Laos 2026

20 years later than planned, we finally made it to Laos. We afforded ourselves the luxury of direct flights to Bangkok, rather than going via the Middle East meaning it wasn’t so arduous before we reached Vientiane. After a quick stop there we flew on to Luang Prabang and then travelled back down south using the train and shared minivan.

Luang Prabang was the real highlight. The amazing Kuang Si waterfalls were as impressive as we had envisaged, made even better by eating buffalo ice cream and then stopping in rice fields for a cooling beer. We also enjoyed fantastic walks around the area and across the Mekong river via the car ferry. So many temples to visit and long hot walks in the beautiful natural terrain. We were also lucky enough to find a quiet spot to watch the monks gathering alms at 5.30am. It was our first chance to sample Lao food as well which was amazing.

Vang Vieng was much more lively than Luang Prabang, full of backpackers enjoying thrills and spills. We settled for some long walks and some steep hikes, up Big Pha Ngern and Nam Xay viewpoints. We also visited more temples and several of the blue lagoons in the area (which turned out to be more green than blue!) Highlights included watching the hot air balloons and Paramotors at sunrise and sunset from our hotel and sampling more wonderful food and of course plenty of Laobeer!

Back in Vientiane, we had a few days to explore the capital city, visiting more temples, night markets and relaxing in the rooftop pool at the hotel.