Luang Prabang, Laos
At dawn hundreds of monks walk the street in silence collecting rice.
Why go
Luang Prabang sits on a finger of land between the Mekong and the Nam Khan, and the whole town is a UNESCO site: teak houses and French colonial shutters, thirty-odd working temples, and a pace that makes you put your phone away. Before six in the morning the monks come out in a long orange line to collect alms, and if you watch, watch quietly from a distance. Climb Mount Phousi for sunset over the river. Take a tuk tuk out to Kuang Si falls, where the water is the colour of pool paint and drops through a series of pools you can swim in. Eat at the night market for very little money. Then take the slow boat and let the river do the rest.
Good to know
- Fly into Luang Prabang (LPQ) via Bangkok, Hanoi or Singapore
- Four nights, more if you take the slow boat or go to Nong Khiaw
- Stay in the old town peninsula, everything is walkable
- November to February is dry and cool, waterfalls are fullest at the end of the wet season
Best November to February.
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