Eight trips, one country
These are the trips we run often enough to have opinions about. Each one has a day-by-day plan, a price table by group size, and a section saying who should not book it.
All eight, compared
Prices are per person, land only, twin share, at the smallest group size we run. Everything here can be run as a private departure on your own dates.
| Trip | Days | Region | From | Best months |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mekong slow boat | 2 | North | USD 165 | Oct - Apr |
| Plain of Jars | 3 | North | USD 340 | Nov - Mar |
| Luang Prabang and its valley | 4 | North | USD 390 | Nov - Feb |
| Thakhek loop and Konglor cave | 4 | Centre | USD 460 | Nov - Mar |
| Southern Laos | 6 | South | USD 620 | Nov - Feb |
| Northern Laos trek | 6 | North | USD 640 | Oct - Mar |
| Laos highlights | 10 | North and centre | USD 1,090 | Nov - Feb |
| North to south | 15 | Whole country | USD 1,780 | Nov - Feb |
If you have four days
Four days in Laos is one region, no exceptions. The two that reward a short visit are Luang Prabang, because everything worth seeing is within 30 km of the town, and the Khammouane karst behind Thakhek, because the cave is the trip.
Luang Prabang and its valley
The old town, the Kuang Si falls, a weaving village that still weaves, and one day up the Mekong to the Pak Ou caves. From USD 390.
Thakhek loop and Konglor cave
A 450 km loop through limestone country, ending with a 7.5 km boat ride through a mountain. Almost no tour groups. From USD 460.
Plain of Jars
Three jar sites, a UXO briefing that changes how you read the landscape, and the least touristed World Heritage site in Southeast Asia. From USD 340.
Mekong slow boat
Two days downriver from the Thai border to Luang Prabang, with a night in Pakbeng. Usually the first two days of a longer trip. From USD 165.
If you have a week
Six or seven days lets you take one region seriously rather than crossing three. Both of these are built around walking and river travel rather than driving.
Northern Laos trek
Nong Khiaw, the Nam Ou valley, two nights in villages that host walkers on a rota, and enough climbing to earn the viewpoints. From USD 640.
Southern Laos
Pakse, the Bolaven coffee highlands, the Khmer temple at Wat Phou, and three nights among the Four Thousand Islands. From USD 620.
Adding the slow boat to the front of the northern trek makes an eight-day trip that starts at the Thai border and never uses a plane.
If you have two weeks
Laos highlights
The slow boat, Luang Prabang, the Nam Ou, Vang Vieng and Vientiane. The classic north-and-centre route, run at a pace that leaves two unplanned afternoons in it. From USD 1,090.
North to south
Chiang Khong on the Thai border to the Cambodian one, by boat, road and one flight. The whole country, including the parts most itineraries drive past. From USD 1,780.
How to read our price tables
Every tour page has the same table: rows are group size, columns are accommodation standard. Two things follow from that, and both are worth knowing before you compare quotes.
- Group size moves the price more than hotel standard does. Two people pay roughly 35 per cent more per head than four, because a vehicle, a driver and a guide cost the same whether two or six people use them.
- The "from" price is the smallest group at the simplest standard. It is a real price we have sold, not a teaser - but it is the bottom corner of the table, and most people book somewhere in the middle.
- Nothing on the table includes international flights, visa fees, travel insurance or tips. Domestic flights are listed separately where a trip uses one.
The pricing page goes further and shows what we pay suppliers.
Questions travellers ask most
Are these fixed departures or private trips?
All eight run as private departures on your own dates, which is how most of them sell. We also open a small number of set departures in the high season, capped at eight travellers.
A private departure for four people usually costs about the same per head as a set departure, because four is already enough to fill the vehicle.
Can you change the itinerary?
Yes, and most people do. Adding or removing a night, swapping a drive for a river leg, or starting from a different town are all normal requests.
The one change we push back on is compressing a route. A ten-day itinerary run in seven is not a shorter version of it, it is a different and worse trip.
What if we are more than eight people?
We will decline and say so quickly, rather than splitting you into two vehicles and calling it a small group. Above eight, the whole logic of how we run trips stops working.
We are happy to recommend operators who handle groups of 12 to 30 properly, and we have no financial interest in doing so.
Do you sell flights?
Not international ones. We book domestic Lao flights on your behalf at cost when an itinerary needs one, and we add them as a separate line so you can see the fare.
For international flights, booking direct with the airline gives you protection we cannot offer as an intermediary.
Read next
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.