South Laos or Vientiane

[Nimrod103]

My wife and I are looking at a package holiday in Laos. The tours are very similar overall, but one has 4 days in Vientiane and Vang Vieng, and the other 4 day in the south of Laos (Champasak area). Has anybody been there or say which might be more interesting?

[richfool]

My wife and I are looking at a package holiday in Laos. The tours are very similar overall, but one has 4 days in Vientiane and Vang Vieng, and the other 4 day in the south of Laos (Champasak area). Has anybody been there or say which might be more interesting?

Nimrod, Vientiane doesn't have much of great interest. There are some temples (inc the Phra Thad Luam temple), the Patuxai (their equivalent to the Arc de Triomphe) and the Mekhong riverside area. It is not worth more than 2 days stay. It's flat, busy traffic with traffic pollution.

I haven't been to Champasak, or Vang Vieng, though I understand the latter has a scenic winding river, hills and scenery. Vang Vieng used to be very popular on the student/backpacker circuit, but I believe has been refined.

By far the best pace to visit is Luang Prabang (in the north-west), (World Heritage site)the ancient capital, which has many temples (inc Wat Xieng Thong), a famous night market, a temple on a hill (Phou Si), famous caves (Pak Ou) and famous waterfalls (Guang Si), is at the confluence of the Mekhong and rivers and Khan river, surrounded by hills and mountains and lots of nice restaurants. The waterfalls are outstanding.

My book says that Champasak has some ancient Khmer-style ruins, the Mekhong river islands of Si Phan Don and I believe the Bolaven Plateau is in the province.

I would place Luang Prabang very much top of the list, though I note it wasn't mentioned in your list of tour options.

Note medical facilities are quite basic, and particularly so once off the beaten track.

Disc: I have been to Vientiane and Luang Prabang.

[Nimrod103]

My wife and I are looking at a package holiday in Laos. The tours are very similar overall, but one has 4 days in Vientiane and Vang Vieng, and the other 4 day in the south of Laos (Champasak area). Has anybody been there or say which might be more interesting?

Nimrod, Vientiane doesn't have much of great interest. There are some temples (inc the Phra Thad Luam temple), the Patuxai (their equivalent to the Arc de Triomphe) and the Mekhong riverside area. It is not worth more than 2 days stay. It's flat, busy traffic with traffic pollution.

I haven't been to Champasak, or Vang Vieng, though I understand the latter has a scenic winding river, hills and scenery. Vang Vieng used to be very popular on the student/backpacker circuit, but I believe has been refined.

By far the best pace to visit is Luang Prabang (in the north-west), (World Heritage site)the ancient capital, which has many temples (inc Wat Xieng Thong), a famous night market, a temple on a hill (Phou Si), famous caves (Pak Ou) and famous waterfalls (Guang Si), is at the confluence of the Mekhong and rivers and Khan river, surrounded by hills and mountains and lots of nice restaurants. The waterfalls are outstanding.

My book says that Champasak has some ancient Khmer-style ruins, the Mekhong river islands of Si Phan Don and I believe the Bolaven Plateau is in the province.

I would place Luang Prabang very much top of the list, though I note it wasn't mentioned in your list of tour options.

Note medical facilities are quite basic, and particularly so once off the beaten track.

Disc: I have been to Vientiane and Luang Prabang.

Thanks, we are looking at a combined Cambodia/Laos trip, and all on offer include Luang Prabang, Angkow Wat etc. Its just one had Vientiane and Vang Veing, and the other southern Laos instead. As you can imagine, my wife wants to do the one I don't and vice versa. Gridlock for now.

[TaurusTheBull]

Hi,

That's a difficult one. I've been to both areas, but long ago.

When I first went to Vang Vieng (limestone scenery like Guilin) it was wonderful, but within a few years hordes of drunken backpackers completely ruined the atmosphere. I doubt it has recovered it's former tranquility. Luang Prabang was also relaxed, but I can imagine it is now completely overrun with tourists (no airport when I went there etc)..

If I went back, I'd go to the south. Tad Lo Resort, Pakse and south to the wide waterfalls of Champasak where you can see traditional fishermen and glimpse dolphins. We missed Bolivens Plateau, but that sounds very green and full of wildlife.

I'd say you'd get more luxurious accommodation options in the north, but better nature in the south, elephant rides etc. Don't forget that the Plain Of Jars, well north of Luang Prabang, was sunject to heavy American bombing in the Vietnam War.

Taurus

[zico]

We went to Luang Prabang last October, and thought it was great. Laid-back sleepy town in the middle of the jungle by the Mekong, friendly gentle people. Chinese are building a railway through Laos, so it'll probably change massively once that's completed.

[DiamondEcho]

I visited Laos in c1997, as part of a Singapore>Vietnam [south to north]>Laos>Singapore [home] trip.
Back then Vientiane was the entry/exit point. Luang Prabang was the exotica, and yes it was superb, felt a million miles from anywhere. Vientiane was relatively soul-less, expensive and mosquito ridden. Though bizaarely in a river side bar there a TV crew filming for 'Lao Beer' making an ad of the few random 'white people' savouring 'our beer' and wanted us to 'act' for their cameras. Well, we got some free beer.
- 'Yes, Lao beer is very refreshing', the script went.
- 'At the end of a day, this is THE beer I really want to drink,
- 'It's just so good [drinking from full glass, then looking 1000% satisfied], Lao Beer is THE beer I choose!

Somewhere I've a home DVD of my tape of them filming all of this, it would be rather surreal to watch it again 20 years later My travel buddy got really lost in this and did an amazing job like a born actor hahaha....

It's a pretty weird country, or was! It's not just this^, this is broadly how unusual it is, rather like Cuba used to be.... expect the unexpected

[jaizan]

Luang Prabang is outstanding & make sure you go to the Kuang Si waterfalls.

The small town of Viang Veng has absolutely nothing in it's favour. Maybe the surrounding countryside is OK, but I only stayed for one night.

Vientiane is a fairly sleepy capital & enough to keep you interested for a couple of days, maybe longer if you just like to take it easy. I've been here twice.
Champasak has a major Khmer temple, some coffee plantations & a few waterfalls. Plus the river. I quite liked the town of Pakse.

So I think it depends on what you prefer -rural v sleepy urban.

Also, consider how you are travelling. The road from Luang Prabang to Vientiane is mountainous and twisty. I travelled in a minibus and it took about 6 hours of constant turns from Viang Veng to Luang Prabang. I enjoyed the mountainous scenery, but it's something of a durability test.
Some may prefer to fly.