900 to haul boats past the rapids that stopped the Mekong being a route to China. The rusting locomotive and the old loading pier on the south end of the island are still there. From there a path leads to Li Phi, also called Tat Somphamit, a long run of white water forcing its way between black rocks. Lunch is by the river. In the afternoon we drive across to the mainland to Khone Phapheng, where the whole Mekong drops through a series of cascades nearly 10 km wide, the biggest falls on the river; we arrive as the low sun lights the spray. Back on the island, dinner is together at a riverside restaurant, and the evening is quiet: no traffic, just the river and the frogs.

   Included

   • Bicycle or tuk-tuk along the old French railway on Don Khone
   • Li Phi (Tat Somphamit) falls, entry included
   • Khone Phapheng falls in the late afternoon, entry included
   • Lunch by the river and dinner on Don Khone

   Easier option: Ride the tuk-tuk instead of cycling; the route and the stops are the same.

   More active option: Cycle the whole loop, about 15 km on flat dirt tracks, and cross the bridge to Don Det.

   Free time: Midday free in a hammock by the river

   Activity: Bicycles and helmets are provided; tracks are flat but dusty or rutted in places.

   

9. Day 9: Into Cambodia and the dolphins at Kampi

   Don Khone to Nakasang by boat, across the border at Trapeang Kriel, then Stung Treng and Kratie

   • Drive about 4 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Kratie
   Day 9 details

   This is a long day, about four hours on the road plus the border, lunch and the dolphin boat, which break it into short stages. A boat after breakfast takes us back to the mainland, then about half an hour to the Laos and Cambodia border at Nong Nok Khiene and Trapeang Kriel. Your guide walks the group through both sets of formalities, which usually take about an hour, and on the Cambodian side we change to our Cambodian vehicle and driver. It is about an hour to Stung Treng, where we stop for a sit-down lunch near the confluence of the Sekong and the Mekong, then about two and a half hours south along the river to Kratie. About 15 km before town we stop at Kampi, where small boats go out on a deep pool of the Mekong that is home to some of the last Irrawaddy dolphins in the river. The boatmen cut their engines and paddle, and the dolphins surface around you with a soft puff of breath. Sightings are likely but not guaranteed. We reach Kratie for sunset over the river, and the evening is free on the waterfront.

   Included

   • Boat from Don Khone to Nakasang
   • Border crossing with your guide, and a change to a Cambodian vehicle and driver
   • Sit-down lunch in Stung Treng
   • Boat on the Mekong at Kampi to look for Irrawaddy dolphins

   Free time: Evening free in Kratie

   Activity: Have your passport, visa or e-visa and a passport photo at hand. About four hours on the road, split by the border, lunch and the dolphin boat.

10. Day 10: Down the Mekong to Phnom Penh

    Kratie to Kampong Cham, then Phnom Penh

    • Drive about 5 h
    • Breakfast and lunch
    • Stay in Phnom Penh
    Day 10 details

    This is the longest day on the road, about 250 km and five hours of driving, because the only other way from Kratie to Phnom Penh is to drop the dolphins altogether. We break it in two. We leave at 7:30 am and drive south through rubber plantations and riverside villages for about two and a half hours to Kampong Cham, where we stop for a coffee break by the river and a sit-down lunch. Then it is about two and a half hours more to Phnom Penh, arriving by mid-afternoon. After a pause at the hotel your guide and a local Cambodian guide take you to Tuol Sleng, the high school that the Khmer Rouge turned into the S-21 prison, where thousands of people were held and photographed before they were killed. It is a hard visit and the guides take it slowly. Afterwards the evening is yours along the riverside promenade, Sisowath Quay.

    Included

    • Drive from Kratie to Phnom Penh with a lunch stop in Kampong Cham
    • Sit-down lunch in Kampong Cham
    • Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum with a local Cambodian guide

    Optional experiences

    • Choeung Ek, the memorial at the killing fields outside the city (by tuk-tuk, price shown at booking)

    Easier option: Skip Tuol Sleng and rest at the hotel; it is a heavy visit and some guests prefer not to go.

    Free time: Evening free

    Activity: The day goes over our four-hour driving cap; it is broken into two halves of about two and a half hours with a long lunch between.

11. Day 11: The Royal Palace, then fly to Siem Reap

    Phnom Penh to Siem Reap by air, then the temples of Angkor

    • Drive about 1.5 h
    • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
    • Stay in Siem Reap
    Day 11 details

    We are at the Royal Palace as it opens, around 8 am, before the heat and the tour coaches. The palace is still the king's residence, and you walk among the throne hall, the pavilions and the Silver Pagoda, whose floor is laid with more than 5,000 silver tiles and which holds an emerald Buddha and a life-size gold Buddha set with diamonds. Then we fly to Siem Reap, about 45 minutes, and drive about an hour from the new airport into town. After a sit-down lunch we pick up our Angkor passes and head out in the late afternoon to Ta Prohm, the temple the jungle was left to keep, where silk-cotton and strangler fig roots split the galleries and cloisters apart. The crowds thin towards closing. Tonight is our farewell dinner together in Siem Reap.

    Included

    • The Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda with your guide
    • Scheduled flight from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap
    • Sit-down lunch in Siem Reap
    • A 3-day Angkor pass
    • Ta Prohm in the late afternoon with a local Angkor guide
    • Farewell dinner

    Activity: Cover shoulders and knees for the Royal Palace and the Angkor temples, or you will be turned away.

12. Day 12: Sunrise at Angkor Wat and depart

    Siem Reap to Angkor Wat, the Bayon and Angkor Thom, then Siem Reap Angkor International Airport

    • Drive about 1.5 h
    • Breakfast
    Day 12 details

    We leave the hotel at about 5 am to stand by the north pool in front of Angkor Wat as the five towers turn from black to pink against the dawn sky. Once the light is up we walk through the temple itself, along the galleries of bas-reliefs, the long carved battle scenes and the Churning of the Ocean of Milk, before most day visitors arrive. Breakfast is back at the hotel or packed for the temple, whichever suits the group. Then we drive into Angkor Thom through its south gate, lined with stone gods and demons, to the Bayon, whose towers carry more than 200 calm stone faces, and walk on to the Terrace of the Elephants. We are back in Siem Reap for lunch on your own, and the transfer to Siem Reap Angkor International Airport (SAI), about an hour away, leaves in the early afternoon. Book a flight leaving after about 5 pm.

    Included

    • Sunrise at Angkor Wat and a guided walk through the temple
    • The south gate of Angkor Thom, the Bayon and the Terrace of the Elephants
    • Drop-off at Siem Reap Angkor International Airport (SAI)

    Easier option: Skip the sunrise and join the group at Angkor Wat after breakfast, around 7:30 am.

    More active option: Climb the steep stairs to the upper level of Angkor Wat, the Bakan, when it is open.

    Activity: Book a flight leaving after about 5 pm to see all of the morning. For an earlier flight we go from Angkor Wat straight to the airport.

    

Wildlife and weather: November to February is the cool, dry season: warm days, chilly mornings in the north and on the Bolaven Plateau, and little rain. The Khone falls are at their fullest early in the season, and the dolphins at Kampi are easier to see as the river drops.

• Luang Prabang3 nights
• Vang Vieng1 night
• Vientiane1 night
• Bolaven Plateau1 night
• Don Khone2 nights
• Kratie1 night
• Phnom Penh1 night
• Siem Reap1 night