Why You Need to Visit Luang Prabang, Luang Prabang, Laos

My first thought upon walking down the streets of Luang Prabang was ‘where is everyone?’. After the crazy hustle and bustle of the streets of Hanoi in neighbouring Vietnam, I couldn’t believe just how quiet Laos’ old capital was (granted, it’s tiny in comparison, but SE Asia continuously taught me how crowded places can get). This sleepy, temple-strewn city sits at the meeting point of the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers and was one of my absolute favourite places I visited during my four-month trip to the region (and definitely my favourite place in Laos). If you’re after serene streets, natural beauty and cultural experiences, Luang Prabang (and Laos in general), definitely needs to be on your bucket list. Here are just some of the reasons why you need to visit Luang Prabang.

As I mentioned above, Luang Prabang is such a breath of fresh air in comparison to the insanely busy cities of Vietnam (and Cambodia and Thailand …). The streets here are blissfully quiet, with the occasional tuk-tuk trundling past and cyclists lazily making their way along the tree-lined roads. The main area of the Old Town, concentrated around the National Museum/Royal Palace, can be busy at times, as can the top of nearby Phousi Hill in the late afternoon (highly recommend seeing sunset from here, but get there early if you want a good spot, as it gets crowded, read more about it below), but overall, I found Luang Prabang to be a really peaceful place, which is one of the reasons I visited not once, but twice during my trip to Laos. The quiet streets also mean that cycling is a really great way to get around during a visit to Luang Prabang. Walking through the town, I could definitely see why it’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and you know I love those! ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).