Where to go, and for how long
Seven places we know well enough to be rude about. Each page says what the place actually is, how many nights it holds, when to come, and when to skip it.
The seven, and how long each holds
Laos rewards staying still. The most common planning mistake we see is a fortnight cut into seven one-night stops, which produces seven mornings of packing and no days at all. These are the numbers we would defend.
| Place | Region | Nights | Come for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Luang Prabang | North | 3 - 4 | The old town, the valley, the Kuang Si falls |
| Nong Khiaw and the Nam Ou | North | 2 - 4 | Cliffs, river travel, walking, village nights |
| The Plain of Jars | North | 2 | Stone jars, the bombing, an empty World Heritage site |
| Vang Vieng | Centre | 2 | Karst towers, caves, kayaking, balloons at dawn |
| Vientiane | Centre | 1 - 2 | COPE, That Luang, the best food in the country |
| The Bolaven Plateau | South | 2 | Coffee at 1,200 m, waterfalls, cool nights |
| Four Thousand Islands | South | 2 - 3 | The Mekong at its widest, cycling, doing nothing |
Add them up and a full country trip is fourteen to eighteen nights, which is what the fifteen-day route does. Under ten nights, pick a half of the country and stay in it.
The north
Mountains, rivers and the densest concentration of things worth stopping for. If you have one week in Laos, spend it here and do not apologise for missing the south.
Luang Prabang
A World Heritage peninsula of monasteries and colonial shophouses, with a waterfall and a weaving valley around it. Busy in December and January, and still the best three nights in the country.
Nong Khiaw and the Nam Ou
Three and a half hours north of Luang Prabang, where the river runs between 500-metre cliffs and the trails go up into villages that host walkers on a rota.
The Plain of Jars
A high plateau with two thousand stone jars on it and a bombing history that explains the craters between them. Seven hours from anywhere, and worth it.
The centre
The least visited third of the country and the easiest to move through, since the railway and the expressway both opened.
Vang Vieng
Karst towers over a green river. Notorious for a decade of river bars that no longer exist, and now a climbing, caving and ballooning town with the same landscape it always had.
Vientiane
A capital of under a million people that feels like a large town. One essential museum, one great stupa, and the best eating in Laos.
Khammouane and Konglor
The limestone country behind Thakhek, with a river cave 7.5 km long that you travel through by boat. Covered by the Thakhek loop trip.
The south
Flatter, hotter, slower and more Khmer. Nobody goes to the south on a first visit of under ten days, and almost everybody who goes wishes they had given it longer.
The Bolaven Plateau
Volcanic highland at 1,000 to 1,350 metres, where the coffee grows and where you need a blanket in December. Waterfalls in every direction.
Four Thousand Islands
Where the Mekong spreads to 14 km wide and breaks around hundreds of sandbars before falling over the biggest waterfall in Southeast Asia by volume.
Champasak and Wat Phou
A pre-Angkorian Khmer temple on a hillside aligned to a spring, listed by UNESCO in 2001. Visited on the southern Laos trip.
How to choose between them
Four questions settle almost every itinerary we build.
- How many nights do you have in Laos? Under seven, one region. Seven to ten, the north. Eleven to fourteen, the north plus Vientiane, or the south on its own. Fifteen or more, the whole country.
- Do you want to walk? If yes, the Nam Ou valley is the answer and everything else is secondary. If no, do not book a trek because it is on the list.
- What month? November to February is right for everywhere. March and April rule out the northern viewpoints. July to September makes the mountain roads slower and the south greener.
- Are you crossing a border? Arriving from Thailand at Chiang Khong points you north; leaving for Cambodia points you south. Building the route around the borders saves a domestic flight.
If that has not settled it, the how-many-days page works through it properly, with four sample shapes.
Questions travellers ask most
If I only see one place in Laos, which?
Luang Prabang, without much hesitation. Three nights there gives you a town, a valley, a waterfall and a river, and the airport has direct flights from Bangkok, Hanoi, Chiang Mai and Singapore.
The runner-up is Nong Khiaw, if walking matters more to you than architecture.
Is the south worth the extra week?
On a second visit, absolutely. On a first visit of under twelve days, we would say no, and we would rather tell you that than sell you the flight.
The south is quieter and slower, which is exactly why it needs time it usually does not get on a first trip.
Which places are busy?
Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng in December and January, and both are manageable if you are in the right places at the right hours. Nowhere else in Laos is what most travellers would call crowded.
The Plain of Jars gets a few dozen visitors a day at Site 1 and almost none at Sites 2 and 3.
Can I get between these places without flying?
Yes, everywhere except the Vientiane to Pakse leg, which is 680 km and eleven hours of road. Everything else is a comfortable day or less.
The Vientiane to Luang Prabang railway made the centre and the north much easier, though the stations are a long way outside both towns.
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Tell us what you want out of Laos
Dates, party size and the places you care about are enough to start. You get a draft route and an indicative price, not a brochure.