After five months of my solo journey I found myself back in Southeast Asia. I headed from China to Laos, a country often overlooked by its seemingly more attractive neighbours – Thailand and Vietnam. Wondering how I spent over three weeks here? Read my Laos itinerary!

You can also watch my guide to Laos on Youtube 😉 (Turn on English subtitles!) 

VIENTIANE

I flew from Beijing to Laos’s capital, Vientiane… which in hindsight wasn’t the smartest thing to do because Vientiane lies pretty much in the middle of the country (but more on that later). I’ve heard from many people that Vientiane is a boring city but I enjoyed my few days there!

When visiting a new city, walking around is my favourite activity – and Vientiane is very walkable. In fact, all cities in Laos are.

Streets in Laos are very similar to streets in Thailand or Cambodia. Beautiful temples, lots of traffic, questionable power lines, tuk tuks, monks, street dogs.

For me, being in Vientiane felt great because it meant being back in Southeast Asia after spending six weeks in China… so I might be biased. If you have been in Southeast Asia for a while, Vientiane might not feel overly special or different. But it’s still worth visiting!

Vientiane must be the most chilled capital city ever and in a way it reminded me of the Chiang Mai vibe: lots of cafés and temples.

Some of the things not to miss in Vientiane are:

• Patuxai: The famous victory arch is not only the symbol of Vientiane, but you can also climb up and find a great view of the city.
• The Great Golden Stupa: Although slightly away from the city centre, the Great Golden Stupa (Pha That Luang) is the most important monument in Laos.
• Sunset by the river: Besides watching the sunset by the river you can also see (or join) some aerobics classes or do some shopping at the riverside night market.
• Temples: There are beautiful Buddhist temples on every corner of Vientiane. Take the time to marvel at them and you might just end up practising English with some monks like I did 🙂

VANG VIENG

My next stop was Vang Vieng, a few hours north of Vientiane. What once used to be an infamous tubing location (young backpackers getting drunk while floating down the river), is actually a beautiful place for all kinds of outdoor activities.

The sleepy town of Vang Vieng is surrounded by stunning limestone karst landscapes and rice fields and I highly recommend stopping here.

This is what I got up to in Vang Vieng:

• Blue Lagoon 3: My friend and I rented an ATV buggy and drove on the muddy roads to the Blue Lagoon 3, where you can swim in amazing blue waters or go on some fun swings. (There are several blue lagoons around Vang Vieng, Blue Lagoon 1 being the closest and busiest.)
• Pha Ngern Viewpoint: There are many mountains around Vang Vieng which are perfect for some small hiking. The Pha Ngern viewpoint offers some of the most beautiful views I have ever seen! This viewpoint has to be deserved though – it took only about 45 minutes to climb to the top but the path was very steep and slippery after the rain. I also almost passed out halfway through (and I hike often). The view is definitely worth all this but be careful on your way up!
• Yoga at the Silver Naga Hotel: If you like yoga and want to keep fit on your travels, the Silver Naga Hotel in Vang Vieng has a range of yoga classes. Since I was there during low season, I even had a private class because no one else showed up that day. Best of all, you have free access to their lovely swimming pool after the class.
• Walk around town: It doesn’t take long to walk around the town itself. You can grab a delicious cheap shake from one of the many street stalls and take a stroll by the river, check out the orange suspension bridge in the south, have a look at the handful of temples or browse the night market.
• Got a haircut! Yes, after five months on the road I randomly decided to get a haircut at a dusty little hairdresser’s in the heart of Vang Vieng. Cheapest haircut of my life which was also done in about five minutes (why measure to see it’s all even, right?).

Unfortunately it rained for about 3,5 days out of the five I was in Vang Vieng (rainy season) and as a result I couldn’t do as much as I would have liked. Some other activities in Vang Vieng include kayaking, ziplining, cave exploring and of course… tubing (just take it easy on the drinking, some people actually died while tubing in the past, which is why tubing in Vang Vieng isn’t as popular as it used to be).

LUANG PRABANG

After one of the worst van drives I experienced in Southeast Asia (several hours on bumpy winding roads with no leg space), I made it to the northern town of Luang Prabang, a highlight for many people.

I ended up staying about a week. My original plan was to also go to Nong Khiaw, a village even further north recommended to me by other travellers, but I felt that my stomach couldn’t handle another bumpy ride at the time (which is apparently even bumpier than the one from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng). I also had a small online job to work on and decided to stay in Luang Prabang instead.

Besides working, this is what I did in Luang Prabang:

• Walk around: Yes, I do that everywhere! However, Luang Prabang is actually very small and you can literally walk around the whole town in a couple of hours. You have gorgeous views of green hills by the river, cute houses protected by UNESCO and of course many temples.
• Kuang Si Falls: The most beautiful waterfalls in Asia are a must see if you are in Luang Prabang! I have written all about this magical place in this article.
• Mount Phousi: A small hill right in the middle of the town from which you can see all of Luang Prabang.
• Night Market: Luang Prabang has a great night market on the main street every night, which is worth checking out (too bad I couldn’t buy anything because I am a backpacker with no space in my backpack).
• Utopia: If you are looking for a place to relax, Utopia is a bar by night but also a perfect place to bring your book and enjoy the river views during the day.

From Luang Prabang I endured another long bus drive back to Vientiane. Remember how I unwisely started my trip in Vientiane? Turns out there aren’t really any main roads on the eastern side of the country and if you want to go south, you have to go through Vientiane again. And so I stopped in Vientiane for one night before continuing all the way south.

PAKSE

Pakse was another stopover after an overnight bus ride from Vientiane. Nothing much interesting to see here but if you ride a motorbike you can do a motorbike loop in the nearby mountains.

4000 ISLANDS

Finally, I made it to the very south of Laos, to Si Phan Don aka 4000 islands, only a few hours south of Pakse. Laos doesn’t have an access to the ocean so these islands are on the Mekong river. There probably isn’t 4000 of them but there are three tourist islands where you can stay: Don Khong, Don Det and Don Khon.

I went to all three of them so you can read my guide to visiting the islands here.

Si Phan Don is a very relaxed place well worth visiting if you have the time and energy to go to southern Laos. 😉

The 4000 islands are close to the Cambodian border – so my next stop was Cambodia! Subscribe to my blog in the sidebar and you’ll be notified when new posts (not just from Cambodia) are published 🙂

Read all the previous parts of my travel diary here.

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