Backpacking Luang Prabang
Luang Prabang is a town of about fifty thousand people on a spit of land where the Nam Khan runs into the Mekong, with mountains on every side and thirty-three working temples inside a UNESCO-listed old quarter. It is the most beautiful place in Laos and it knows it, and somehow it is still not busy.
The rhythm here is the thing. Monks walk the streets barefoot before six collecting rice. Mist sits on the river until eight. Nothing opens early, the whole town closes at midnight, and by day two you have given up on having a schedule.
Half an hour outside it are the Kuang Si falls, a series of pools the colour of a swimming pool that you can get into. Almost everybody plans three days here and almost everybody stays four.
Why Luang Prabang is popular with backpackers
- Kuang Si, which is a genuinely turquoise waterfall you can swim in
- Thirty-three temples inside a town you can walk across in twenty minutes
- The alms ceremony at dawn, which is not a show and is worth getting up for
- A night market with a vegetarian buffet for about a euro
- Sunset from Mount Phousi, 329 steps up, over two rivers
- The two-hour train from Vientiane that used to be a day on a bus
Best time to visit Luang Prabang
The town sits in a valley between two rivers. That makes the mornings misty and beautiful, and it also means that in burning season the smoke sits there and does not leave.
Kuang Si is at its best at the end of the rainy season, around October: still turquoise, and with far more water going over it. By April it can be down to a trickle, which is the one thing that disappoints people about high season here.
Backpacker budget: around €20 a day
- €6hostel bed
- €2local meal
- €1beer
- €2tuk-tuk ride
Guide prices from our own days in Luang Prabang. Add a tour or a night out and it climbs fast.
Best hostels in Luang Prabang
Stay in or just outside the old town. Everything is walkable, and the difference between the three below is entirely how loud you want your evening to be.
Mad Monkey Luang Prabang
The highest rated in town and the most organised: pool, bar, activities and a crowd of people travelling alone who will not be by dinner. Loud, and open about it.
Funny Riverside Backpackers
Right by the river with a big common area and a view, which in this town is most of the point. Social without being relentless, and a short walk to the night market.
The Jam Hostel
The cheapest of the three and the most sociable per square metre: group dinners, shared trips out to Kuang Si, and almost eight hundred reviews. Its score is the lowest here and the comments say it is the beds, not the people.
Best things to do in Luang Prabang
The Kuang Si falls
Twenty-nine kilometres out of town: a limestone waterfall dropping through a series of pools so blue they look filtered, in forest, with wooden walkways between them. You can swim in the lower pools, climb to the top of the main fall, and there is a rescue centre for Asiatic black bears at the entrance.
The caves and the falls in one day
The classic full day out, and the best value here: up the Mekong by boat to the Pak Ou caves, two chambers in a cliff face holding four thousand abandoned Buddha statues that people have left there for centuries, then across to Kuang Si in the afternoon. Two thousand three hundred reviews and a 4.8.
Kuang Si in the afternoon, with a sunset cruise
The lazier, better-timed version: the falls after the coaches have gone home, then back onto the Mekong for the sun going down behind the hills with a Beerlao. If you only do one organised thing here, and you are not fussed about the caves, this is the one.
A cooking class in the old royal palace
Lao food is barely known outside the country and it looks like Thai without being Thai. This one runs in the grounds of the old royal palace, which is not a normal place to learn to pound a papaya salad, and it comes out at 4.9.
The old town with a guide
Thirty-three temples in one small town, and without someone to tell you what you are looking at they do start to blur. A few hours covering the palace, Wat Xieng Thong and the French quarter, with the history that ties them together.
The alms ceremony at dawn
Every morning before six, several hundred monks walk the length of the old town barefoot in single file, collecting sticky rice from people kneeling along the road. It has happened every day for centuries and it is a religious ritual, not a performance.
Watch from the other side of the street, stay quiet, no flash. Only take part if you understand what is expected, and if you do, buy your rice at a proper market rather than from the sellers who approach you.
Mount Phousi at sunset
Three hundred and twenty-nine steps up the hill in the middle of town to a small golden stupa, with the Mekong on one side, the Nam Khan on the other and mountains all the way round. Everybody goes at sunset, so it is busy; go an hour earlier and stay. Or come in the early morning, when it is a lot quieter.
The night market
The main street closes every evening and fills with stalls: textiles, lanterns, silver and a lot of things you do not need. The part that matters is the food alley off the side, where a row of vegetarian buffets lets you pile a plate as high as you dare for about a euro.
Best area for backpackers
The old town
The peninsula between the two rivers, and there is no reason to stay anywhere else. The night market runs through the middle of it, the temples are on every corner, Mount Phousi is in the centre and the tuk-tuks to Kuang Si leave from one end.
It is quiet, low-rise and mostly car-free in the evenings. Rooms right on the main street cost more and get the market noise; one street back is the same walk and half the price.
Good to know about this area
- Everything is on foot: the town is about two kilometres end to end
- The night market closes the main street every evening
- Tuk-tuks to Kuang Si go from the centre, shared and cheap
- Cafes along both rivers, and the Nam Khan side is the quieter one
- The whole town is subject to a curfew around midnight
- Cash matters: plenty of small places do not take cards
How to plan your days in Luang Prabang
Three days is the plan. Four is what happens. Pick how long you have.
The old town. Up before six for the alms ceremony, then work through the temples and the old royal palace. Climb Mount Phousi late in the afternoon for the view over both rivers.
Tonight: the night market, and the vegetarian buffet alley for about a euro.
Kuang Si Falls. Turquoise pools in the forest, half an hour out of town. There is a bear rescue centre at the entrance, and you can swim in the lower pools.
Tonight: eat along the Nam Khan, where the quieter terraces are.
The Mekong, or head north. Take the boat up to the Pak Ou caves and their four thousand Buddha statues, or get on the bus to Nong Khiaw for the mountains.
Tonight: slow boat, bus or train to wherever you are going next.
Food and drink in Luang Prabang
Lao food looks like Thai and is not: plainer, saltier, with sticky rice instead of steamed and a lot of raw herbs on the side. You eat the rice with your hands, squeezing a ball of it and dipping it, and a spoon is genuinely the harder option.
At the night market there is an alley of vegetarian buffets where you fill a plate for about a euro, which is the single cheapest good meal in Southeast Asia. And the French left behind the baguette, which turns up filled with pâté and herbs off a cart every morning.
Sticky rice is eaten with your hands. Squeeze a ball of it, dip it, eat it. Using a spoon here is simply the harder way to do it.
Getting there and onward
The high-speed railway changed this town. What used to be a full day on a bus from Vientiane is now under two hours.
Getting there. The train from Vientiane takes about two hours and costs around €13. From Huay Xai you can also come in on the slow boat: two days down the Mekong, and the better arrival.
Around town. The old town is small and mostly car-free, so everything is on foot. For Kuang Si, take a shared tuk-tuk or a minibus.
Onward. Nong Khiaw is three hours by bus, Vang Vieng an hour by train. The airport has direct flights to Bangkok, Hanoi and Chiang Mai.
- Fast trainVientiane 2 hrs · Vang Vieng 1 hr
- Slow boatHuay Xai in 2 days, up the Mekong
- BusNong Khiaw 3 hrs · Vang Vieng 5 hrs
- Tuk-tukTo Kuang Si, about €5 return if you share
- PlaneBangkok, Hanoi and Chiang Mai direct
Staying safe in Luang Prabang
One of the calmest towns in Southeast Asia, with a curfew around midnight and almost no crime. What matters here is behaviour rather than danger.
- Keep your distance at the alms ceremony, and use no flash
- Cover shoulders and knees in the temples and during the ceremony
- Only give alms if you know what you are doing, with rice bought at a proper market
- Plan around the curfew. Around midnight the town simply shuts
- Stand in front of the monks or touch them during the ceremony
- Buy rice from the sellers who approach you at the roadside. It is often old
- Jump off the rocks at Kuang Si anywhere but the marked spot
- Buy drugs. Sentences in Laos are severe and they do check
The alms round is a daily religious act and not a tourist attraction. If in doubt, watch from the far side of the street and keep your camera down.
Rebels on the Road tip
Get up for the alms ceremony, and then do not go back to bed. At about half six the morning market on Sisavangvong opens: buffalo, river weed, live frogs, herbs nobody can name, and about four hundred people doing their shopping. There is not a single souvenir in it. Buy a filled baguette and a coffee off the cart at the end of it and eat on the steps of a temple. Half an hour, costs two euros, and it is the most Luang Prabang thing you can do.
Frequently asked questions
How many days do you need in Luang Prabang?
Three: one for the town, one for Kuang Si, one for the Mekong. It is also the place on this route where people most often add a fourth and then a fifth.
Is the alms ceremony worth getting up for?
Yes, if you can watch it properly: from across the road, quietly, without a flash. It is a daily religious ritual rather than a performance, and the crowd of people sticking cameras into it is the ugliest thing in the town. Stand back and it is genuinely moving.
Is Kuang Si really that blue?
Yes, and it is the limestone that does it. The best water is at the end of the rainy season, around October. By April the flow can be very low, which is the one thing about visiting in the dry months that catches people out.
Where should I stay?
The old town, on the peninsula. It is small enough to walk across, the night market runs through it, and a street back from the main road is quieter and cheaper for the same location.
Is Luang Prabang expensive?
By Lao standards, slightly. About €20 a day, and the night market buffet at a euro brings the average right back down.
How do you get from Huay Xai to Luang Prabang?
Most backpackers take the slow boat: two days down the Mekong with an overnight stop at Pakbeng. You can also fly, or take a bus, but the boat is the reason people remember the arrival.
Can I pay by card?
In hotels and the bigger restaurants, usually. At markets, tuk-tuks and small places, no. There are ATMs in town but take cash before you head north or onto the river.
