LAOS TOUR – 12 DAYS 11 NIGHTS

On the first day of your Laos travel, on arrival at the airport, you will be met and transferred to your hotel.

Time permitting; your half-day city tour begins with a visit to the Royal Palace Museum, which hosts a range of interesting artifacts. We then head to the magnificent Wat Xieng Thong with its roofs sweeping low to the ground, which represents classical Laotian architecture. We also have time to visit the impressive stupa of Wat Visoun and the shrines of Wat Aham and Wat Mai.

Overnight in Luang Prabang.

The day starts with a visit to the Big Brother Mouse shop to select some books for the village visit. We then head north by car along Route 13, before taking an unpaved road to Ban Khia Luang village. We then have ample time to visit the school, play with the kids, and watch them enjoy their new books. We also take some time to explore the rest of the village, where you can see weaving and visit the local temple.

We stop for lunch at the village, which can either be a Western picnic lunch, or traditional Lao food such as sticky rice, and fresh vegetables cooked by the villagers.

After lunch, we say goodbye to the village and drive to Ban Khoklin, which takes us through some beautiful scenery of mountains and paddy fields. At Ban Khoklin we then board a private boat down the Nam Ou River for 30 minutes to Pak Ou Caves, two linked caves crammed with thousands of gold lacquered Buddha statues of various shapes and sizes left by pilgrims and continue down the Mekong River back to Luang Prabang, arriving back there by late afternoon.

Overnight in Luang Prabang.

Today we cross the Mekong River by boat, to the picturesque village of Ban Chan, a pottery village. We then visit the morning Phousi Market, where you will see such diverse offerings as dried buffalo skin, local tea, and saltpeter among the chickens, vegetables, and hill-tribe weavings. Laos is also known for its traditional craft.

We continue to visit local villages of Lao ethnic minority groups at Ban Ouay, a Hmong village, Ban Ou – a Laoloum village, and Ban Thapene, a Khmu village. This then takes us to the beautiful Khuang Si Waterfall where you can cool off with a refreshing swim in the pools or walk along the forest trails.

Return to Luang Prabang by late afternoon. Overnight in Luang Prabang.

Today, we make the day’s drive through wonderful natural scenery to Xiengkhuang. The journey will give you plenty of opportunities for photos and visiting hill tribe villages.

Upon arrival, we transfer out to visit Site 1 of the Plain of Jars, an impressive archaeological site where hundreds of large stone jars are scattered all over the plateau.

Overnight in Xiengkhuang.

This morning we have time to visit the MAG exhibition, and Site 2 of the Plain of Jars before taking a short scenic trek to Site 3 via Tai Dam and Lao Leum village.

Following lunch, we have a half-day morning tour seeing the old capital of Muang Khoun and the nearby villages, home to the Hmong hilltribe and Tai Dam people.

Overnight in Xiengkhuang.

This morning we have time to visit the interesting Central Market in Phonsavan, and then we transfer to Vang Vieng by road, arriving there mid-afternoon.

Overnight in Vang Vieng.

Your half-day city tour enables us to see the major temples of Vientiane including the oldest, Wat Sisaket, a temple of thousands of miniature Buddha statues, and the former royal temple of Wat Prakeo, which previously housed the famous Emerald Buddha Image.

We also visited Laos’s national icon, That Luang Stupa, and we stopped to take some pictures of the imposing Patuxay Monument, which is Vientiane’s own Arc de Triumph. The afternoon is for leisure.

Overnight in Vientiane.

You will be transferred to the airport early this morning for your flight to Pakse. On arrival in Pakse, we drive south to Champassak to visit the fascinating pre-Angkorian ruins of Wat Phu, one of Southeast Asia’s most dramatically situated temples. We have time to explore these intriguing Khmer ruins, which are perched at the base of Mount Phu Kao.

Following lunch, we continue our journey by road and long tail boat to the 4000 Islands area, where you have the rest of the day to relax.

Overnight in 4000 Islands.

After an early morning breakfast, we explore Don Khone Island. We begin by re-tracing the French colonial past at Ban Khone, where some old colonial houses still stand, and glimpse the first Lao railway with its locomotive. We continue our exploration of the area of the 4000 islands by boat and visit the beautiful Liphi waterfall, also known as the Samphamith, which forms a natural border between Lao and Cambodia.

We return to Ban Nakasang and drive to the famous waterfall of Khone Phapeng – the largest waterfall in South East Asia, also known as the ‘Niagara of the East’.

Overnight in 4000 Islands.

This morning we leave Khone Island and you will be met and taken by road west into the Bolaven Plateau. The Bolaven Plateau is known for its cooler temperature being located high above the Mekong Valley. The area is famous for its many waterfalls, and the most beautiful of these falls, Tad Fan, we visit. Tad Fan waterfall is spectacular with twin waterfalls plummeting into a deep gorge surrounded by flourishing vegetation.

A trip to the plateau provides a refreshing break from the heat and allows you to observe the cultivation of rich coffee, tea, cardamom, bananas, and other crops that can be seen en route.

In the afternoon we arrive at Tad Lo, home to another scenic waterfall and numerous ethnic minority groups. We visit the villages of Alak, Nge, and Katu before returning to Pakse.

Overnight in Pakse.

On the last day of your holiday in Laos, after breakfast, you will be transferred back to Pakse Airport for your departure flight. We thank you so much for your traveling with us. We wish you all the best and hope to arrange your next Laos tour.

Goodbye and see you again!