A guide on what to see and do in the UNESCO city of Luang Prabang, Laos.

A week ago, I finally visited Laos for the first time ever. Laos has always been an elusive little character for me because although located within Southeast Asia, direct flights from Singapore were far and few between. They were also comparatively expensive. Until Scoot launched new direct flights. And subsequently launched promotional flights. If I’ve ever pounced on a flight deal that fast.

The ancient capital of Luang Prabang is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. With its French colonial influence intertwined with strong Buddhist and royal Laotian traditions, it’s easy to forget that pristine nature is located right at its doorsteps. Flanked by the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers, this intriguing town is nestled amongst lush green forests and mountain ranges.

We visited in May, a low-season month, which just so happens to be one of the hottest months of the year, with temperatures hovering 37 to 40 degrees celcius in the daytime. Hot.

This is what we did in our laidback four-day trip.

1. Kuang Si Waterfalls

The first piece of nature is the famous Kuang Si Waterfalls. It’s touristy, but I wouldn’t consider a Luang Prabang trip here as complete if you did not visit.

A definite must-see, the waterfall area is breathtakingly picturesque, and very well-maintained. Swimming areas are marked clearly. There are walking trails, but it’s a vast area that you can easily spend a whole day exploring if you want to.

There is an entrance fee of 20,000 Kip. I suggest going earlier in the day to avoid the bulk of the tourist crowd.

On your way to Kuang Si Waterfalls, you’ll inevitably walk through the Tat Kuang Si Bear Rescue Centre. This sanctuary houses and cares for rescued moon bears. For most of the bears, their bile was horrifically harvested for illegal but unfortunately still sought-after “medicinal” purposes. Check out the adorable bears, maybe buy some T-shirts and souvenirs to support their cause.

2. MandaLao Elephant Conservation

My visit to the MandaLao Elephant Conservation is easily one of my top highlights to Luang Prabang. MandaLao is the first and truly ethical non-riding elephant experience in Luang Prabang.

Click on here to read my full experience here.

3. Tak Bat

Tak bat is a sunrise alms giving ceremony that has become one of the highlights in Luang Prabang. It’s a practice of devotees offering food to monks, and as a tourist, best witnessed from a respectable distance. If you wish to take part in the practice, there were local ladies around who will offer their “guidance” and alms-giving tools (stool, mat, sticky rice offering) for a fee.

We got up at around 5.30am, rented bikes from our hotel and rode out until we saw monks walking in their bright orange robes. You can witness the ceremony anywhere there are temples, but supposedly the area just after the Night Market, at Sisavangvong Road, has the highest concentration of monks.

For the most part, tourists kept their distance, but there were a couple who were up close and personal within the monks’ space to get a selfie in. I felt all sorts of anxiety for the monks, who all walked their routes very quickly.

4. Climb Mt Phousi

The top of Mt Phousi offers spectacular views of Luang Prabang against lush mountain ranges. It’s not a particular tough hike up; there were gradual steps to the top. Although I have to say, in 40 degree weather it wasn’t exactly a walk in the literal park. There is an entrance fee of 20,000 Kip to get to the top.

Mt Phousi is best climbed and visited either at sunrise or sunsets. We visited at sunset and the top was crowded. We barely missed the final drop of the sun – if not for the… shouts, of some of my fellow tourists.

5. Royal Palace Museum

The Royal Palace is a complex consisting of a museum and an impressive temple. To be honest, we didn’t visit the museum, but we were more attracted to the temple. Apparently the museum is a well-preserved palace with royal items from yore. There is a fee to visit the museum, but the palace grounds are free to roam and explore. There is a vast garden on the palace grounds and we saw some people having picnics under the shade of the trees.

6. Wat Exploring

Luang Prabang is a town with over 30 Buddhist temples and monasteries. We only visited a couple, including the Wat Xieng Thong that came highly recommended to us. There is an entrance fee of 20,000 Kip. Modest dressing is required here, ladies should have their knees and shoulders covered.

Interestingly, all the Wats had very similar intricate gold styles on its front. I don’t think I’ve seen iterations of this design anywhere outside of Luang Prabang.

7. Night Market

Located along Main Street, or Sisavangvong Road, is the Night Market. There’s not much to do in Luang Prabang at night, save for the Night Market. We were about 500 metres from the market and we walked over every evening. Shopping there was fun, with a lot of locally made souvenirs and goodies to browse through. Clothes, hand-woven rugs and bags, home decor pieces, to name a few.

There’s also an alleyway with street food that we frequented often. The fruit juices here are cheap and extremely fresh. I toggled between watermelon juice and coconut water decanted into a cup for your convenience. The mango-passionfruit juice was incredibly smooth and sweet.

The Night Market starts setting up at 5pm and closes at 9pm.

8. Sample Laotian food

Laotian cuisine takes some influence from Thai food, but has its own taste. Some items I recommend trying would be the laap, sausages, and Khao soi. My favourite dish that I tried on the trip were fish laap from a restaurant by the Mekong river called Boungnasouk Restaurant. I’m not a big fish fan, but here it was fresh, meaty and not, uh, fishy at all. Another favourite is coconut pancakes or Khao Nom Kok from the Night Market. I often crave for these simple little snacks.

9. Massages

We primarily used the spa within our hotel for our massage fix, but there were plenty of massage parlours littered throughout the city. Unlike Thai massages which incorporated some contortionistic moves, Lao massages are a lot more focused on pressure points. After a long day of exploring in the intense heat, I enjoyed my nightly massages before bed for sure.

10. Bamboo Bridge

Literally, the only thing to do here is to cross it. There is a 5,000 Kip fee. But this was an appealing activity for us considering the bamboo bridge only exists 6 months in a year during the hottest times. During the monsoon period, it gets removed as the river rises above the level of the bridge.

11. Chill at Utopia.

Or at any other bars overlooking the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers. We arrived at Utopia one hot afternoon, and a great lunch there and chilled on the many daybeds overlooking the Nam Khan River.

12. Really just… Chill.

There’s not much to do in Luang Prabang city… which ended up being a positive because it was so hot out. We spent a lot of afternoons back in the comfort of our air-conditioned room.

I should also note that Luang Prabang sleeps after 9pm. The night market, aka the only activity alive at night, closes up at 9pm. Even our in-house spa closes at 9pm. I had no issues with this – I do enjoy early mornings, early bedtime routines.

Other options:

While we didn’t do any of these, they were part of our list of potentials.

Pak Ou Caves – Pak Ou are caves filled with retired Buddha statues, overlooking the Mekong River. We thought we could bundle our Kuang Si Waterfalls trip with Pak Ou Caves but turns out it was on the opposite side of town.

Tad Sae Waterfalls – A waterfall alternative to Kuang Si.

WHERE TO EAT

Saffron Coffee’s Cafe  & Saffron Coffee’s Alley – for the best coffee and if you’re lucky, coffee ice cream, in Luang Prabang. They have two outlets, the original one overlooking the river, and a new cafe located along Main Street (and closer to our hotel).

Utopia – for amazing pizzas (Spicy Laap Pizza was dope though not spicy at all in our opinion), delicious berry smoothie, and to have a good nap overlooking the river.

Night Market Food Alley – for all sorts of local street food. The famous vegetarian buffet is also located here. You fill up your bowl with whatever’s on display just one time for 15,000 Kip. Some people were piling watermelon slices with their noodles, it gave me food anxiety.

Riverside Barbeque Restaurant – For Laotian-style BBQ buffet and spectacular sunset views by the Mekong river.

Boungnasouk Restaurant – For fresh fish laap and friendly staff.

WHERE TO STAY

Maison Dalabua – We stayed here for the trip. I absolutely adored our hotel. It’s located within gorgeous UNESCO-protected lotus ponds. Who knew those were a thing.

We ended up staying indoors to seek refuge from the intense weather in the afternoons, and made full use of our room. Our room smelled of lemongrass whole day long and the beds were comfortable. The daily breakfast buffet served a good mix of local cuisine with freshly baked goods. I especially love their banana cake.

The in-house spa was also fantastic.

Indigo House Hotel – This is located right at the beginning of the daily Night Market and is one of the taller and prominent landmarks in the city. Not only are you close to the action at night, there is an alley of affordable, local food right beside it.

TRAVELLING AROUND

At the airport, we took a shared van taxi directly to our hotels in Luang Prabang. The ride costs a standard 50,000 Kip for the both of us.

Within Luang Prabang, tuk tuks are easily available. Check Google maps for distances so you can gauge a fair price to negotiate. We travelled 1km distances on the tuk tuks (read: 40 degree weather) and our tuk tuks ranged between 15,000 to 20,000 Kip. If you’re in Luang Prabang when the weather is more bearable, the city is very walkable, and most hotels would provide bicycles for free.

We arranged our airport and day trip transportation with our hotel. We had comfortable air conditioned vans and the prices were fair and the same as if we booked it outside. You can most definitely flex your negotiation skills with the tuk tuks to get you to Kuang Si or the airport for much cheaper, for sure. For eg, our airport ride was USD$7 per person, but on a tuktuk it would have been USD$7 for the both of us per ride.

CURRENCY

The currency here is Lao Kip, although USD is accepted widely. Money changers are readily available at the airport and in town as well, at point of our visit, all of the exchange rates were the same.

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