Laos Travel Guide

Laos travel tips & advice

Laos’ capital is Vientiane, a beautiful riverfront town that is surprisingly laid back for a capital city. Vientiane is a great town to visit for the art and culture of the country, but you’ll also want to pay a visit to Luang Prabang, one of the country’s most historical cities. Here, you’ll see hundreds of monks quietly make their way around the many ancient monasteries of the city. Luang Prabang is also home to 32 temples, a beautiful street scene downtown filled with French provincial architecture and a lovely riverfront on the confluence of the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers.

Si Phan Don (Four Thousand Islands) is also a popular area of Laos for tourists. This area is a 50 km stretch along the Mekong River where enjoying the beach and water is the prime attraction. During the rainy season, the many islands are covered with water, but during the dry season you can count thousands of tiny island patches in the Mekong (hence the area’s name). There are lots of tiny villages and farmland here, with many of the residents growing sugar cane and rice or fishing for a living.

You’ll also enjoy a visit to the mysterious Plain of Jars, a large area around Phonsavan, where huge jars are scattered. The jars appear to have been fashioned from stones, and they vary in size and shape. Most smaller jars are gone now, but hundreds of larger ones remain in groupings throughout the landscape.