Luang Prabang is very touristic but unlike Vang Vieng it has a lot of charm. The main street is very busy but the rest of the city is peaceful.
There are expensive accommodations in town but backpackers, like us (!), can find cheap guesthouses along the Mekong. We got a basic but clean twin room with bathroom and hot water for 40.000 Kips at Saysana Guesthouse.
We did the walking tour suggested by the Lonely Planet and really had a good time discovering the numerous temples of Luang Prabang. We did not visit the Royal Palace Museum but admire from outside its nice buildings. We visited the Wat Xieng Thong (entrance fee 20.000 Kips) and really liked it, it is the nicest temple in town, its elaborated decorations are really impressive. At the end of the day we made the effort to go to the top of the 100m high Phu Si hill (entrance fee 20.000 Kips), our aim was not to visit the small temples which are nothing special but to enjoy the stunning views on the hills that surround Luang Prabang and watch the sunset.
One morning we went to the Pak Ou caves. We booked a tour for 50.000 Kips each after negotiations (the 20.000 Kips entrance fee to the cave was not included). The boat trip was long (2h to go and 1h to come back) and boring. The landscapes on the way were nothing special and the scenery started to be nice only when we arrived at the caves. The caves are really nothing special. The only one that offers little interest is the lower cave. It is packed with Buddha images and from it you can enjoy a nice view on an impressive limestone cliff at the mouth of the Nam Ou river. There is nothing to see at the upper cave, well the only interest is the exercise to climb the numerous stairs to reach it. On the way to the caves we stopped at a "Whisky Village" which looked like a market and the tourists who tried the whisky said that it was not good. The "Whisky Village'' we visited near Phonsavan was so much better, no shops selling souvenirs around, just a shed where villagers make the rice whisky.
We did not go to the Tat Kuang Si waterfalls but regret it as we met afterwards tourists who showed us pictures and it looked very nice. It is a series of cool turquoise pools where you can swim.
Luang Prabang is really a nice city but we found it too touristic, there are tourists, guesthouses and restaurants everywhere. Moreover we have been disappointed by the food, the prices are very high but the food is not that nice. Apparently the best food can be found at the night market, but we did not have a try. The exchange rates for dollars was the same as Vientiane and it was the first town in Laos where we could by Chinese Yuan. The visit to the bank was an interesting experience, behind the cashier we could see piles of notes on a table and the safe (which looked very basic) was wide open!
There are expensive accommodations in town but backpackers, like us (!), can find cheap guesthouses along the Mekong. We got a basic but clean twin room with bathroom and hot water for 40.000 Kips at Saysana Guesthouse.
We did the walking tour suggested by the Lonely Planet and really had a good time discovering the numerous temples of Luang Prabang. We did not visit the Royal Palace Museum but admire from outside its nice buildings. We visited the Wat Xieng Thong (entrance fee 20.000 Kips) and really liked it, it is the nicest temple in town, its elaborated decorations are really impressive. At the end of the day we made the effort to go to the top of the 100m high Phu Si hill (entrance fee 20.000 Kips), our aim was not to visit the small temples which are nothing special but to enjoy the stunning views on the hills that surround Luang Prabang and watch the sunset.
One morning we went to the Pak Ou caves. We booked a tour for 50.000 Kips each after negotiations (the 20.000 Kips entrance fee to the cave was not included). The boat trip was long (2h to go and 1h to come back) and boring. The landscapes on the way were nothing special and the scenery started to be nice only when we arrived at the caves. The caves are really nothing special. The only one that offers little interest is the lower cave. It is packed with Buddha images and from it you can enjoy a nice view on an impressive limestone cliff at the mouth of the Nam Ou river. There is nothing to see at the upper cave, well the only interest is the exercise to climb the numerous stairs to reach it. On the way to the caves we stopped at a "Whisky Village" which looked like a market and the tourists who tried the whisky said that it was not good. The "Whisky Village'' we visited near Phonsavan was so much better, no shops selling souvenirs around, just a shed where villagers make the rice whisky.
We did not go to the Tat Kuang Si waterfalls but regret it as we met afterwards tourists who showed us pictures and it looked very nice. It is a series of cool turquoise pools where you can swim.
Luang Prabang is really a nice city but we found it too touristic, there are tourists, guesthouses and restaurants everywhere. Moreover we have been disappointed by the food, the prices are very high but the food is not that nice. Apparently the best food can be found at the night market, but we did not have a try. The exchange rates for dollars was the same as Vientiane and it was the first town in Laos where we could by Chinese Yuan. The visit to the bank was an interesting experience, behind the cashier we could see piles of notes on a table and the safe (which looked very basic) was wide open!
