Small Group Journeys
Highlights
Tour Details
Itinerary
Day 1: Arrival to Vientiane
The day you land. A guide is waiting and takes you across to the hotel for check-in. With a welcome drink in hand, choose between a rest and a first look at what stands nearby.
Day 2:Vientiane to Vang Vieng
A TukTuk picks you up at the hotel and sets you down at the Phatuxay Monument to begin on the capital. The rest is on foot along Lane Xang Avenue, breaking at the Morning Market and at COPE, the Cooperative Orthotic & Prosthetic Enterprise. Then Wat Si Muang, then Wat Sisaket, then the Presidential Palace. Anouvong Park is where you stop for a croissant and more Lao coffee. Further temples come before the walk reaches the Mekong. A second TukTuk delivers you back to pack for Vang Vieng.
Day 3: Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang
An easy walk takes you over the Nam Song River to the Hmong village of Ban Phan Thao. The route follows a narrow irrigation channel, karst towers and green paddy opening up to left and right. Caves can go into the morning if you want them. Beyond that lie the fields of Ban Nadoa Village and Tam Chang Cave. Driving fills the afternoon, through serious mountain country, with further Hmong villages en route to Luang Prabang.
Day 4: Luang Prabang Explorer and Sunset Mekong cruise
Luang Prabang’s old quarter is best walked, and taken at a low pace. First the crowded morning market, then the handsome main avenue, and after it the National Museum. Then Wat Xienthong, widely reckoned the finest temple in Laos. The day shuts with a boat and the sun going down over the Mekong.
Day 5: Luang Prabang – Kuang Si
A short drive from Luang Prabang brings you to Kuang Si Waterfall, blue-green water dropping tier by tier, counted among the finest falls anywhere in Southeast Asia. Next door is the Bear Rescue Centre, which looks after rescued Asiatic bears. On the way back there is the Ock Pop Tok Weaving Centre and a full account of how Lao textiles are made. Tips: • Stop off at Buffalo Dairy: the ice cream really is made with buffalo milk! The evening holds a bamboo demonstration, a 'baci' ceremony and dinner at Bamboo Experience.
Day 6: Departure from Luang Prabang
A transfer runs on time to the airport for your flight home or onward.
What´s included
- 5 nights in described hotels or similar
- Breakfast every morning
- 1 Dinner
- Road transport in air-conditioned vehicles
- Sightseeing in a group capped at sixteen
- Every entrance fee named in the itinerary
- An English-speaking tour leader throughout
- Tipping for guides, drivers and hotel staff, settled by us
- Transfers on arrival and on the day you fly home
Excluded
- Anything personal you spend along the way
- Entry requirements and any visa costs
- Porterage at hotels and airports
- Insurance, plus drinks, calls, mini-bar and laundry
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