Small Group Journeys
Highlights
Tour Details
Itinerary
Day 1: Arrival in Luang Prabang
The airport is ten minutes from the centre, which is a rare thing. You are met and taken to the hotel, and the afternoon is free. Before sunset we climb Mount Phousi — a little over three hundred steps, twenty minutes at a slow pace — for the layout of the town between the Mekong and the Nam Khan. Dinner together afterwards, and a briefing on the alms round for those who want to watch it.
Day 2: The alms round, the palace, the temples
An early start. Dawn is around half past five in the hot months and closer to half past six in the cool ones, and your leader fixes the time the evening before. We watch from across the street, sitting, without flash. Afterwards the fresh market, then breakfast. Later: the Royal Palace Museum, built in 1904 for King Sisavang Vong and left much as the family kept it in 1975, and Wat Xieng Thong at the end of the peninsula.
Day 3: Kuang Si and the villages behind it
South out of town after breakfast, about forty-five minutes on a winding road. The bear rescue centre sits beside the path in, so we stop there first, then walk up past the lower pools to the main fall. The water is cold and the pools are open for swimming — bring a towel. Lunch is at the falls. On the way back we call at a Hmong village and a paper-making workshop before returning in the late afternoon.
Day 4: Upstream on the Mekong
A slow boat leaves mid-morning and takes about two hours against the current to the Pak Ou caves, two chambers in a limestone cliff at the mouth of the Nam Ou packed with Buddha images left by pilgrims. We stop at Ban Xang Hai on the way, where rice whisky is distilled and the jars are still buried. Back down with the current, which is quicker. Farewell dinner in town.
Day 5: Departure
What´s included
- 4 nights in 3–4 star hotels or similar, all in Luang Prabang
- Daily breakfast, 1 lunch and 2 dinners
- Kuang Si entry, which covers the bear rescue centre on the same ticket
- Royal Palace Museum, Wat Xieng Thong and Mount Phousi entries
- Private boat on the Mekong to Pak Ou, with cave entry
- Transport in air-conditioned vehicles for the Kuang Si day
- English-speaking guide throughout
- Arrival and departure airport transfers
- Bottled water throughout, and all tipping for drivers, boatmen and guides
Excluded
- International flights into and out of Luang Prabang
- Laos visa, available on arrival or online before you travel
- Travel insurance, which is a condition of joining the group
- Meals not listed above, and all drinks
- Alms food if you choose to take part rather than watch, which we ask you to buy through the hotel and not from the street sellers by the temples
- Onward rail or air tickets from Luang Prabang, which we can book separately
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