Luang Prabang city's cultural sights are well worth a visit. Photo / Getty Images
With so many travellers putting Laos on their 2023 bucket list, the cultural capital of Luang Prabang is well worth a visit. Here are 11 things to do in the city, writes Mark Daffey.
Once the centre of a mighty kingdom that spread across northern Laos, Luang Prabang is one of Asia’s most charmingly compact cities. Nestled among jungled mountains at the confluence of the Mekong and Nam Khan Rivers, its beautifully preserved streets blend French colonial design with traditional Laos architecture and have resulted in it being recognised on Unesco’s World Heritage list.
If you’re planning on visiting Laos, allocate an extra day or two to soak up the riverside ambience and rich, cultural appeal of Luang Prabang.
Stay in the Old Town
The main focus of attention in Luang Prabang is its Old Town and it’s more than likely that this is where you’ll be staying. Plenty of boutique lodges and hotels overlook the Mekong or Nam Khan Rivers, with others hidden down quiet alleyways. Barely any exceed two storeys.
The Avani+ Luang Prabang hotel originally served as the living quarters for French officers during the early-20th century and was designed around a majestic banyan tree. Its location opposite the Night Market could hardly be more convenient for a thorough exploration of the town. The Royal Palace is around the corner and the two rivers are just down the road. Numerous restaurants, cafes and bars are all within easy walking distance. Saffron-robed monks march past the front door each morning during their ritualistic quest for alms.
Climb Phousi Hill
Phousi Hill shadows the peninsula on which the Old Town was built and the streets around the foot of the hill are inevitably where you’ll spend most of your time. The 150-metre-high hill is crowned by a small Buddhist temple that is illuminated at night. There are two ways to reach it, with both routes requiring a breathless climb up more than 300 steps. Make it to the summit though and you’ll be rewarded with sweeping views over the valley.
Go temple-hopping
Luang Prabang is the most overtly Buddhist town in Laos. Many consider the Old Town’s 40-odd temples to be the most decorative in Southeast Asia, adorned by gold stencilling and intricate murals beneath cascading roofs. So widespread are they that there’s barely a street or alleyway without one. In other words, they can be hard to miss. And many are free to enter, allowing visitors a peek into monastic life.
Watch the monks march
One of the most important temples is Wat Xieng Thong. Built in 1560, it’s also the oldest, occupying prime real estate near the tip of the peninsula, where the heaviest concentration of temples can be found – side-by-side, in some instances, or back-to-back.
It is these temples that hundreds of monks silently fan out from before dawn in their quest for alms, marching through the streets on predetermined routes. This daily ritual is what Luang Prabang is best known for and it would be remiss of any traveller not to rise early to witness this cultural spectacle at least once during their stay. Hotels will often help prepare guests in advance, handing out bags of sticky rice or sweets to donate to the monks, who will gratefully accept small bank notes as well. Alternatively, purchase gifts the previous afternoon from one of the local food markets. For optimum viewing, find a space along Sisavangvong Rd and multiple groups are sure to pass by.
Visit Sisavangvong Road Night Market
Between the hours of 3pm and 10pm each day, Sisavangvong Rd is closed off to vehicles for the Night Market. Textiles, ceramics, jewellery, artworks – you name it, you’ll find it here. Metal trinkets and toys on sale are supposedly made from old military ordinances. All up, there are roughly 250 handicraft vendors, while the open-air food market is an excellent place to pick up cheap, tasty meals and snacks.
Grab coffee and a pastry
You’ll find several bakeries along Sisavangvong Rd – a much-appreciated legacy of French colonialism. Along the river, Saffron Coffee is considered to be the place to get your coffee fix or to grab a bite for lunch. It’s one of many excellent coffee shops in town. Others are along Kitsalat Rd. Further along, the Viewpoint Cafe terrace is in a shady spot overlooking the river junction. It’s an ideal place to sit when you feel like a break.
Frequent the bars
For more formal nights out, there are loads of atmospheric bars, restaurants and cafes further down Sisavangvong Rd, until it eventually dead-ends at the tip of the peninsula. The Maolin Tavern, Tangor, Bouang and Yuni Yupoun are all clustered reasonably close together, all drawing decent crowds of travellers.
T56 Cafe & Bar, Le Calao and the Tamasat restaurant at The Belle Rive Boutique Hotel all face out over the Mekong River. Some spill over the road to terraces above the riverbank. Each is suitable for sunset drinks. The rooftop bar at Indigo House – one of the tallest buildings in town, opposite the Night Market – is another picturesque spot at a day’s end.
Board a sunset river cruise
One left-of-centre idea for when you’re feeling peckish is a sunset cruise on a riverboat. Mekong Kingdoms riverboats feature suspended lounges, plush daybeds, air-conditioned rooms and well-stocked bars. Cruise destinations include the Pak Ou Caves, Kuang Si Falls or multi-day excursions to the Golden Triangle. However, their Sunset Cruise is next-level luxury, with waiters delivering sumptuous meals accompanied by sparkling wines as you drift downstream beneath the dimming light.
Venture out of town
Kuang Si Falls ranks right up there with the world’s prettiest waterfalls. The 30-minute drive there is one mandatory excursion west of the city, rewarding visitors with the chance to swim in a series of postcard-perfect turquoise pools shaded by thick jungle foliage. Pedestrian bridges at the top lead to a thundering 60-metre drop. As a bonus, there’s a rescue centre for rare Asiatic black bears just inside the entrance.
Discover Laos Buffalo Dairy
Stop for an icecream at the Laos Buffalo Dairy, where an Aussie couple helps boost the bank accounts of local farmers by renting their livestock to produce cheeses, yoghurts and tamarind, lemongrass and coffee-flavoured icecreams. The icecream has become such a favourite with visitors that a dedicated canteen serving scoops by the cup has been set up by the roadside, out the front of the farm. The food and beverages menu also includes milkshakes and deep-fried mozzarella.
Visit Pak Ou Caves
In the opposite direction and 25km to the north of Luang Prabang, thousands of miniature Buddha statues have been placed on rock shelves inside the Pak Ou Caves. The caves open out over the Mekong River and during the Laotian New Year in April, local villagers ceremonially sprinkle water over the Buddha sculptures to ward off bad luck.
Getting there and around
Flights to Luang Prabang depart from Vientiane and Pakse Airports in Laos, as well as Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Siem Reap and Hanoi. It’s also possible to get there using Mekong River ferries or cruise boats.
Since it launched in December 2021, and with travel speeds of up to 160km/h, the Laos-China Railway connects Luang Prabang with Vientiane in less than two hours and has overtaken other forms of transport. Eventually, travellers will be able to continue on to Kunming in China’s Yunnan Province, or south as far as Singapore.
For more, visit tourismlaos.org
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