Laos is the country where you book the least, and that is exactly why it works. You rent a scooter, ask at your guesthouse which way the road goes, and you arrive wherever you arrive. A few things you do not sort out yourself, though: the boat that takes two days, the trek that needs a guide, the balloon that goes up at six in the morning. That is what is on this page.
Luang Prabang
Two of these four go to Kuang Si, and that is a good thing: turquoise pools in the forest, half an hour out of town, with a bear rescue centre at the entrance and pools you can swim in. So the question is not whether you go, it is how. The nine-hour day trip adds the Pak Ou caves, where thousands of Buddha statues sit stacked in the half dark, and honestly the best part of that day is the boat ride up the Mekong to get there. The five-hour afternoon version swaps the caves for a cruise at sunset. Going in April? The waterfall runs low then. Around October it is at full force. The four-hour cooking class in the old royal palace is a morning or afternoon well spent, but save it for later in your stay: you get more out of it once you have eaten laap and tam mak hoong on the street a few times.
Luang Prabang: cruise to the Pak Ou caves and the Kuang Si waterfalls
Luang Prabang: afternoon Kuang Si waterfalls and sunset cruise
Luang Prabang: cooking class in the former royal palace
Luang Prabang: UNESCO world heritage city highlights tour
Vang Vieng
If you book one thing here, book the five-hour trip with the kayak, the cave tubing and the zipline. That is Vang Vieng in a single day, and it is the tour we are most excited about ourselves. The balloon is the other one: two hours at sunrise, about forty minutes of it in the air, while the mist still hangs between the limestone peaks and the valley slowly wakes up. At about €80 it is a lot of money by Lao standards, and it is the kind of morning you will still be talking about years later. If it does not fit your budget, watch from a rooftop terrace and you will see them go up just as well. About the four-hour tour: it takes you to Blue Lagoon 1, the closest one, with the rope swing and the crowd. Blue Lagoon 3 is twenty kilometres further out and much quieter, and a scooter from about €6 a day gets you there. So this tour is the one to pick if you would rather not ride yourself.
Vang Vieng: kayaking and cave tubing with zipline and Blue Lagoon
Vang Vieng: hot air balloon flight with hotel pickup
Vang Vieng: Nam Xay viewpoint, Blue Lagoon 1 and the Phoukham cave
Vientiane
One tour, and that tells you a lot about Vientiane: this is the capital where you spend a day before you move on. The cultural tour covers Pha That Luang and the Patuxai, so everything you need to have seen, plus Buddha Park twenty-five kilometres out, with transport included. What is not in it and what we would absolutely add: the COPE centre, about the unexploded bombs that are still in the ground in Laos. It is free, you just walk in, and it stays with you longer than any golden stupa.
Vientiane: cultural tour with the Buddha Park and the Patuxai
Nong Khiaw
Both of these take more than a day, and that is exactly why you came here. Nong Khiaw is the place where people plan one night and stay three. On the hike to the camp you sleep above the clouds on the ridge. The two-day trek goes through a Hmong village where you sleep in someone's home, and you kayak down the Nam Ou on the way back. Both only run once the group is full, so this is the stop where booking ahead really makes a difference. Staying longer? Do the climb up Pha Daeng Peak on your own: an hour and a half of sweating for the whole bend of the river below you.
Nong Khiaw: hike to a camp above the clouds
Nong Khiaw: two day trek with a Hmong village, a homestay and kayaking
Huay Xai
This is not a tour, it is the journey itself: two days on the Mekong with a night halfway. Almost everyone coming into Laos from Thailand does the trip downriver from Huay Xai, and it is the stretch where you meet the people you will keep running into for the rest of your trip. This one runs the other way, from Luang Prabang up to Huay Xai, so it is the one for you if you are leaving Laos towards Thailand. Book it ahead and your seat is sorted before you are standing at the pier haggling. The other thing Huay Xai is known for, the Gibbon Experience with its treehouses thirty to forty metres up, you book directly with them.
Luang Prabang: two day slow boat transfer to Huay Xai
Pakse
The seven-hour day trip shows you the Bolaven Plateau without having to ride yourself: waterfalls, temples, back before dark. But be honest with yourself, because the reason people get off the bus in Pakse is the loop. Two or three days on a rented scooter, a night on a coffee farm with fresh coffee at breakfast, and Tad Fane dropping a hundred metres while you stand across from it. That costs you a few extra days and they are worth every one. The bike tour on this list belongs to the 4000 Islands, so save that one for Don Det.
