Luang Prabang was my favourite of the three places we visited in Laos. I fell in love with it and was pretty sad when we had to move on to Vang Vieng.
Luang Prabang is in northern Laos and is where you will arrive when you step off the slow boat from Thailand. It is actually the ancient capital of Laos.
We spent three full days in Luang Prabang. Here is what we got up to…
Where we stayed-
We stayed in the Cold River hotel which is only a 15 minute walk from the centre of Luang Prabang town. There were plenty of cafes and restaurants nearby, and the Nam Khan river is right next to the hotel.
We loved this hotel and would highly recommend it to anyone who visits Luang Prabang. The rooms were very nice, and the included breakfast was delicious. We paid just under £25 a night.
Places to eat/drink-
BOUANG Asian Eatery- this is located on one of the main roads where lots of the restaurants are. We both had a tasty burger here.
Zaori- this was a cute little cafe where we went to do some travel planning. They did a variety of drinks. I recommend the strawberry one!
Kin Khao @ Heuan Chan Heritage House- we went here for lunch a couple of times. It was a small cafe within a heritage house that did delicious Banh Mis (a type of Vietnamese sandwich). They were very cheap and very tasty.
La Silapa Italian & Lao Kitchen- this restaurant was just down the road from where we stayed. We both had a pizza here and it was much better than we expected it to be. If you’re missing pizza whilst travelling then this is a good place to come to.
Family Bakery & Restaurant- this was only a short walk from our hotel. It’s a lovely little bakery (there are only about 3 tables inside) where they serve sandwiches, toasties, burgers, and traditional Laos/Asian food. The toastie that I had was lovely.
Yuni Yupoun- Jacob had the nicest butter chicken at this restaurant, and I had a delicious red curry. They also did butter tofu which I now kick myself for not having!
Things to do-
UXO Lao Visitor Centre- there is a UXO museum in Lunag Prabang and in Vientiane (the capital of Laos). We visited the one in Luang Prabang. The UXO centre has lots of information about the secret war between Laos and the US.
We learnt that Laos is the most heavily bombed nation, per capita, in history. There is so much work going on to remove the leftover bombs and mines that are in Laos which continue to injure and kill people today. It’s free to enter the museum but they welcome a small donation.
Luang Prabang bowling alley- I had seen this all over TikTok as one of the things to do when you visit Luang Prabang. We went in the middle of the day and we were the only ones there. People typically go at night and it gets pretty lively, but we just had a couple of chilled games of bowling. I was very happy because I absolutely smashed Jacob at it.
Sunset river cruise- this is up there with one of my favourite things we have done in South East Asia. We went on a 2 hour river cruise where we watched the sunset. It cost £18.80 for the two of us which also included a cocktail on the boat. The sunset was beautiful and it was very peaceful sailing down the river.
Halfway through we were given two banana leaves to write on. On one we wrote a wish, and on the other we wrote a burden. We tied the wish up with a thin piece of banana leaf and the burden with a red string.
The burdens were tied to a big rock and thrown over one side of the boat. The wishes were put in a fish tank and released into the other side of the river. It was quite a strange experience but also quite spiritual. I really enjoyed doing this and thought it really added to the experience.
How we got around-
We did want to rent a motorbike in Luang Prabang to go to Kuang Si Waterfall and Tat Kuang Si bear rescue centre, however we didn’t. Every bike rental shop in Luang Prabang wanted a passport as deposit which we refuse to do.
We will only ever leave cash or a driving license as a deposit. Never a passport. If someone else has your passport then they have you in the palm of their hand. Of course we try to rent from reputable businesses but you never know when something could go wrong and/or you could get scammed. Cover your own back and never give someone else your passport.
We mostly walked around everywhere in Luang Prabang. When we did get taxis we used the Loca app as Grab and Bolt don’t exist there. There are also tuk tuks available on most streets.
When to visit-
The best time to visit Luang Prabang is between November and March. We visited in December and found the temperature was hot but not uncomfortable.
Things to avoid-
Secret pizza- this is probably the worst pizza I’ve ever had. It was so thin it felt like I was just eating a poppadom. There was so much garlic on it, and I like garlic, but this was gross. Don’t bother going here. It’s a waste of time and money.
Down to Earth Travel 
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