• Laos Guide

  • Introduction to Laos
  • Weather
  • Things not to miss
  • Entry Requirements
  • Money
  • Getting Around
  • Public holidays

• Explore Laos

  • Vientiane
  • The northwest
  • Louang Phabang
  • The northeast
  • The far north
  • South central Laos
  • The far south

• Cities

  • Louang Phabang
    
  • Vientiane
    

Laos Guide

Louang Phabang

• Accommodation
• Shopping
• Eating
• Nightlife

Nestling in a slim valley shaped by lofty, green mountains and cut by the swift Mekong and Khan rivers, LOUANG PHABANG exudes tranquillity and grandeur. A tiny mountain kingdom for more than a thousand years and designated a World Heritage site in 1995, it is endowed with a legacy of ancient, red-roofed temples and French-Indochinese architecture, not to mention some of the country's most refined cuisine, its richest culture and most sacred Buddha image. The very name Louang Phabang conjures up the classic image of Laos – streets of ochre colonial houses and swaying palms, lines of saffron-robed monks gliding through the morning mist, and longtail boats racing down the Mekong.

Louang Phabang is the most Lao city in Laos, the only one where ethnic Lao are in the majority and where the back streets and cobblestoned lanes have a distinctly village-like feel. Conveniently, it is also the transport hub of northern Laos, with road, river and air links – both domestic and international – all leading to the city.

The majority of Louang Phabang's architecture of merit – temple monasteries, Asian shophouses and French-influenced mansions – is found in the old city, concentrated on a finger of land, approximately 1km long by 300m wide. The thicker southern end of the peninsula is dominated by a steep, forested hill, Phou Si, crowned by a Buddhist stupa that can be seen for miles around. As the city grew it expanded outwards from the peninsula to the south and east, and continues to do so to this day.

The main thoroughfare in the old city, lined by the bulk of Louang Phabang's tourist restaurants and shops, has two names, Sisavang Vong and Xiang Thong, after Laos's penultimate king and Louang Phabang's royal temple, respectively. Aside from the main attractions of the Royal Palace Museum, Mount Phou Si and Wat Xiang Thong, there are a dozen historic wats, or temples, within the old city area, as well as hundreds of French colonial shophouses and mansions. In the early morning (around 7am) you can watch the ritual of long lines of monks collecting alms along Sisavang Vong/Xiang Thong Road.