Places to visit in Luang Prabhang

The erstwhile capital of Laos and a UNESCO World Heritage site. The town is well maintained with Lao French architecture across all buildings in the town. It felt like a temple city similar to Udupi in Karnataka. Prominent places to visit in Luang Prabhang include the temples at the centre, Royal Palace, Chomsy peak, Kuang Si falls and bear rescue centre, Mekong river

Kuang Si Falls and bear rescue centre

A nice terraced waterfall with turquoise colored water inside a beautiful forest. Take the walking trail to observe step pools on the way. You can also take the steps up to top of waterfalls. It looked like the metal steps on the left led to a restaurant where you need to buy something for the views of go ziplining. The natural steps on the right of the falls looked a bit slippery, so we did not bother climbing

*Terraced pools of Kuang Si falls with turquoise waters*

The falls is 45-60 minutes away from the city. The best way to reach is to book a seat in shared minivan for 100k KIP ($5-6). Departure times for shared vans are at 8:30 AM and 10:30 AM with a 3 hour stop at the falls which is good enough. You can ask your accommodation to book a seat or book online for slightly higher price on sites like Klook or agent portals

We reached late night, so we weren’t sure of making it to 8:30 AM one. 11:30 was bit too late since our entire day would go in travelling. We chose to go by private tuk tuk which was 2x the cost at 600k Kip ($27). While coming back, the driver onboarded two more passengers, so it was not really private. We didn’t make a fuss since he was aged and the seats were vacant anyway

Kuang Si ticket price ($3 or 65k Kip) includes the buggy transfer from ticket station to start of walking trail. Butterfly park is on the way and you can request the driver to stop. There is a separate entry fee of $5. We skipped this as we have been to many butterfly parks before and we were short of time

There is a bear rescue centre inside along the walking trail where you can see them enjoying on the hammocks, searching for food hidden at many places or just lazing around. We spent almost an hour observing these cuddly creatures. Free the bears organization rescues these bears from bile farming. They do not get any share of entry tickets. They are very well cared for and you can encourage the efforts by buying T-shirts or just donating

Phou Si hill with Wat Chom Si

Climb up to get nice views of Luang Prabhang from all sides and the gorgeous mountains at a distance. There are two pathways starting from opposite side of Royal museum and along river side. We suggest you take one side to go up and other to come down. The path from river side has multiple statues, caves along the way and is less steep although a little longer. The path opposite Royl Museum is steeper but quick with lesser statues on the way

The legend here goes that the hill was taken by Hanuman to Lord Ram. You can find many pictures of the mountain being carried by Hanuman in temples and hotels. The Naga Buddha statue on the way from Royal Museum side is a collaboration with Government of India

Alms Ceremony

You can find monks taking alms before sunrise from 5:30-6:30 in the morning along most main streets. The activity has been sadly commercialized with tourists barging to take photos and donating sweets that are not useful to the monks. It is still worth experiencing this once silently from far or donating with respect

Royal museum

The erstwhile palace has been converted to a museum. There is a temple on the side is where the name Luang Prabhang comes from- the Prabhang image of Buddha. You will have to leave your belongings with water, food, mobiles inside the locker which is a bit far away. In case you forget to leave it in the locker, you can leave it with a friend or family outside and go one at a time since the museum is small and the round is pretty quick. You also need to be dressed modestly with covered shoulders and legs. We were not very impressed with the museum, but can be a stop by for the temple

The theatre here showcases episodes from Ramayana locally known as Phra Lak Phra Ram, at 6 PM on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays

If you are interested in local folk stories, you can head to Garavek story telling theatre nearby, where a storyteller is accompanied by a folk musician. The show is in English at 6:30 PM all days

We bought lot of jackfruit here outside the gate from vendors, priced reasonably at $1-2 for 6-10 pieces

Temples of Luang Prabhang

You will find many elaborately decorated temples in the city. Visit 3-4 in a day to avoid being templed out and lose track of which one you visited vs not. Most prominent temples have an entry fee, so makes sense to limits visits to main 3-4 temples to get a view. Main ones include

Wat Xieng Thong: With golden facade, chariot like structures