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 Traveller's Tales: Getting around in Laos
Know the most popular landmarks in Laos. You may read about best transportation, recommended travel itinerary, suggested routes and directions. Also, you might want to read our
Luang Prabang city guide,
and Vientiane city guide.
Pages (3 of 4):
1 2 3 4
| S Coverly |
23 April 2002 |
Stayed at Villa Santi Resort - Luang Prabang, Laos.
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Just to add a few points to other reviews:
- Hiring a bicycle is thoroughly recommended, as this is a safe and cheap way to get around at all times of day and night.
- Food quality was variable, and the best guide seemed to be the number of local people eating in a particular place. We liked the vegetarian restaurant a few doors down from the Villa Santi. The river fish can taste rather strong - reminiscent of cat food.
- About 50 metres downriver from the long-distance ferry pier is (or was; it may be covered by the river during the wet season) a nice place to enjoy a drink sitting on a bamboo deck overlooking the river.
- Seeing the monks collecting rice offerings in the early morning is a memorable experience. But some sensitivity is called for. One woman was following them on a bicycle and standing in their path to take photos. She then followed them back to the temple to take more shots, whereupon a monk chided her: "I am not public".
- Several people will offer river trips. We found Mr Tong Dee, next to the Auberge Calao, to be reliable and reasonable.
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| D Bhojwani |
17 April 2002 |
Stayed at Asian Pavilion Hotel - Vientiane, Laos.
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Vientiane is, as the travel guides say, "a laid-back place", or "sleepy", for lack of other travelogue cliches.
Its easy to get around central Vientiane by just walking but you might need a tuk-tuk if you want to visit Pha That Luang and the Patuxy.
The other notable wats in the city are all located near Samsenthai Road, which is where the Asian Pavillion Hotel and the Lao Plaza hotel are on.
I personally felt one full day in Vientiane was enough but there did seem to be a considerable number of backpackers (a disproportionately large number of them Australians and middle-class, Home Counties English) hanging around, "soaking up the atmosphere" and "chilling out" (whatever those phrases mean!) for a prolonged period, no doubt on the advice handed down by their predecessors and various travel guides. Totally tedious for someone trying to get away from people like that.
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| D Astley |
13 February 2002 |
Stayed at Villa Santi Hotel, The - Luang Prabang, Laos.
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There is enough see and do in and around Luang Prabang to occupy at least 2-3 days (compared to Vientiane in which you can see everything in one day). The safest and most comfortable way to reach LP is to fly Bangkok Airways (they use fairly new ATR72s). If you want to include Vientiane on your itinerary, and want to avoid flying Lao Aviation (which doesn’t have a good safety record), then do what we did and fly into Vientiane on Thai Airways, hire a car and driver to travel north to LP and then fly our on Bangkok Airways (or do that in reverse). This way you can see some of the rugged mountainous country between LP and Vientiane and experience some hill-tribe village life without getting too far off the beaten track.
We hired a four wheel drive and driver from Asia Vehicle Rental in Vientiane which cost us USD240 for the two day trip from Vientiane to LP and a third day for the driver to return the vehicle to Vientiane. It was a near-new Hyundai Galloper – very comfortable – and the rate included all fuel, insurance and the driver’s accommodation and meals. Based on AVR’s recommendation we took two days to do the trip, stopping overnight at Vang Vieng on the way, and we are glad that we did as it would have been a long day doing the 7-8 hours drive in one go, and would have left little time to stop off and explore places on the way. We took Route 10 first north to the Nam Ngum reservoir where there is a good lunch stop in Na Nam village from which there are spectacular views of this vast artificial lake with its picturesque islands. After that it is a short distance west to Route 13 which is the main highway north (and the only highway on which it is regarded as safe for tourists to travel in Laos). By mid-afternoon we were in Vang Viang which is an interesting small town on the Song river, surrounded by rugged limestone karst hills. Several guidebooks mention there are still opium dens in this town which occasionally get raided by the police (and any tourists caught in them are immediately deported!) There were quite a few tourists here, many tubing down the Song river, and an interesting market where you can see all sorts of birds, rats, squirrels and other mammals being sold for the cooking pot. Accommodation is fairly basic here with the ‘top end’ being the Thavansouk Bungalows right on the river where the most expensive cabins (USD35 a night) have air conditioning, hot water and great sunset views.
The second day of our trip north was one of the most interesting days in Laos. The road climbs to about 4000 ft as it winds through the mountains, passing through hill-tribe villages, and offering spectacular views of the rugged mountain scenery in this part of Laos. There is an interesting town called Phou Khoun about half way which makes a for a good rest stop. This is at the junction of Route 7 east to Phonsavan (near the Plain of Jars) but most embassies recommend that travelers avoid Route 7 as it is still subject to attacks by bandits and insurgents. Route 13 north from here is now regarded as safe, as there have been no attacks on travelers for quite a few years, but embassies still advise to exercise caution when traveling on this highway. At Phou Khoun we saw women from different hill-tribes shopping in town – some in very colourful traditional dress. It’s about a 4 hour drive from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang, so you should be able to make it into LP by early afternoon depending on how many stops you make on the way.
There are so many temples to see in LP, you won’t want to visit them all, but Wat Xieng Thong at the north end of town is definitely worth a visit. One other worth a quick stop at is Wat Ho Siang on Thanon Chao Fa Ngum. I have not seen this one recommended for a visit in any of my guide books, but there is a fantastic mural on the front of the temple depicting some sort of war with naked women being cut in half and having their tongues pulled out whilst villages are plundered and burnt behind them - very gory but very unusual. Many of the guidebooks recommend a visit to Talat Naviengkham, LP’s biggest market, but it has now been moved out of town to a new brick and concrete compound, and no longer has the atmosphere of the old market. Give it a miss if you can visit the Vang Vieng market on your way north or south.
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| M Thomasson |
27 January 2002 |
Stayed at Le Parasol Blanc - Luang Prabang, Laos.
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Its been four years since I last visited and thing have certainly moved on. But its still possible to walk down a quite street and enjoy the tranquillity. Great place to hire a bicycle. The food is good as well as cheap. Its well worth taking a trip up the river though check with others if there is water and at the waterfall...
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| J Abrahamse |
13 January 2002 |
Stayed at Calao Inn, Le - Luang Prabang, Laos.
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It's a great destination, but be prepared for foggy wheather with chilly morning temperatures. Go for a one day mini trek with a tuk tuk to a hmong village, hire a guide and walk to the waterfalls, where the tuk tuk will pick you up again, this is wonderfull but nowhere in the books.
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| L Hillaire |
12 January 2002 |
Stayed at Asian Pavilion Hotel - Vientiane, Laos.
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We flew to Louang Prabang from Vientiane but took the bus back stopping at Vang Vieng. It is a must to see the mountain villages and the scenic beauty. The sunset at Vang Vieng along the river with the mountains in the background is unforgettable. Also the women of the town arrive at sunset to wash in the river, which reminds you of Gauguin paintings as their faces and sarongs are illuminated in the afternoon sun. This was a high point of our trip as well as paying $5 for a room and $1.20 for the public bus to Vientiane. The people were wonderful and smiling throughout all of Laos and Vietnam.
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| M Poustie |
19 December 2001 |
Stayed at Muang Luang Hotel - Luang Prabang, Laos.
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We loved Luang Prabang. A perfect place to walk around. So much to see and so unspoilt. We organised a boat trip ourselves with the boat men who have their own boats on the river. This was very sucessful. Lots of really good small eating places, with good local and international food. Bangkok Airways are wonderful, good food good service.
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| P Foyston |
01 December 2001 |
Stayed at Settha Palace Hotel - Vientiane, Laos.
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One day is enough to see the sites of Vientiane. Interesting temples, easy to get around. Restaurants very good, especially Le Vendome and La Terrasse.
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| H Mahler |
26 November 2001 |
Stayed at Lao Plaza Hotel, Vientiane - Vientiane, Laos.
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Use the local resturants - most tourists sit at the "Western" resaturants. The Lao springroll is, as one example, different and taste excellent.
Vientiane is small enough to cover it by foot - do that and you will discover so much more.
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| W Farb |
18 November 2001 |
Stayed at Muang Luang Hotel - Luang Prabang, Laos.
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Our visit to Luang Prabang, in spite of our bad experience at the hotel, was fabulous. We loved the Muong Market, the sites, and the people. We used a tuk-tuk to get us to the waterfall and hired a boat for the river trip.
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