Luang Prabang Laos Holiday & Touring Guides and Photos.

Touring Wats and Temples, The Royal Palace, visiting Kuang Si Waterfalls and a boat trip down the Mekong River to see Pak Ou Caves while on holiday in Luang Prabang, Laos.

Luang Prabang - the (UNESCO World Heritage) City. [Concerning Lao visas please see our Vientiane topic]. Luang Prabang is located in the upper central part of Laos on a peninsula created by the Mekong River and the Nam Khan River. The City is a major domicile for Buddhists - there are 100s of them to be seen wandering around and seemingly 100s of Wats as well!. There are plenty of ATMs around and quite a few money exchange outlets - it is worth checking exchange rates as these do vary from place to place.

Luang Prabang Flights. International flights operate between Hanoi, Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Siem Reap. Internal flights serve Vientiane and Pakse - the airline tickets are very expensive as there is no realistic competition.

Luang Prabang Boats. You can travel from Luang Prabang into Thailand which involves a 2 day boat trip along the Mekong River with an overnight stop at Pak Beng. The route then continues to Huay Xai (still in Laos) where you cross the Mekong River (which is the border) into Chang Khong in Thailand - the trip can obviously be reversed. Trips on offer vary from travelling cheaply on a boat with basic facilities where you just get a seat to an expensive luxury all-inclusive cruise.

Luang Prabang Hotels. As well as accommodation within the city there are also quite a variety of hotels and guest houses on the outskirts - for instance there are several river-side stilt-house small complexes often set in particularly beautiful gardens. These do look really desirable if booking in advance on the basis of website photos but two things are worth noting if staying right on the river - the bugs which turn up at dusk are a real nuisance and also if the weather is not too warm these wooden chalets can be pretty cold at night. Generally for all types of accommodation in Luang Prabang the room rates are quite low - probably due to the huge room availability. For a good choice of hotels with discount prices try a visit to Where to Stay in Luang Prabang where you will find some good offers and more information.

Restaurants etc. Luang Prabang's quiet main street boasts many restaurants offering a wide choice of food and at reasonable price. There are also quite a few river-side restaurants on both the Mekong and the Nam Khan. Similarly to Vientiane there are also several "Scandinavian" bakeries along the Main Street offering food to take away or you can also sit and eat a breakfast or have a coffee i.e. like cafes. There are quite a few shops selling all sorts plus a few small supermarkets - also the Main Street is the place to find numerous travel agents. At one end of the street (near the Palace Museum) there is an almost continuous tourist market - which grows considerably in size in the evenings.
Getting Around. Luang Prabang is quite compact and most of the temples and sites of interest can easily walked too on a planned circuit. There are plenty of tuk-tuks around but you certainly should negotiate / agree your price before taking a trip in one since start off prices are often ridiculous.

Sightseeing in Luang Prabang.
At the end of the Peninsular near the junctions of the Nam Khan and Mekong Rivers is the Buddhist Temple Wat Xieng Thong (Golden City Monastery) - this is perhaps the most important temple in Laos. Wat Xieng is open daily and has a small entrance fee. The temple is constructed in classic Luang Prabang style with a low sweeping roof and was built in 1560 by Setthathirat I who was the sovereign of the Lao kingdom of Lan Xang. The temple is beautifully decorated internally and on the outside at the back is a mosaic of the Tree of Life which is set against a red background. There is another small temple in the grounds as well as stupas contain Buddha images, a boat shelter, monks quarters and also a building containing the Royal funeral carriage.

A walk back along Thanon Sisavang Vong takes you past several Wats including Wat Si Bun Heuang, Wat Si Muang Khun and Wat Sop, Wat Saen (One hundred thousand temple - built in Thai style and so-named because of the donations given to build it). You then come to Wat Pa Phai (the Bamboo Forest Temple) which has 100 year old frescos and a carved wooden facade.

Along the street there are many well kept and renovated buildings - some of these are used as guest houses or shops whilst others are used for the town's numerous cafes and restaurants. Towards the far end of the Main Street you reach the Royal Palace Museum (Haw Kham) which is open daily and has an entrance fee. No photographs are allowed to be taken inside and bags have to be left at the entrance kiosk - additionally a reasonable standard of dress is required.
The Royal Palace was built in 1904 as the residence of King Sisavang Vong - a room at the front contains the Pha Band Buddha image which the City is named after.

There are several rooms to wander around which contain collections of regalia, portraits, books, diplomatic gifts and engraved elephant tusks. Just inside the gate there is a building which is used by the Royal Ballet Theatre - times of performances vary and on the right a really beautiful temple. Next to the Museum is Wat Mai Suwannaphumaham (or Wat Banpakham) which was built during the early 1800s - the temple was the residence of Sankhalat who was the patriarch of Buddhism in Laos - the Wat's roof is five tiered and classic Luang Prabang style.

Mount Phu Si - Luang Prabang. One of the ways up to this landmark is located opposite the entrance to the Royal Palace Museum. Before climbing the 328 steps to the top take a look at the slightly run-down Wat Pa Huak which is a few steps up on the right and contains 19 century murals with Mekong scenes. Having staggered up to the top of the hill you reach That Chom Si - there are excellent views of the two rivers, Luang Prabang and the surrounding countryside.

The descent can be made by going down the other side of the hill - this passes numerous temples and shrines - including Wat Than Phu Si (Cave Shrine). The path ends at the road by the Nam Khan River - if you turn left and then left again (opposite the Bamboo Footbridge) you arrive back at the Main Street (passing Wat Siphoutthabat on the way).

East of the city is Wat Wisunalat (Wat Visoun) - originally built in 1813 it's the oldest temple in continuous use in Luang Prabang. The Sim is unusual as the front roof slopes down over the terrace. In front of the temple is the 100 foot high That Pathum (Lotus Stupa) which was built in 1503/4 and originally contained many small Buddha's - those that were not stolen can now be seen in the Royal Palace Museum.

Trip to Kuang Si Waterfalls, Laos:
This half day trip is well worth doing - the beautiful area and it's waterfalls are 30kms south of Luang Prabang. The trip can be booked via most travel agents found in the main street - usually you go by mini-bus and the trip costs around 8 US Dollars per person.
For this low price there are no frills of course - they just pick you up from somewhere pre-agreed in Luang Prabang's main street, dump you off at the waterfalls car park and tell you what time to get back for the return trip.

The journey to the falls is itself quite enjoyable as the route goes along fairly narrow twisty roads amid excellent countryside. Once at the waterfalls car park there is an entrance fee into the "falls area" - immediately inside there is a bear sanctuary though the bears do make a good job of staying quite hidden. The walk simply follows the stream along well made paths and heads up to the main fall - along the way there are several pools some of which can be used for a quick dip. There are often picnic tables along the way so don't forget to visit the bakery before leaving Luang Prabang and take some tasty sandwiches and cakes with you plus of course drinks.

Pak Ou Caves: These famous Lao caves involve a half day trip by long-tailed boat travelling along the Mekong River to the caves which are at the junction with the Nam Ou River. The trips can be booked from most hotels or local travel agents and cost around 10 USD per person. The boats leave around 0830 each morning - they did not seem to pack too many people on each boat and on our trip each of the boats had 4 or 5 people.
The 25km trip to the cave takes around 2 hours (which includes the usual compulsory visit to an ethnic village - the trip back just takes an hour. There is an entrance fee to the caves themselves which is normally not included in the boat ticket.

The lower cave (Tham Ting) is quite near to the river and is totally packed with small Buddha images. The upper cave (Tham Phum) involves a steep climb mostly on steps - this cave is deep and very dark so you need to either take a torch or you can hire one for a small fee at the cave entrance. Since all the boats turn up at the caves at the same time the whole thing is very congested particularly around the lower cave - the upper cave is not so bad as many don't bother to make the climb.

Please also take a look at our Vientiane topic - also closely related if touring this part of the Far East are our Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam travel guides.