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 Traveller's Tales: Restaurants and eating places in Luang Prabang, Laos
Look for the best places to eat in Luang Prabang, Laos. You may read about recommended restaurants and food. Find out about local food and local dining customs. Also, you might want to read our
Luang Prabang city guide,
and Vientiane city guide.
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| R Horgan |
02 June 2005 |
Stayed at La Residence Phou Vao - Luang Prabang, Laos.
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Luang Prabang was not what I expected. It was smaller, older, more rural than I imagined. There are many picturesque views in and around LP, and I had seen photos from other travellers posted on websites. I guess it led to an unrealistic expectation that beauty would surround me at every turn. The truth is that the Mekong is muddy, many of the streets in LP are dusty, and the Wats are not in the best repair (especially after I'd seen so many impressive temples in Thailand).
Having said that, once you start to explore Luang Prabang and the surrounding area, you find lots of natural beauty.
The hill in the centre of town (I just can't think of the name right now) offers spectacular views of the surrounding town and countryside.
There are basically two places to visit in the area: Kuang Si Waterfall and Pak Ou Caves.
The Kuang Si Waterfall is spectacular. We spent two hours there, but I could have happily spent the entire day. It is peaceful and you can shoot an entire roll of film (or fill a memory card) trying to capture all of its unique beauty.
The caves were only mildly interesting in my opinion -- the main reason to visit them was to have an excuse to cruise on the Mekong River with fantastic views of mountains exposed with every bend in the river.
We ate at a couple of restaurants in town, and while the food was good (the highlight was the "Luang Prabang Salad")the service was a poor quality. I spent many weeks in Thailand ahead of this trip to Laos, and the Thais offer a very high level of service everywhere. In Cambodia a couple of weeks earlier the service was not refined, but there were lots of people ready to assist you. In Luang Prabang I found that the servers were inattentive, sometimes surly, and often simply not to be found.
We booked the trip to the Pak Ou Caves through a local travel agent a day ahead (though you can just walk up to the river and grab a boat if you want). The agent arranged a pickup at our hotel, and delivery to the riverside. We were then parked on a hard wooden bench with a German couple where we waited for about an hour with no explanation except that another passenger was coming. When the bench got too hard the four of us in turns asked the fellow coordinating our trip what was going on. He squirmed and mumbled, but generally just kept walking away. I kept following him until he finally said he would jump on his motorcycle and go ask his boss what to do. This didn't happen -- finally the four of us were loaded on the boat 90 minutes later than scheduled departure, without the mysterious missing customer.
This seemed to be a pretty normal approach to service in LP, which is really just a village trying to figure out how to cater to the spectrum of visitors that range from backpackers who consider indoor plumbing to be a blessing, to well-heeled travellers who are accustomed to having everything done for them.
I'm probably in the middle somewhere, but I was often surprised when a van or a boat would deliver several of us to a destination, park or tie up, then let us off with no explanation about which way to go, or any hint about what to do. Even the backpackers would look around in confusion and ask, "Which way do we go?". This happened at EVERY location I visited.
If all this sounds like I didn't enjoy Luang Prabang, I must say that I enjoyed it very much. It is real Laos -- not a slicked up version of Asia for western tourists to visit. It is surrounded by incredible natural beauty, and the trip was one of the highlights of my time in South East Asia.
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| A Wilczek |
30 December 2004 |
Stayed at Villa Santi Resort - Luang Prabang, Laos.
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Luang Prabang is awesome and I am very glad I went. People are very friendly and I felt very safe. One day we did the 4 hour cave tour and 4 hour waterfall tour in one day. These two tours will cost you about $50 per person at the hotel (ripoff)or you can go anywhere in town and get the same trip for $10. I highly recommend the restaurant Nazim as it has great indian food. I would also recommend the crepe place for a snack, a bit expensive but a nice european touch. I would also recommend renting a bike for the day as it is a great way to see the city and tour the temples/wat's and at $1 a day it is the best bargain there is. I loved this city and can't wait to get back.
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| M Mccarthy |
25 December 2004 |
Stayed at Villa Santi Hotel, The - Luang Prabang, Laos.
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Coming back to LP after 6 years, the place is a bit busier, more clearly on the traveller route, but has lost none of its charm. Still the most magical place in SE Asia. Culinary highlight: The Saveur de Laos set at L'Elephant.
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| D Parker |
26 September 2004 |
Stayed at Calao Inn, Le - Luang Prabang, Laos.
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If you like spicy food (thai for example) make sure you tell the restaurants so, because they asume that as a foreigner you can't take spicy and they will serve you the laotian food without it, kind of bland! This was our experinece in Luang Prabang.
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| R Hans |
19 August 2004 |
Stayed at La Residence Phou Vao - Luang Prabang, Laos.
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The Indochina restaurant has a nice atmosphere. The boatride to the budha caves was not really necessaey, since most of the larger Buddhas disappeared.
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| J Herath |
10 April 2004 |
Stayed at Villa Santi Hotel, The - Luang Prabang, Laos.
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We enjoyed Luang Prabang - a relaxed town with friendly locals. Three or four days is a good length of time to see everything at a relaxed pace. The town is also compact enough to walk everywhere.
A climb up Mt Phousi in the centre of town is good for views of the town and also for watching the sunset. The relaxed night market in the main street below is worth a look too. We recommend a boat cruise up the Mekong. We had a 5-month-old baby with us, so we just did a 2.5 hour cruise (1.5 hours upstream, stopping at a traditional Lao village, then a 1 hour return). The cost was USD15/person, booked through the hotel. Other river tours visit caves, etc and are longer in duration and more expensive.
There was a very nice French restaurant near the hotel (L'Elephant). Ate there a couple of times.
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| E Bagnall |
19 January 2004 |
Stayed at Grand Luang Prabang Hotel And Resort, The - Luang Prabang, Laos.
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Great food at Apsara. This is owned and run by an Englishman. It was such a relief when we walked in to be greeted by some beautiful classical music.
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| K Teo |
15 November 2003 |
Stayed at Calao Inn, Le - Luang Prabang, Laos.
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Till Dec, evening cultural performances at the Theatre located next to the Royal Museum. Some of the restaurants mentioned in Lonely Planet have closed down, eg. Lao Vegetarian, Soukarna, Malee Lao Food. Double check with hotel staff.
Please refrain from purchasing any religious statues etc, even though they are not antiques. You may face inconvenience at the airport security counter.
Travellers should also make a trip to Plain of Jars (Phonsavan). You can take a 35 min flight journey there. US$70 return. We stayed at Maly Hotel where they served delicious dinner. Weather at Phonsavan/Xieng Kuang could be a bit chilly.
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| P Garrett |
12 December 2002 |
Stayed at Villa Santi Hotel, The - Luang Prabang, Laos.
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Overall didn't find Lao-cuisine to be as exciting as either of its neighbours Vietnam and Thailand. However we ate well in the nearaby French-run L'Elephant and a cafe under the same ownership directly oppositte from Santi (adjacent to Blue House). There are loads of other cafes catering to backpackers etc - but although promising-looking gastronomically not very notable.
There are also loads of tours on boats and other 3 and 4 wheeled vehicles going to "the waterfalls" and "Buddha cave" - but we felt that the range of tourist activities was not yet well developed - everyone was being shunted through the same two places. So we took a guided Merc from Diethelm Travel (one of only 5 in Luang Prabang) and fixed our own tour up into the hills - very worthwhile, and still good value. It was an ideal 3 night trip - longer and you better bring some good books, or start working on writing that novel...
Bangkok Airways offered their usual smooth service on our route from Chiang Mai via Sukhothai into Luang Prabang, and back to BKK. Backpackers also arrive on the boats up the Mekong - but having viewed their seaworthiness I'll personally wait a few years until they've got something a little more comfortable in service - at which point I'd definitely give it a try.
Shopping-wise there are a lot of the same product that many Asia regulars will know from BKK's JJ's market - slightly cheaper, but few fresh discoveries. However at the Hmong market (and elsewhere in town) look out for the attractive hand-made bedspreads and cushion covers. There are some nice silks and silk hangings to be had. And on a design front the two silhouette figures that occur in a lot of the work could probably give the writers of X-Files a few script ideas (you'll see what I mean!).
There are some nice paper products including lanterns and decent-value large format photo albums or scrapbooks. The silverware described in the guidebooks however was of disappointing quality - most looked like it had been knocked up in school first-year metalwork classes. One shop was an exception with some nice bracelets etc that looked like they'd been constructed with love rather than haste!
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| P Longley |
04 November 2002 |
Stayed at Villa Santi Hotel, The - Luang Prabang, Laos.
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There are some very good places to eat, the Malee, Elephant and the hotel itself.
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