Essential Laos

Welcome to Laos! Upon arrival, your professional private guide will be ready to welcome you at the arrival hall. You will be transferred to your hotel with a private car and driver. Luang Prabang is a very special city! It enchants with its magnificent location, amidst mountain ranges and historic temples, which gives the city a title of World Heritage Site by UNESCO. 

Get up early to observe the Buddhist Alms Giving Ceremony at 5:40 am if you like. You will continue to explore the open-air Morning Market in the old town on foot. There are only a few large grocery stores here—instead, food is still produced by small farming families and villages and was brought to Luang Prabang for sale from the surrounding rural areas. Your guide will explain some seasonal vegetables and fruits to you and he will also guide you to pick some snacks. Return to the hotel for breakfast.

After breakfast, you'll Phou Si Mountain and Wat Xieng Thong. This 15th-century temple represents the classical temple architecture of Luang Prabang. Then you'll board a cruise up the Mekong River to the mysterious Pak Ou Caves, which are crammed with thousands of gold lacquered Buddha statues of various shapes and sizes. On the way back to Luang Prabang we stop at a village where Saa-paper is produced.

Your experience begins with a transportation service pick up from your accommodation between 8:15 am – 9:00 am. You will visit the mahout (elephant handler) village in Manifa Elephant Camp and learn about their daily routine as you watch a demonstration of an elephant health check. Your guide will explain the elephants while you watch as they examine the elephant’s eyes, ears, mouth, and feet and measure the body.

You will learn how to introduce yourself to your elephant and how to mount your elephant to ride bareback. Then you will have an intimate interaction with one of our elephant families. (One elephant for one person) You will ride your elephant and explore the jungle. These interactions and riding provide elephants with opportunities for exercise and stress relief. Finally, you feed and care for your elephant with organic vegetables and fruits. You will be offered a delicious buffet lunch at the restaurant overlooking the Mekong river and elephants roaming free.

After lunch, you will learn verbal commands to communicate with elephants. Join the elephants for an afternoon dip in the Mekong River. You follow the ancient tradition of scrubbing your elephant to care for her skin. You will ride your elephant and go to the jungle and learn how elephants eat the jungle vegetation and how they take advantage of nature to care for their body and make herbal medication by themselves.

There will be time to shower and relax. Around 4:00 pm, we will take a boat from the Mekong River and return to Luang Prabang by boat. You can enjoy beautiful sunsets and scenery from the boat at the end of a day’s journey.

We'll leave Luang Prabang and take Route 13 through the highlands and breathtaking scenery to Xieng Khouang. On the way, we'll stop to explore one of the many Hmong villages we pass. The small, quiet town of Muang Sui is notable for several reasons. During the Indochina War this was the last position of the Nationalist Lao Army and the CIA, supported by Air America, before being evacuated. This area became known as 'Lima Site L-108' and the runway and some of the abandoned buildings are still visible today. While in Muang Sui we will visit Buddhist sites in the area, including historic temples and caves used as hospitals and shelters during the Indochina wars. We'll spend the night in Phonsavanh.

Your guide will take you to explore the Phonsavanh local market and an exhibit displaying the huge variety of bombs used during the Indochina War on the way to visit the Plain of Jars. You'll visit sites 1, 2 & 3 within the Plain of Jars, all of which have been made safe (other areas are considered too dangerous due to remaining unexploded ordnance (UXO)).

Afterward, we’ll take you to explore the city of Muang Khoun, the former royal capital of the Xieng Khouang region. Though the town was heavily bombed during the war, a few colonial French buildings remain, along with several temples and the famous stupa tower of That Foun, built in 1576, and Wat Pievat. It’s said that That Foun was built over the ashes of Lord Buddha which were brought to Laos from India.  Lastly, we will visit the MAG Visitor Center in downtown Phonsavanh where you can view a film further discussing the areas we visited today.

After visiting a local market to get an insight into Lao rural life, you'll be escorted to Xieng Khouang Airport for your short flight to Vientiane. Upon arrival at the airport, you will be met by your private guide and escorted to check in the hotel.

Enjoy this guided tour to discover the charms of Vientiane, the quietest capital of South West Asia. Our tour begins with Wat Sisaket which was built in the Siamese style of Buddhist architecture, with a surrounding terrace and five-level ornate roof, unlike the Lao style. Wat Sisaket has a fence wall with more than 2,000 ceramic Buddha images and silver. Our next visit will be Wat Phra Kaew built between 1556 and 1565, it was the first housed the Emerald Buddha, who now reside in Wat Phra Keaw in Bangkok. The temple was destroyed many times and was rebuilt for the third time by the French in the 1920s.

On the way to the famous sacred stupa of That Luang, a golden-covered Buddhist stupa, the most important national monument in Laos and a national symbol, we will visit the imposing monument of Phatuxay. The Victory Gate or the Triumphal Gate was built and dedicated to what was fought in the struggle for independence against France. Then we will visit COPE Centre. 

Our day will end with a visit to Sao Talat or Morning Market, where you can find an abundance of locally made handicrafts.

Free at leisure until your private guide escorts you to the airport for your onward flight.