Private journeys built around the hotels
Destinations · Laos
Luang Prabang: valley or town?
A small royal town of temples and colonial houses on a peninsula between two rivers. Nothing here takes long to see, which is the point. It is the stop on our routes we are least willing to shorten.
Luang Prabang in brief
What Luang Prabang is, plainly
The old town sits on a peninsula at the confluence of the Mekong and the Nam Khan. It was the capital of the Lane Xang kingdom from the 14th to the 16th century. UNESCO listed it in 1995 for the way traditional Lao temples and wooden houses sit alongside colonial-era buildings of the 19th and 20th centuries in one townscape.
It is small and it has changed. Many old houses are now guesthouses and cafés, and the morning alms round, when monks walk the streets to receive food, draws photographers who crowd it. Watch from across the street, keep quiet and do not use flash; your guide will show you where to stand.
Sources: UNESCO — Town of Luang Prabang · checked .
Valley or town: the stay decides the trip
The choice here is between two different trips. Rosewood Luang Prabang has 23 rooms, suites, villas and hilltop tents in the Nam Dong valley, with waterfalls running through the grounds; it is outside town, quiet and green, and you take a car to the temples. Amantaka has 24 suites on a historic garden estate at the foot of Mount Phousi, a stroll from the Mekong; you walk out of the gate into the old town.
Choose the valley if the stay is the reason you are here. Choose the town if you want to walk to dinner and be among the temples at dawn without a car.
Sources: Rosewood Luang Prabang; Aman — Amantaka · checked .
How many nights, and why fewer goes wrong
Four. One guided morning on foot in the old town, one morning on the Mekong, and two days with nothing planned. Three nights works, but loses one of the free days, and the free days are what people remember. Two nights leaves you one morning in town between two flights, which misses the pace the place is known for.
When to go
November to February is dry, with cool mornings and warm afternoons. March to May is hot, and smoke from field burning often hazes the hills. June to October brings rain and full rivers.
The green season has its own case: the waterfalls run hard, the hills are vivid and the town is quiet. Boat trips can be cut short when the Mekong is high; plan for that and keep a free day.
Getting in and out
Luang Prabang's airport is close to town. Hanoi has daily non-stop flights, scheduled at a little over an hour, on Lao Airlines and Vietnam Airlines. Siem Reap has a non-stop of about an hour and a half on Vietnam Airlines, running three days a week at the time we checked. These schedules come from a flight-schedule aggregator, not the airlines; check before you travel.
Laos runs an official e-visa portal. Requirements and accepted entry points change, so check it for your nationality before booking flights.
Sources: FlightsFrom, Hanoi–Luang Prabang (schedule aggregator); FlightsFrom, Luang Prabang–Siem Reap (schedule aggregator); Lao eVisa (official portal) · checked .
What it costs outside the hotel
Entrance fees in Luang Prabang are small. The Royal Palace Museum was listed at 30,000 kip in a visitor guide last updated in 2018; the fee may have changed, so treat it as a rough indication and check before you travel. On guided days entrance fees are included in your trip. Room rates are on your quote, not on this page.
Sources: Travelfish, Royal Palace Museum (page dated 27 Nov 2018) · checked .
Pictures
Journeys that stay in Luang Prabang
Cambodia & Laos in Slow Luxury ends with four nights here. Indochina Grand Stays closes with four nights after Siem Reap. Both can swap the valley resort for the town estate.
When to leave Luang Prabang out
- You want a beach, nightlife or shopping; the town is quiet and goes to bed early
- You can only give it two nights; spend them somewhere you will use better
- March and April are your only dates and haze or heat would spoil it for you
- Your route has no way to fit the flights; driving in from elsewhere is a long road journey
Hotels on this site are named as public facts taken from each hotel's own website, with the date we read it. Naming a hotel does not mean we hold a contract, an allocation or a special rate there. Room rates are not published here; your quote carries the rate available on the day you confirm.
Common questions
Questions travellers ask most
Is the alms round still worth seeing?
Yes, from a respectful distance and away from the busiest stretch. Your guide knows where to stand.
Valley resort or town hotel?
The valley for quiet and the hotel itself; the town for walking to temples and dinner without a car.
Can we see Kuang Si waterfall?
Yes, as a half-day by car. Go early; it fills by late morning in the dry season.
Is four nights too many for such a small town?
Not at this pace. The free days are the stay; two nights rarely gives the town time to work.
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Destinations
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A month, how many are travelling and any hotel you already want are enough to start. We reply by email with questions or a first draft that names every hotel and room category.