Trip overview
Most travellers land in Vientiane before anywhere else in Laos, so this version keeps that as the starting point instead of working around it. One busy day covers the capital, Buddha Park included, before the trip heads north for three nights in Luang Prabang, one more than our other five-day pairing allows. It fits anyone whose flight connections put them in the capital first, or anyone who would simply rather spend extra time among Luang Prabang’s temples than add a second day of sightseeing in Vientiane.
A fast train link now joins the two cities in roughly two hours, with foreign fares running from about 330,000 kip in second class up to 975,000 kip for business class, a fraction of what the old road transfer used to cost in time. The extra Luang Prabang night pays for a fuller look at its temples and museums, plus a half-day river outing to the Pak Ou caves, breaking at a village where rice liquor is distilled by hand. Both halves of this trip run best from November to February, when the air stays driest and coolest, good for an evening walk uphill and for keeping the falls at their clearest.
Trip highlights
- A capital tour taking in Wat Sisaket, Pha That Luang and the Patuxai monument
- Buddha Park, row after row of concrete Buddhist and Hindu figures on open ground
- A short domestic train ride north from Vientiane to Luang Prabang
- A river outing to Pak Ou’s Buddha-filled caves, with a rice-liquor village along the way
- An evening climb up Phousi hill for sweeping views over the rooftops
- A second full day in Luang Prabang, built entirely around Kuang Si Falls
Your day-by-day itinerary
Day 1: Arrive Vientiane, city tour
Wat Sisaket, dating to 1818, is the only major temple in the capital to have survived intact through a nineteenth-century sacking; its covered walkways hold thousands of small Buddha images set into wall niches, and it opens an afternoon tour that also stops at the Patuxai monument, a memorial partly built with cement originally meant for a runway. As evening falls, a boat ride on the Mekong gives you the sunset from the water, with a stop at Haw Phra Kaew, a former royal chapel that once held the Emerald Buddha before it was carried off to Bangkok.
Day 2: Buddha Park, then the train north to Luang Prabang
On open ground at the edge of the city, row upon row of concrete Buddhist and Hindu figures make up Buddha Park, most of them modelled on statues first brought over from India, and the morning is spent walking among them at whatever pace you like. After checkout, the fast train covers the run north in about two hours, and your guide meets you at the Luang Prabang station to take you on to your hotel.
Day 3: Old Royal Palace and temples, then upriver to Pak Ou
The former Royal Palace, now the National Museum, opens the morning, followed by a walk past a string of the town’s temples to Wat Xieng Thong, set apart by a roofline that sweeps almost to the ground. After lunch a boat heads out on the Mekong, calling at a small distilling village to watch rice liquor made the traditional way before continuing to the Pak Ou caves, where generations of visitors have left behind gold-leafed Buddha figures. As the light fades, several hundred steps lead up Phousi hill to a small stupa and a wide view over the rooftops below.
Day 4: Kuang Si Falls and a second day in Luang Prabang
This second Luang Prabang day belongs to Kuang Si, a waterfall roughly half an hour outside town where the water drops through a series of pale turquoise pools shaded by forest. Some pools are shallow enough for a proper swim, and a network of paths lets you walk the length of the falls without getting wet if you would rather look than swim. If a dawn start suits you, ask about adding the tak bat alms round to this morning instead; stand well back, keep flash photography off, and skip the roadside sellers offering pre-packed rice to visitors, since that trade runs against how the ritual is meant to work.
Day 5: Departure
Your flight out of Luang Prabang International Airport closes the trip, moving from the monuments and open squares of the capital into the slower, temple-filled rhythm of the old royal town.
What’s included
- Hotels in the class you choose, twin or double occupancy, with breakfast each morning, or an equivalent property if the one named is full.
- All meals written into the day-by-day programme below.
- A private air-conditioned vehicle for every transfer and excursion in the programme.
- An English-speaking local guide at each stop on the route.
- Every boat trip, river crossing and cruise named in the itinerary.
- Entrance fees for the sites listed in the programme.
- Drinking water in the vehicle and on boat days.
- Government tax and service charge.
Not included
- International and domestic flights, and rail tickets.
- Visas, and any fee collected at a border post.
- Travel insurance.
- Meals and drinks that are not written into the programme.
- Personal spending such as laundry, phone calls, minibar, souvenirs and watersports.
- Early check-in, late check-out and room upgrades.
- Anything added on the day at your request outside the printed programme.
- Gratuities for your guide and driver.
- Costs arising from weather, flooding, road closures or other events beyond our control.
- Bank transfer charges.
Booking this trip
- Days
- 5 days / 4 nights
Sending this does not charge you. We hold the space and confirm within 24 hours.
For visas, payment terms and what to expect on arrival, see [Laos travel information](laos/travel-information).
Send us your travel dates and group size and we will confirm room availability in both cities and hold your train seats.