We took a plane to Luang Prabang via Lao Airlines. The plane tickets were not as cheap as the other flights within South East Asia but we thought it was worth it than having to take a 12 hour bus ride and an 8 hour boat ride from Chiang Mai, Thailand to Luang Prabang.
Visa on Arrival
We are fortunate enough to only wait for about 30 minutes to get our visa sorted when we landed. Things you need for the visa:
1) 2 copies of visa photos (size did not really matter - they are quite lenient with the size of the photo you need). If you do not have a photo with you, you can also just give them $2 US per person at the booth.
2) Your passport
3) Payment - depending on your passport, the visa fee can range from $20-$42 USD. Unfortunately, Canadians pay the highest visa fee to get into Laos. The visa cost is generally a result of the agreements between the two country (e.g. how much it would cost for Laotians to get into Canada and how much aid Canada is providing to Laos).
Advise: if you are a dual passport holder, it might be beneficial to use your other passport than your Canadian one. Just make sure that you use the same passport when you get in and out of the country.
Getting into the city
As soon as we got to the airport, there's a booth right outside the gate selling tickets for a shuttle to the main town. The cost if 50,000 kip for 3 people so if you can get other people to join you, it will reduce the cost of the ride per person. They take you on a mini van with another group, there would be about 6-9 people in the van and can be up to 12 during high season, so depending on where the other people are getting dropped off, your trip from the airport to your hotel/hostel can take up to an hour. There are no grab/taxi in Luang Prabang so your other option will be to make an arrangement with your hotel/hostel for a pick up or walk a few miles down from the airport and flag a tuktuk. The cost will be similar to the van, it will roughly be around 40,000 kip for the entire tuktuk which could hold 6 people. So if you are travelling alone, it would be more convenient to team up with other people to do the van and if you are in a group of over 3 people and do not mind to walk a few miles down the airport, you can save a few thousand kip. To give you a better perspective on how much you would save in Canadian dollars, 1 Canadian dollar is roughly 6,000 kip.
Accommodation
We stayed at DownTown Backpackers Hotel in Luang Prabang which is about $6 CAD a night per person for a 6 person dormitory room, this includes a made to order hot breakfast such as pancakes, eggs, ham, sausages and noodles. It also comes with fresh fruits and coffee/tea.
The location is quite central. It is close to the night market and the street where the monks pass for the Morning Alms Ceremony.
Do note that this hostel have two locations, they are about 5 blocks away, so make sure you tell your shuttle driver the right hostel location. If you are planning on staying here before June, their second location is closed for renovations. They are still being shown as available on Agoda and booking.com last time I checked but make sure that you e-mail the location first to see if they have completed the renovations. Cameron and I unfortunately found out about this the hard way when we showed up at the hostel and no one was there. Luckily, they had beds available on their other location so they were able to accommodate us. From what I heard, if the other location is already full, they will only guarantee that you won't get charged for the reservation you made online but they will not help you find another place to stay so if you get there quite late into the night, that might be frustrating for you.
Highlights
KuangSi Waterfalls
Morning Alms Ceremony
Hike up Mount Phousi to see the sunrise
Night Market
We thought a week in Luang Prabang was too long for what we wanted to do and for where we are staying. If we had stayed in a resort instead of a hostel, then 7 days might be enough - it would have given us a few days to just lounge around at the resort, staying at a hostel didn't really give us enough space to enjoy some quiet alone time. However, the hostel is definitely recommended if you are travelling alone and/or wanting to meet people. We met quite a few cool people during our stay here and even explored the town with them.
The town itself is very charming and we recommend 5 days instead of 7 days if you are doing the highlights noted above plus a few visits to the museum and temples.
KuangSi Waterfalls
You MUST check KuangSi Waterfalls. If you feel like you're limited with time, then a day tour to the falls would just be fine. Your hostel could arrange this for you for about 35,000 kip or ($6CAD) for a roundtrip ride (excluding park entrance) but this would only give you a couple hours in the park. Otherwise, we recommend you staying at Vanvisa at the Falls Guesthouse. This would give you a better experience of the town and the waterfalls. The waterfall would be right in your backyard and it would be able to give you a more exclusive access to it. You can also see some of the local kids jumping into it after school hours and play tag with one another. It was quite exhilarating to watch this brave kids jump into the falls with no hesitation - it reminded me of my childhood days free of worry and the fear of the unknown. We also saw some of the monks taking a bath in here in the morning. It was definitely quite an experience to witness - it gave us a better feel of what the locals do in this little town 40 minutes away from Luang Prabang.
The following photos below are snap shots of local kids playing in the falls
Even though we had the lower part of the waterfalls in our backyard, we still thought we needed to go into the actual park to see the "mother falls", KuangSi. For the 40 minute drive to this town and for the cheap entrance fee of 20,000 kip or $2.50 CAD, we thought it would be worth checking out. The photos below are shots taken at the national park. We recommend for you to get there first thing in the morning to avoid the hoard of tourists and to get a pretty good shots of the waterfalls. Unfortunately, you cannot swim at every waterfall in the park and you there are only a couple of spots designated that people can swim in which is the photo to the left. You cannot swim in the falls pictured in the middle and the right (which is the main falls).
Morning Alms
Every morning the monks roam around the street for morning alms. This is a sacred tradition and must be respected so try to avoid taking photos. If you must, you should be taking the photo from afar. If you are also planning on participating, make sure to not buy it from the people selling it on the streets as the rice for that is of low quality and it is disrespectful to give the monks low quality food.
Mount Phousi
A 100 meter high hill situated in the heart of Luang Prabang. The hike up the mountain only takes less than an hour. A good way to start your day is to see the sunrise at the top. The sun typically rises in Luang Prabang around 6:30 am so Cam and I woke up at 5am and started our trek to the mountains. Mouth Phousi was about a 15 minute walk from the hostel we were staying at and it took us another 40 minutes to get to the top. You can also view the sunset from this mountain but expect it to be a lot more crowded. It costs about 20,000 kip to enter the mountain.
Night Market
This bustling night market is situated on Sisavangvong Road and starts around 5pm at night and goes on until about midnight. You can buy anything in here - souvenirs, clothing, jewelry, banana pancakes, coconut tarts, etc. We got a spoon made from the remnants of the bombs dropped in Laos in the 1970's. Did you know that Laos is the most heavily bombed country per capita in history? Check out our history blog about Laos to find out more interesting facts about this beautiful country.
Other things to consider:
1. Eat riverweed - this is probably one of the best snacks we had in Laos. Order this as an appetizer while you wait for your main dish for around 10,000 kip.
2. Do a yoga class at Utopia bar and Restaurant or just come here to eat or grab a drink and enjoy a nice view of the Mekong River.
3. Have dinner surrounded by the UNESCO classified lotus ponds at Manda de Laos. I would suggest to come here right before it gets dark so you get a nice view of the lotus ponds during the daylight and at night. The food is here is not cheap but it was definitely worth the price and the service.
4. Try Laos coffee and their Lao beer. Luang Prabang has surprisingly many hip cafes and bars. Head out to the Main Street and pick your battles. We recommend Saffron Coffee, Zurinch Bread and Indigo Coffee House.
5. Cross the Mekong river via the bamboo bridge. You need to pay about 5,000 kip to enter.
6. Get a massage at the Red Cross and try out their sauna. Recommended to do on a rainy day since it's hard to justify paying for a sauna when the weather is at 40 degrees celsius.
7. Learn some Laotian food and enjoy a cooking class.
8. Visit temples.
Planning a trip soon to Laos and have any questions? Feel free to message us and we'll be more than happy to help you out!