It did not take long for Luang Prabang to become our favorite foreign city outside of Europe (granted there’s not a lot of competition). We really enjoyed our time here.
The old town is French Colonial style, and very touristy, with endless streets of hotels, restaurants, cafés, and shops. In many places the city has a very western feel. As you might expect, the prices at restaurants and cafés are easily two to three times greater than what you will find just a bit outside the main tourist district, but still very affordable.
We stayed at Cold River Hotel, about a fifteen minute walk from the old town area. Cold River is owned by a French couple and, wow, the complimentary morning breakfast reflects it: coffee; lemon drink; crepe; plain yogurt; granola; fresh fruit; baguettes; eggs (your way); and, bacon.
Breakfast was so filling we skipped lunch, instead opting for an early dinner at the restaurant next door to the hotel. I’d mention the restaurant by name, but I don’t think it has one. It was just a lady cooking out of what appears to be her garage. Without a doubt she cooked up the best food we had on this entire trip (and that includes the still to come places in Vietnam and Cambodia).
Two dinners and two large beers were 120,000 ₭ (Laotian Kip). Sounds like a lot, but it’s under $5.50. (At the time of our visit $1 was about 22,000 ₭.)
Speaking of beer, Beerlao is clearly the best beer in Laos … and in all of southeast Asia. It is easily one of our three favorite beers. Ever. Worldwide. It was love at first sip. We didn’t bother sampling other beers. It would have been a betrayal.
Had we known how good the food and beer would be in Luang Prabang, we would have stayed a few days longer.
Walking around town is easy, as the sidewalks are reasonably flat and wide – not choked with vendors and scooters. If you don’t want to walk a few blocks, or a half mile (the city isn’t that large), tuk-tuks are everywhere offering rides across town. You can’t walk half a block without coming across a tuk-tuk.
For larger groups, or to get outside of town, there are plenty of pickup trucks offering rides. Depending on when and where you are going, you have some leeway to haggle. Several times our group of four was quoted 800,000 ₭ or 900,000 ₭ for a roundtrip ride to Kuang Si Waterfalls, but with little effort we hired a truck for 700,000 ₭, including two hours wait time at the park. (The price is per truck, not per person.)
We tried to get three hours at the park, but the driver balked at waiting that long. We assume that he wanted to get back to town in time to make an afternoon run back to the waterfalls or to another area attraction.
After a 45 minute ride, we arrived at Kuang Si Waterfalls at about 9:00 AM, an hour after the park opened. Tickets cost 60,000 ₭ each, and include electric golf cart transportation up and down the hill from the parking lot to the actual entrance of the park. There was no line for either tickets or a golf cart ride.
After the golf cart dropped us off, we had to walk through a small vendor village to get to the park entrance. Then we were on the trail.
Kuang Si Waterfalls is a series of waterfalls and swimming pools with gorgeous turquoise blue water. In total we spent a little over an hour walking to and from the base of the main waterfall, stopping along the way to admire the smaller falls and pools.
The dirt trail is a very easy walk with a gentle uphill slope and several boardwalks. About halfway there is a large coffee shop where you can take a break if necessary.
At the main falls you can climb some 500+ steps to the top if you wish. We didn’t. Zip lining down from the top is apparently possible, but only if booked in advance (according to the sign).
On our way back from the main waterfall we noticed that the trail was quickly getting much more crowded. We saw only a few people at each pool as we walked uphill to the main waterfall, and no one was in the water. On the way back we saw four or five times as many people at each pool, and a few were starting to get in the water. For selfies.
Before leaving the park we stopped at Tat Kuang Si Bear Rescue Centre to see a couple of moon bears.
Not part of the waterfall park, but a short walk down the road is the Butterfly Park. Instead of riding the golf cart back to the parking lot we walked, with the idea of spending a few minutes with the butterflies. Until we discovered that the Butterfly Park charged 110,000 ₭ per person. We didn’t need to see butterflies that badly.
After finishing our walk back to the parking lot, we had just enough time to detour to Khoun Moung Keo waterfall, which is located a few hundred feet down a side road. It’s much smaller, free to visit, and surrounded by outdoor seating at a restaurant.
I guess it is free to visit. The restaurant looks like it primarily caters to large groups. Anyway, the few employees there did not seem to care that we walked through to see the falls.
Back at the parking lot at 11:00 AM, there were hundreds of tourists milling about, numerous tour group leaders waving colored flags, and well over a hundred people in line for tickets or a golf cart ride. The parking lot was jam packed with pickup trucks and passenger vans.
We escaped tourist hell just in time, and made it back to Luang Prabang shortly before noon.
The pickup truck drivers also advertise and offer trips to other local attractions, such as rice farms, elephant zoos, and even the Pak Ou Caves and Monk’s Village (in cooperation with a boat). We had no interest in the rice farms or elephant zoos, and had already stopped by the caves and village on our Mekong River cruise.
Travel agencies and local operators offer package tours to the same places, often at lower prices. But you are stuck going at peak tour group times with others. We prefer to go on our own early in the morning or late in the day. Being able to dictate the time is the best part about hiring a truck to see the sites.
Back in town, we decided to visit only two wats. We were a bit tired of them, having seen so many in Thailand. The first was Wat Xiengthong, which is the trendy, touristy complex. We paid 30,000 ₭ each to enter. There are several interesting buildings to see, and many tour groups. We enjoyed exploring the city that morning and did not make it to the wat until almost 11:00 AM. Again, bad planning on our part.
Just down the street is Wat Sensoukharam, which is free to enter. It has several buildings that are interesting from the outside, which is good because we did not seem to be able to enter any. Basically it was a ten minute walk through, albeit without other tourists.
Smack in the middle of Luang Prabang is Phousi Hill, a fairly large hill with a small temple on top. On the south side of the hill you can walk about halfway up and get some decent views of the city and Mekong River for free. At that point you’ll be asked to pay 30,000 ₭ to continue up another hundred or so steps to the top. On the north side of hill, adjacent to the tourist strip, the fee entrance gate is hardly above ground level.
On a clear day, the views from the top of Phousi Hill are probably worth double the price of admission. On a hazy day, like the one we experienced, the views were mediocre. Oh well.
We skipped two of the more popular tourist destinations in Luang Prabang, Haw Kaum (former Royal Palace, now part of the National Museum) and Haw Phra Bang (temple). The thought of going here seemed mildly interesting until we read that purses, bags, cameras, and phone must be checked before entry. It sounds petty, but we didn’t want to pay 60,000 ₭ to not take photographs or videos.
Really it comes down to the fact that we just weren’t interested enough to go.
We spent four days in Luang Prabang, which is plenty of time to see the sites. A week to ten days would have been better just to relax a bit more and enjoy the great food and beer.
Garrett and Stephanie
For additional posts about Laos, or elsewhere in the world, check out our Travel Blog. It contains collected links to all of our travel posts.
Want to subscribe (or unsubscribe) for email notification of new blog posts? It is only two to three emails a month. Send your name and email address to slowtravelchronicles@gmail.com, and note subscribe (or unsubscribe) in the subject line. All email addresses will be kept confidential and not sold to any third-party. You won’t get any marketing junk or sales pitches from us.