Secrets of Southern Laos

Small Group Journeys

Highlights

Tour Details

Itinerary

Day 1: Arrival to Luang Prabang

Someone will be waiting when you land, and you are driven straight to the hotel. Drinks in the evening introduce the group to one another while the Tour Leader goes over how the week will work. Have a look at your welcome pack, which explains tonight’s arrangements.

Day 2: Luang Prabang

Nowhere else in Laos keeps hold of a traveller the way Luang Prabang does. Wooded hills close it in, the Khan runs into the Mekong on its edge, and life here has never picked up much speed. Up to the mid-16th century the town served as capital of Lane Xang, the kingdom of a million elephants. European buildings sit comfortably alongside thirty or so gilded Buddhist temples, and the mix gives the streets their particular character. The morning is spent walking the old quarters, beginning at the market while it is busiest, then along the elegant main street to the National Museum. After that, Wat Xienthong — ‘The Temple of the Golden City’, generally reckoned the finest in Laos. The day finishes afloat, on a boat watching the sun go down over the Mekong.

Day 3: Luang Prabang

A drive out of town opens the day, heading for Kuang Si Waterfall, the prettiest of those close to Luang Prabang. There is time to swim, walk about and look at the blue-green pools and the forest holding them in, then to visit the neighbouring bear sanctuary, where Asiatic Black bears rescued from the illegal wildlife trade now live. On the way back the group stops off at Ock Pop Tok Weaving Centre for a full account of Lao textile work. The evening is at the Bamboo experience: a talk on bamboo, a good meal and a baci ceremony.

Day 4: Luang Prabang to Bolaven

The journey heads south from here, on a flight to Pakse. Leaving the airport, the road works its way upward through hills and a long run of hairpins into Bolaven Plateau country. Somewhere on that ascent you meet Mr Kamsome, who grows coffee and knows the crop thoroughly; he then loads the group into an old army Jeep and drives off the tarmac and up into his plantation.

Day 5: Bolaven to Done Khong

Dense forest and low hills surround the day’s first stop, Tad Fane, the ‘Twin Waterfalls’. The road then carries on to the old ruins of Wat Phu, the Mountain Temple, on the UNESCO World Heritage list and one of the oldest archaeological sites in the country. The countryside stays handsome all the way to Done Khong, the largest island in Si Phan Don, the 4,000 Islands.

Day 6: Done Khong

Time runs slowly in this part of the river. You sail the Mekong with a breeze across the deck, fishing settlements passing on both banks, and land at Done Khone. The island is best covered by bicycle — an easy ride out to the French locomotive still standing where it was abandoned, and the Railway Bridge. Liphi Waterfalls follow, water breaking apart in every direction before the channels gather back into the Mekong.

Day 7: Done Khong to Pakse

First comes Khone Phapheng Waterfalls, enormous and loud, the water pushing through in broad sheets you find yourself watching far longer than intended. Ban Khiet Ngong is next, a village inside Xe Pian National Protected Area, which is a wide wetland holding rare and endangered wildlife. A short walk uphill reaches Phou Asa Mountain, where odd pillars of flat stacked stones ring an empty space; a temple is thought to have stood inside them. Dinner back in Pakse is a traditional Sindad.

Day 8: Departure from Pakse

Goodbyes today, though everything you gathered stays with you on the way home. A car will run you over to the airport, early enough for whatever comes after.