Luang Prabang is a small town with a list that is longer than the three days most backpackers give it. Temples, waterfalls, a hill right in the middle of town, a market that sets up again every evening and a river you can drift off on whenever you like. You do not have to get through all of it, because this is exactly the place where you drop down a gear.
A few things really do belong on your visit: the water at Kuang Si, the silence of the early morning, one evening at the buffets in the night market. Others are on every list and fill an afternoon nicely, although an afternoon on a terrace by the Nam Khan is time well spent here too.
So where do your Luang Prabang days go, and what do you save for next time?
Want the practical side first, like where to sleep, how to get there and how many days to plan? That is all on our Luang Prabang page.
The Kuang Si falls
For a lot of backpackers this is the most beautiful thing they see in Laos, and that is not an exaggeration. The water drops out of the forest and then steps down through a series of turquoise pools, one after another, all the way to the entrance at the bottom. You walk up alongside the whole thing and can swim along the way wherever it is allowed.
The falls are about 29 kilometres out of town, around half an hour’s drive. You get there by shared tuk-tuk or minibus for about €5 return. There is a bear rescue centre at the entrance, so count on half a day if you want to take it all in without rushing.
The water is at its highest at the end of the rainy season, around October, and it is still turquoise then. Come in April and the fall can be down to almost nothing. Stay off the rocks anywhere but the marked jumping spot, because that is where things occasionally go wrong here.
Our verdict: absolutely, and give it a whole afternoon
The alms ceremony at dawn
Every morning, before it is properly light, the monks walk through the streets of the old town in a long line to receive food. Nobody talks and nobody looks up. It lasts about twenty minutes and it is the quietest thing you will experience in Southeast Asia.
It costs you nothing but your sleep: you need to be out of bed before six. If you are staying in or near the old town, you just walk out onto the street. Cover your shoulders and knees, stay on the other side of the road and turn your flash off.
Since you are up early anyway, go straight for breakfast at a local place nearby and keep the rest of the day free for Kuang Si. For us, that is the perfect day in Luang Prabang.
Our verdict: it only costs you your sleep, and from a distance with no flash it is genuinely moving
The vegetarian alley at the night market
Every evening the main street fills with stalls, and halfway along an alley runs off to the side where the real business happens. That is where the vegetarian buffets are: grab a plate, pile it as high as you dare and pay about a euro. There is nothing more to think about.
Around you are the grills with Mekong fish over charcoal, and further along you will find laap, tam mak hoong and khao jee, the Lao baguette the French left behind. Lao food looks like Thai but is plainer and saltier, with sticky rice instead of steamed.
You eat that sticky rice with your hands. Squeeze a little ball of it, dip it in the sauce and in it goes. A spoon only makes life harder for yourself.
Our verdict: the cheapest and the most fun way to get to know Lao food
Mount Phousi in the early morning
Right in the middle of town is a hill with 329 steps to the top, and from up there you see exactly why the town sits where it does: the Mekong on one side, the Nam Khan on the other and the mountains behind. From the bottom the climb looks harder than it is.
It is about fifteen minutes to the top, and your hostel in the old town is a short walk away, because everything here is within ten minutes of everything else.
Go early in the morning. Between November and February there is mist hanging over the river and you have the view almost to yourself, while at sunset the top is packed with people waiting for the same photo. Set on the sunset anyway? Then go an hour earlier and stay.
Our verdict: go, but in the morning
A boat up the Mekong to the Pak Ou caves
The Pak Ou caves sit in a cliff face above the river and are full of Buddha statues that people have left there over the centuries. Thousands of them, big and small, in two caves above the water. But honestly: the boat ride there is at least as good as the caves themselves.
You head upstream in a long, narrow boat, watching mountains, villages and people doing their washing on the bank. The day tour combines the caves with Kuang Si, so in one day you get both the river and the falls.
If it is mainly the Mekong you want to see rather than the caves, take a sunset cruise instead. An hour on the water while the sun drops behind the mountains takes half an evening and is one of the most peaceful things you can do here.
Our verdict: do it above all for the ride up the Mekong
The temples of the old town
There are 33 temples in the old town, and it shows: you can barely walk down a street without passing one. Wat Xieng Thong is the best known, with its low, sweeping roof that comes almost down to the ground. Because the centre is mostly car-free, you walk from one to the next without ever dealing with traffic.
The whole old centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and it is small enough to walk around in a morning. If you want to know what you are looking at, a city tour takes you past the main temples and the colonial buildings in between.
Shoulders and knees covered, even when it is hot. And go early, because later in the day the light is harsh and the heat in the courtyards is serious.
Our verdict: a morning on foot is plenty
A cooking class in the old royal palace
After a few nights at the market you know what it tastes like, but not what goes into it. A cooking class fills that gap: you first go to the market for the herbs and fresh ingredients, then cook the dishes you have been eating all those evenings yourself.
The class in the former royal palace is the most popular in town and travellers rate it well almost without exception. It takes half a day and at the end you eat what you made.
Save it for later in your stay rather than your first day. It is a lot more fun once you know the dishes from the market and there is that one thing you want to be able to make at home.
Our verdict: half a day well spent, but keep it for later in your stay
Got time to spare in Luang Prabang?
Watching the alms ceremony with respect
The best way to experience it is to watch quietly from the other side of the street. If you really want to take part, buy your food at a local market rather than from the sellers along the route, and read up beforehand on what is expected of you. That way it stays what it is meant to be, and it makes it a special moment for you too.
Mount Phousi in the morning
The sunset from Mount Phousi is the most famous in Laos, and that means you are standing shoulder to shoulder at the top. You get the same steps and the same view almost to yourself if you are there at seven in the morning, with mist over the Mekong thrown in. For us, that is the best half hour in town.
The night market
The food section of the night market is one of the best things about Luang Prabang, with buffets for about a euro. The stalls around it mostly sell the same elephant trousers and lanterns you see elsewhere in Southeast Asia, so wander through by all means and then go and find the food. Carry cash, because the small stalls only take cash.
The evenings here
Luang Prabang shuts around midnight, because there is a curfew. That is exactly what makes the evenings here calm and good: a beer by the Mekong, a long dinner and an early night, which is handy with that early alms ceremony. Fancy a late one? Then Vang Vieng is your next stop.
Our top five in Luang Prabang
Only got a few days? These are the five we would do no matter what:
- The Kuang Si falls, ideally towards the end of the rainy season
- The alms ceremony at dawn, quietly and from across the street
- The vegetarian alley at the night market, for about a euro
- Mount Phousi in the early morning, all 329 steps
- A boat on the Mekong, to the Pak Ou caves or just chasing the sunset
Still got time after that? The cooking class in the former royal palace is the best way to understand what you have been eating all those evenings. And if you have an extra day, take the three-hour bus to Nong Khiaw and spend a night among the mountains.
So what do you really have to do in Luang Prabang?
Everything on this list earns its place, but Luang Prabang is above all a town for slowing down. The people who got the most out of it let go of their plans somewhere on day two and went and sat by the river. This list is here to help you choose, and to leave room.
If we had to pick just one thing: Kuang Si. Get there before ten, ahead of the coaches, walk all the way up alongside the water, find a pool with nobody in it and stay until you get cold. That is the place most backpackers remember from Laos.
And keep one morning completely empty. Head out before six for the ceremony, then eat sticky rice at a place where everyone else is Lao and watch the mist lift off the river. You need no ticket, no tuk-tuk and no plan for that.
