Laos: Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng and Vientiane

1. Day 1: Arrive in Luang Prabang

   Luang Prabang International Airport to the old town

   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Luang Prabang
   Day 1 details

   Your trip starts at Luang Prabang International Airport (LPQ), about fifteen minutes from the old town, where a driver meets you and takes you to your hotel. Luang Prabang was the royal capital of the Lan Xang kingdom and later of the Lao kings, and it sits on a narrow peninsula where the Nam Khan flows into the Mekong. Its mix of gilded monasteries and French colonial shophouses has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1995. Rest after the flight, then meet your guide and the group in the late afternoon for a short walk along the Mekong riverfront as the sun drops behind the hills on the far bank. Over a welcome dinner of Lao dishes, sticky rice, laap and river fish, your guide explains the week ahead and how the dawn alms procession works, so everyone knows where to stand and what not to do tomorrow. If you land too late for the walk, we meet at dinner.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Luang Prabang International Airport (LPQ)
   • Sunset walk along the Mekong riverfront with your guide
   • Welcome dinner and a briefing on alms-giving etiquette

   Free time: Free until the late-afternoon walk

   

2. Day 2: The alms at dawn and the old town

   The alms procession, Mount Phousi, the Royal Palace Museum and Wat Mai

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

   For anyone who wants to see it, we walk out at about 5:30 am, before first light, to watch the Tak Bat alms procession. Lines of monks and novices in saffron robes walk barefoot down the street in silence, and local people kneel to place sticky rice in their bowls. We watch from the far side of the street, quietly and without flash, as the monasteries ask. From there it is a few minutes to the steps of Mount Phousi, about 330 of them, which we climb as the ticket booth opens to see mist lifting off the two rivers, hours before the sunset crowd fills the summit. Breakfast is back at the hotel. At 8 am we are at the Royal Palace Museum as it opens, the residence of the last Lao kings, with the Haw Pha Bang chapel in its grounds, then next door to Wat Mai and its gilded relief panels. A sit-down lunch follows, and the afternoon is yours. The night market fills Sisavangvong Road from about dusk.

   Included

   • The Tak Bat alms procession, observed from across the street with your guide (optional, early)
   • Mount Phousi at the start of the day
   • The Royal Palace Museum and the Haw Pha Bang chapel
   • Wat Mai
   • Sit-down lunch in the old town

   Optional experiences

   • Traditional Arts and Ethnology Centre (small museum of Lao ethnic groups; opening days confirmed at booking)
   • An evening performance at the Royal Ballet Theatre, on the nights it runs

   Easier option: Sleep in and skip the alms and Phousi; join the group at the Royal Palace Museum at 8 am.

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free

   Activity: About 3 hours on foot on flat streets, plus about 330 steps up Mount Phousi. Cover shoulders and knees for the palace and temples.

   

3. Day 3: Up the Mekong to Pak Ou

   Luang Prabang by river boat to Ban Xang Hai and the Pak Ou Caves, and back

   • By boat
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Luang Prabang
   Day 3 details

   A relaxed start, then we board a long wooden river boat at the landing below the old town in the cool of the morning. Going upstream against the current takes about two hours, past sandbanks, riverside vegetable gardens, fishermen casting nets and buffalo in the shallows. We stop at Ban Xang Hai, a village known for lao-lao rice spirit and weaving, then cross to the Pak Ou Caves, two caverns in a limestone cliff where the Nam Ou meets the Mekong. For centuries people have brought Buddha images here, and thousands of them, wooden and gilded, large and small, fill the lower cave, Tham Ting. A steep stair climbs to the deeper upper cave, Tham Theung, where you need the torch your guide brings. Lunch is at a simple restaurant on the river bank facing the cliff. The boat runs downstream faster, and we are back in town by mid-afternoon with the rest of the day free.

   Included

   • River boat on the Mekong to Pak Ou and back
   • Ban Xang Hai village
   • The Pak Ou Caves, Tham Ting and Tham Theung
   • Riverside lunch

   Optional experiences

   • A Lao cooking class in Luang Prabang in the late afternoon (price shown at booking)

   Easier option: Stay at the lower cave, Tham Ting, which is a short flight of steps from the boat, and skip the stair to the upper cave.

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free

   Activity: About 3 hours on the boat in total. The stair to the upper cave is steep and uneven; wear shoes with grip.

   

4. Day 4: 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 4 details

   We leave after an early breakfast and drive about 30 km south-west through villages and low hills, so we are at the gate of Kuang Si as it opens, around 8 am, ahead of the minibuses that arrive from mid-morning. 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 follows a chain of turquoise pools, coloured by the limestone the water carries, up to the main fall, which drops in several streams over pale terraces about 50 m high. Swim in the lower pools where it is allowed, or sit by the water while it is still quiet. Lunch is at a restaurant near the falls, and we are back in Luang Prabang by early afternoon. The rest of the day is free, your last in the town, for a massage, a weaving workshop or a final walk through the night market.

   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 natural-dye weaving workshop at Ock Pop Tok in the afternoon (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.

   

5. Day 5: Wat Xieng Thong, then 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 5 details

   Your last morning in Luang Prabang starts at Wat Xieng Thong, at the tip of the peninsula, as it opens around 8 am, when there are more monks than visitors in the courtyard. Built around 1560, it was the royal monastery where Lao kings were crowned. Walk round the back of the main hall to see the tree of life worked in coloured glass mosaic, then the funeral carriage hall with the gilded hearse of King Sisavang Vong. Mid-morning we drive about 20 minutes to the station for the Laos-China Railway, opened in 2021, which runs south through the mountains in a long chain of tunnels and reaches Vang Vieng in about an hour to an hour and a half; the same journey by road used to take most of a day. Lunch is in Vang Vieng, on the Nam Song with the limestone karsts rising behind the far bank. After check-in, a short walk across the river into the rice fields, then sunset by the water.

   Included

   • Wat Xieng Thong at opening with your guide
   • Train from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng, tickets bought for you
   • Lunch by the Nam Song
   • Evening walk across the river to the rice fields

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free

   Activity: Keep to one suitcase and a day bag for the train. Train times are confirmed with your final itinerary.

   

6. Day 6: Caves, a lagoon and the Nam Song

   Vang Vieng to Tham Phu Kham, then by kayak down the Nam Song

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Vang Vieng
   Day 6 details

   Vang Vieng is known for its backpacker bars, but the reason to come is the valley: rice fields and the Nam Song river set against sheer limestone karsts. After breakfast we cross the river and drive about 7 km west on a rough country road to Tham Phu Kham. A steep path climbs to a huge cave with a reclining Buddha inside, and below it a clear blue-green pool fed by the stream, where you can swim. Lunch is at a riverside restaurant upstream of town. In the afternoon, with river guides and life jackets, we paddle about 2 hours down the Nam Song back into Vang Vieng, past fishermen, riverside gardens and the karsts, with the current doing most of the work. We take two-person kayaks, so less confident paddlers share with a guide. The evening is free: sunset from the riverbank is the best show in town.

   Included

   • Tham Phu Kham cave and lagoon
   • Riverside lunch
   • Kayaking down the Nam Song with river guides, about 2 hours

   Easier option: Skip the kayak and ride back to town in the vehicle; rest or rent a bicycle for the flat lanes along the river.

   More active option: In the morning, swap the cave visit for a guided climb to a karst viewpoint above the valley, steep and about an hour up, rejoining the group for lunch.

   Free time: Evening free

   Activity: Kayaking depends on the river level and weather, and is replaced by a riverside walk if the river is unsafe. The cave path is steep and dark in places.

7. Day 7: Train to Vientiane and the capital in a day

   Vang Vieng to Vientiane by train, then That Luang, COPE, Patuxai and Wat Si Saket

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Vientiane
   Day 7 details

   A morning train takes about an hour from Vang Vieng to Vientiane, and our vehicle meets us at the station north-east of the city. On the way in we stop at Pha That Luang, the gold-covered stupa that is the national symbol of Laos, rebuilt in the 16th century when King Setthathirath moved the capital here. After lunch, the COPE Visitor Centre tells the story of the unexploded bombs that still lie in Lao fields: the US dropped more than two million tonnes of ordnance on Laos between 1964 and 1973, and COPE makes artificial limbs for people hurt by what remains. It is a sobering hour, and an important one. Then Patuxai, the victory monument, where you can climb the stairs for the view down Lane Xang Avenue, and Wat Si Saket, from the early 19th century, its cloister walls lined with thousands of small Buddha images. At sunset we walk the Mekong riverfront, with Thailand across the water, before a farewell dinner.

   Included

   • Train from Vang Vieng to Vientiane, tickets bought for you
   • Pha That Luang
   • Lunch in Vientiane
   • COPE Visitor Centre
   • Patuxai, with the climb to the top
   • Wat Si Saket
   • Sunset walk on the Mekong riverfront
   • Farewell dinner

   Easier option: Skip the Patuxai stairs and wait in the gardens below.

   Free time: A free hour at the hotel before the riverfront walk

   Activity: About 3 hours on foot, mostly on level ground. Cover shoulders and knees for That Luang and Wat Si Saket.

   

8. Day 8: Depart from Vientiane

   Vientiane to Wattay International Airport

   • Drive about 15 min
   • Breakfast
   Day 8 details

   The trip ends after breakfast in Vientiane. If your flight is in the afternoon or evening, the morning is yours: a coffee and a baguette in one of the cafes left from the French era, the Lao Textile Museum, or the Talat Sao morning market, which despite its name is busy all day. Xieng Khuan, the Buddha Park, is about 25 km south-east of the city near the Friendship Bridge to Thailand, a riverside garden of more than 200 concrete Buddhist and Hindu sculptures made from 1958; your guide can arrange a driver for it if you have a late flight. Wattay International Airport (VTE) is about fifteen minutes from the centre, and we drive you there at the right time for your flight. Book a flight leaving after about 1 pm if you want a relaxed morning, or any time if you are happy to go straight from breakfast. If you are carrying on to Vietnam and Cambodia, there are direct flights to Hanoi.

   Included

   • Drop-off at Wattay International Airport (VTE)

   Optional experiences

   • Xieng Khuan (Buddha Park) by private driver, if your flight leaves late (price shown at booking)

   Free time: Morning free until your airport transfer

   Activity: Book a flight leaving after about 1 pm for a free morning, or after about 4 pm to add the Buddha Park.

Wildlife and weather: November to February is the cool dry season: clear days around 25 to 30 C, and mornings in Luang Prabang and on the river that can be misty and as low as 10 to 15 C in December and January. From about March, smoke from field burning hazes the views; from May to October the rains turn Kuang Si brown and raise the Nam Song.

• Luang Prabang4 nights
• Vang Vieng2 nights
• Vientiane1 night