Benjamine1

Who can give us the address of a nice guest house in Luang Prabag and ChangRai?
We like to meet people..and inderstand the politics and economy of a country!so if you have any contacts..we will be happy. in or around those 2 cities
Thanks

jrhogan

I visited LP last year and found one of the slightly unique guesthouses just out of LP town quite interesting. They were located in an area next to the river where chalet units were perched on the hillside overlooking the river and farmers across the river. I spent a good 3 nights there at the Thong Bay Guesthouse and if you would like to read my report in it, you can find it here with pictures too - http://su.pr/2ZPEC9

Regards,
David

Kathie

Let me suggest you look at one of the Asian hotel booking services such as www.agoda.com or www.asiarooms.com

Both show many options for hotels and guesthouses in Luang Prabang, and at very good rates. Part of the charm of LP is staying right in town, so you can stroll out to the market, wander the wats, and watch the monks each morning as they receive rice from the residents. While the guesthouse jrhogan liked looks nice, it has the disadvantage of being out of town. Indeed, you'll find quite a number of places outside of LP.

Kathie

And both sites have hotels and guesthouse in Chiang Rai as well.

Vientianeboy

With respect, a site like Agoda is a very poor way of booking accommodation in Laos, especially if you are after slightly cheaper accommodation.
I would suggest you look at
http://www.luang-prabang-hotels.com/...-luang-prabang

I really like the Saynamkhan Guesthouse, where I have stayed a couple of times. It is on the Nam Khan side of Luang Prabang, which in my opinion is far nices than the other side. Another slightly more expensive, but very nice place is the Riverside Guesthouse on the same side.

A major part of the charm of LP is staying in the town itself, not out of it. The Nam Khan side has the advantage of being quite and yet being within walking distance of everything.

Vientianeboy

When I say the are poor, I mean that they offer a very poor range for lower budget travellers, www.asiarooms.com in particular. Not everyone can or even wants to afford $150+ a night for a room! These are obscene prices in Laos.

NeoPatrick

"Not everyone can or even wants to afford $150+ a night for a room! These are obscene prices in Laos."

Ventianeboy, I'm not following you. Agoda lists 36 places in Luang Prabang -- most under $100 and 15 of them under $50. Perhaps you're thinking of another site?

And sure Three Nagas may seem "obscene" to some, but for those who want all that luxury then the Agoda price is actually still a "bargain" compared to booking direct for many dates.

Of course if you're looking for strictly backpacker accomodations for say $12 or $15 a night -- then yes, you need another source. But I don't think that's the typical range of people here.

crellston

We stayed in http://www.theapsara.com/apsara.html which is in good quiet location not far from the 3 Nagas. We also stayed at the 3 Nagas before it increased its rates post takeover by Alila, to the current IMHO exhorbitant levels.

http://www.travelfish.org/accommodat...ng_prabang/all is a good resource for previewing accomodation

Kathie

I actually cited those two websites because of the number of listings under $50. Yes, there are also expensive places listed. No $12 a night backpacker places are listed, but the range on those sites is pretty good.

Perhaps you made the error I did at first, I put in dates for a 5 night stay and was astounded to get a listing for over $500 until I realized that was the final price for the full five nights including tax, service and breakfast.

Vientianeboy

NP, no, I don't stay in backpacker accommodation either. However you can pick up pretty nice accommodation in LP for about $50 or so a night. I live here, my family is Laos and I know that the average wage is now $700 per annum, so spending 150+ a night is obscene to me. Your values may be different.
Agoda does have some cheaper places, but does not have the range offered by the site I posted. asiarooms has a very poor range. The op did mention the term "guesthouse", so I assume she is after cheaper accommodation.
Personally I prefer to deal with the Hotels and guesthouses myself rather than going through a third party, but I gather that using a third party site is relatively common practise on this forum.

NeoPatrick

Ventiane, I don't know what you're talking about -- what $150 a night? Did you even bother to read my post where I mentioned that 15 of the Agoda listed properties were less than $50? In the end I did book direct with the rather luxurious Riverside Hotel (not to be confused with Riverside Guest House) directly which I loved and it was to cost me $80 a night for a really wonderful place -- they ended up charging only $45 because of construction next door which didn't even bother me. I noticed that Agoda does not offer this property, but in several other places I booked with Agoda ONLY because they gave a better rate than the hotels would do directly. One of those was the lovely DeNaga in Chiang Mai where I even went to the hotel directly on my stop four days before I was to come back there and stay three nights and the lowest price they would give me was $80. I booked it on Agoda for $53 a night! Perhaps this is why so many people here have discovered that third party booking is actually advantageous! I prefer to deal with hotels directly too, but not when I can save a lot of money by booking with a discounter third party.

Vientianeboy

"Ventiane(sic), I don't know what you're talking about -- what $150 a night? Did you even bother to read my post where I mentioned that 15 of the Agoda listed properties were less than $50? "

Yes I did. Did YOU bother to read My post? I guess not. I was commenting on the number of hotels advertised by asiarooms in particular where the prices are 150+.
Interestingly, I have only one time got a better rate via a third party booking. Even then the manager told me that he would have bettered the price had I asked him directly.

NeoPatrick

Well your experience is different from mine. What can I say? I specifically asked at DeNaga if they could match the Agoda price and they said "no, that's a special deal negotiated with them". End of story. And I had three others on this trip alone I booked with Agoda only because the hotel's discounted price was higher than Agoda. By the way, I was also surprised that DeNaga ended up upgrading me to a more expensive and larger room even though I had that very reduced rate via Agoda.

But I am talking about a little nicer hotel than one that normally goes for $50 a night --even though my rate at DeNaga ended up being that.

NeoPatrick

"Did YOU bother to read My post? I guess not. I was commenting on the number of hotels advertised by asiarooms in particular where the prices are 150+."

Oh, sorry. I guess my computer deleted the part of your post that mentioned specifically that you were referring to asiarooms. Sorry, my mindreading abilities have failed me as well.

I also believed Kathie when she said that she specifically listed those sites BECAUSE there were so many under $50. But if you look at a list of all prices and only focus on the expensive ones, well, then of course those expensive ones may be too expensive for you. Why is that an issue? You talk about a "range" -- sorry, but to me that means both expensive and inexpensive -- not ALL inexpensive. I just don't get the points you're trying to make here. Sorry.

lridder

We stayed at Lotus Villa - a gorgeous little guesthouse run by Australians. It is around $100-$120 per night and includes a great breakfast. One of the owners, Andrew, is very involved in the local orphanage and provides daily breakfast to the kids with contributions from guests. Lee