Laos moves at river speed. Book the boat first.
Which Kuang Si day actually leaves time to swim. What the Pak Ou cruise costs. Whether the balloon over Vang Vieng is worth $170 at six in the morning. Reviews of every tour you can book in Laos.
The four days a first run through Laos is built on.
Upriver to the caves, the turquoise pools at Kuang Si, a kayak through the karst and the capital that nobody expects to like. What each costs, and what the people who took it say.
01The river dayCruise to Pak Ou Caves & Kuang Si WaterfallsSlow boat up the Mekong to the cave shrines, then south to the waterfall pools. One day covers both halves of Luang Prabang.
02The town itselfUNESCO World Heritage City Highlights TourWat Xieng Thong, the old French quarter and the hill at the confluence. Go before the heat, the light on the roofs is better anyway.
03The karst dayKayaking & Cave Tubing with Zip Line/Blue LagoonKayak the Nam Song, float a cave on an inner tube, finish in a blue lagoon. Vang Vieng in a single wet afternoon.
04The capitalCultural Tour with Buddha Park and PatuxayBuddha Park out on the river road, Patuxai and the stupa. Vientiane rewards half a day and no hurry.
Three towns on one road, and the water that connects them.
A UNESCO town wedged between two rivers, a valley of limestone towers, a capital that still shuts early, the falls, the cave shrines and the far north. Six places to build a week around, and the best day out in each.
In Laos the road is slow and the river is the point.
Three ways to spend a day on the Mekong and the Nam Song. What it costs to get on board each one, and which stretch of the country it belongs to.
Luang Prabang: the caves before lunch, the falls after.
Everything in Luang Prabang →
The old capital sits on a spit between two rivers and almost everything worth doing leaves from its jetties or its tuk-tuk stand. These three carry more travellers than anything else in the country.
Kuang Si, morning or afternoon
The pools are open water and you are allowed in them. Afternoon runs are quieter and the light through the limestone is better; morning runs get you back for the night market.
The cave shrines by slow boat
Two hours upstream to a cliff stuffed with several thousand discarded Buddha figures, most of them left by villagers over four centuries. The boat is half the point.
Temples, the confluence, the hill
Wat Xieng Thong, the old royal palace and the climb up Phousi for the bend in the river. Guides here are worth it: the town is small and the history is not obvious.
The days out more travellers take than any other in Laos.
Every Lao tour we have reviewed →Boat, waterfall, kayak, kitchen. The tours that carry the country, and what earns each of them the slot.
1
Cruise to Pak Ou Caves & Kuang Si Waterfalls
Spend about nine hours beyond Luang Prabang with a Mekong boat ride to Pak Ou Caves, a stop at Ban Xang Hai whiskey village, lunch with optional elephant encounters, Kuang Si Falls, and a Hmong cultural center. Pickup, transport, lunch, drinks, and entrance fees are included.
From · $48
Read our review →
2
Cruise to Pak Ou Caves & Kuang Si Waterfalls
from $52
3
Kayaking & Cave Tubing with Zip Line/Blue Lagoon
from $30
4
Half Day Mekong Cruise to Pak Ou Caves (Morning / Afternoon)
from $40
5
UNESCO World Heritage City Highlights Tour
from $35
6
Namxay Viewpoint, Blue Lagoon 1 & Phoukham Cave
from $29
7
Afternoon Kuang Si Waterfalls & Sunset Cruise
from $35
8
Evening Cooking Class & Local Baci Ceremony
from $51
Vang Vieng grew up. The river is still the reason to stop.
The bar-crawl tubing years are over and the valley kept the good part: limestone towers going straight up out of the paddies, caves you paddle into, and a balloon basket at six in the morning with the mist still in the fields.
Every Vang Vieng day out →
North of Luang Prabang the road gives up and the river takes over.
Nong Khiaw sits under a cliff wall on the Nam Ou, an hour past the point where the buses thin out. Beyond it, Muang Ngoi has no road at all, and further east the Plain of Jars keeps two thousand stone vessels nobody can fully explain.
- 1Nong Khiaw to Luang Prabang, Mekong & Nam Ou River Cruisefrom $55
- 2Muang Ngoi, View Point, Water Fall and Kayakingfrom $35
- 32-Day Trekking,Hmong village,Home Stay&Kayakingfrom $80
The limestone does the two best things in Laos.
Kuang Si drops through a run of terraced pools you are allowed to swim in. Upriver at Pak Ou the same rock opens into two chambers packed with retired Buddha figures. Both are half a day out of Luang Prabang and both are better before the coaches.
What a day out in Laos actually costs.
Every tour on the site, grouped by price. Laos is the cheap country in the region and the numbers still surprise people.
Waterfall runs, half-day cruises, kayak trips, temple walks and almost every cooking class.
Full days that combine two things: caves and falls, river and hike, the two-day slow boat from Thailand.
The balloon at dawn, private guides with a car, and the multi-day runs into the north.
Three things that only happen in Laos.
Waterfalls and temples exist all over Southeast Asia. A field of prehistoric stone jars, a cliff face packed with abandoned Buddhas, and a balloon over limestone at first light do not.
The Plain of Jars
Thousands of carved stone vessels, some of them chest-high, sit in clusters across the plateau around Phonsavan. They are around two thousand years old and the best guess is that they held the dead. Only a few sites are cleared of unexploded ordnance from the bombing, so you walk between painted markers and you go with someone who knows which side of them to stay on.
- 1Plain of jars tour with local guide★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 8 reviews
- 2Plain of jars share group tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 4 reviews
- 3Plain of jars private tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 3 reviews
The Pak Ou Caves
Where the Nam Ou meets the Mekong, a limestone cliff opens into two chambers holding several thousand Buddha figures. Villagers have been leaving damaged and retired images there for four hundred years rather than destroying them. The lower cave is bright and crowded; the upper one needs a torch and rewards the climb.
- 1Half Day Mekong Cruise to Pak Ou Caves (Morning / Afternoon)★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 290 reviews
- 2FULL DAY – Kuang Si Waterfall, Kayak on the Nam Ou / Mekong River, Pak Ou Caves★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 81 reviews
- 3Mekong Meals Food Tour with 15+ Tastings★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 58 reviews
The Vang Vieng Balloon
Pickup is somewhere around half five, the burners go on while it is still dark, and the basket lifts as the mist is still sitting in the paddies between the towers. Flights run in the dry months and get cancelled on wind without much notice. It is the most expensive hour in the country and nobody who has done it argues about the price.
- 1Hot Air Balloon Ride with City Hotel Pickup★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 44 reviews
- 2Hot Air Balloon,Kayak,Zipline,Blue lagoon1 Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · 24 reviews
- 3Longtail boat&Hot Air Balloon&hotel pick-up★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 20 reviews
Four Lao bookings that will not wait for you.
Most of this country can be arranged over breakfast for the same afternoon. These four run on river schedules, weather windows and ceremonies that start before dawn.
- 012-Day Transfer to Luang Prabang by Slow BoatThe Mekong boat from the Thai border runs on a fixed two-day schedule with an overnight stop. Miss the morning departure and the next one is tomorrow.
- 02Hot Air Balloon Ride with City Hotel PickupFlights go at first light in the dry months only, and wind cancels them at short notice. Baskets are small and they fill days out.
- 03Almsgiving Ceremony OfferingThe almsgiving procession happens once, at around half five, and it is over in twenty minutes. There is no later slot.
- 04Plain of jars tour with local guidePhonsavan is a long drive or a short flight from anywhere else, so the jars are a committed day or an overnight, never a spare afternoon.
What to book when the sky is against you.
Laos has two awkward stretches. From June the afternoon rain arrives on schedule and the falls run brown; in March and April the farm burning fills the valleys with smoke and the views go flat. The answer is the same both times. Book the mornings outside, and give the rest of the day to a kitchen, a loom or a market.
Sticky rice, river weed, and a class that ends as lunch.
Lao cooking is the quietest food in Southeast Asia and the easiest to learn. Book the market walk first thing, the class that finishes at the table, the weaving morning that sends you home with the thing you made.
By place — the river towns and the north
Vientiane, Vang Vieng, Luang Prabang, then as far north as your week allows.
The newest Lao tour reviews.
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Vientiane Private Lao Cooking Class with Market Tour
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