Laos
We’ve compiled the best of the best in Laos - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
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1. Laos Buffalo Dairy
Opened by a group of expats who complained that the cost of cheese in Luang Prabang was too high, this full-fledged water buffalo farm started as a social enterprise and also now welcomes visitors. Laos Buffalo Dairy helps local farmers by renting their pregnant buffaloes, taking care of them, and returning them healthier to their owners, who are also welcome to join a series of practical workshops. Guests can try their hand at farming and milk-making activities while learning about the challenges that local farmers face every day. Make sure to taste the delicious ricotta, feta cheeses, and cheesecakes on offer. Admission includes a cake of the day and tea.
Ban Muang Khay, Luang Prabang, Louangphabang, Laos030-969--0487Sight Details
Rate Includes: 100,000 kip -
2. Night Market
The night market is a hub of activity---full of colorful local souvenirs and cheap, delicious food---and also a meeting place for locals and tourists. Starting in the late afternoon, Sisavangvong Road is closed to vehicles from the tourist office down to the Royal Palace, and a tented area is set up, thronged with vendors selling lanterns, patterned cushion covers, Lao coffee and tea, hand-stitched bags, and many other local crafts. Side streets are lined with food stalls selling everything from fried chicken to Mekong seaweed and other treats at a fraction of the price you'll pay in a restaurant. It's worth strolling the market just for the atmosphere.
Sisavangvong Rd., Luang Prabang, Louangphabang, Laos -
3. Pha That Luang
The city's most sacred monument, this massive, 147-foot-high, gold-painted stupa is also the nation's most important cultural symbol, representing the unity of the Lao people. King Setthathirat had it built in 1566 to guard a piece of the Buddha's breastbone and to represent Mt. Meru, the holy mountain of Hindu mythology, the center and axis of the world. Surrounding the lotus-shaped stupa are 30 pinnacles on the third level and a cloistered square on the ground with stone statues of the Buddha. Two brilliantly decorated temple halls, the survivors of four temples originally here, flank That Luang. On the avenue outside the west gate stands a bronze statue of King Setthathirat erected in the 1960s by a pious general. That Luang is the center of a major weeklong festival during November's full moon. The stupa is on the north end of town, a 10-minute tuk-tuk ride from the city center.
That Luang Rd., Vientiane, Vientiane, LaosSight Details
Rate Includes: 5,000 kip -
4. Wat Phou
The ruins of this temple complex that predates Cambodia's Angkor Wat sit grandly on heights above the Mekong River, about 8 km (5 miles) south of Champasak. The strategic site was chosen by Khmer Hindus in the 6th century AD, probably because of a nearby spring of fresh water. Construction of the wat continued into the 13th century, at which point it finally became a Buddhist temple. Much of the original Hindu sculpture remains unchanged, including representations on the temple's lintels of the Hindu gods Vishnu, Shiva, and Kala. The staircase is particularly beautiful, its protective nagas (mystical serpents) decorated with plumeria, the national flower of Laos. Many of the temple's treasures, including pre-Angkor–era inscriptions, are preserved in an archaeology museum that is part of the complex. An impressive festival takes place at the temple each January.
Rd. 14, Champasak, Champasak, Laos030-956--5325Sight Details
Rate Includes: 50,000 kip; 40,000 kip 6 am–8 am and 4:30–6, with no museum entry -
5. Wat Phou Salao
Across the river on the way to Champasak, this hilltop temple was built in 2011 and has an impressive "Big Buddha" statue that dominates the peak. A long staircase flanked with nagas brings visitors to the top (allow 30 minutes for the climb) where there are great views of the river and the city, especially as they soak up the crimson sunsets. There is also a newer, concrete road to the top.
Pakse, Champasak, Laos -
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6. Wat Xieng Thong
Luang Prabang's most important and impressive temple complex is Wat Xieng Thong, a collection of ancient buildings near the tip of the peninsula where the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers meet. Erected in 1560, the main temple is one of the few structures to have survived centuries of marauding Vietnamese, Chinese, and Siamese armies, and it's one of the region's best-preserved examples of Buddhist art and architecture. The intricate golden facades, colorful murals, sparkling glass mosaics, and low, sweeping roofs of the entire ensemble of buildings (which overlap to make complex patterns) all combine to create a feeling of harmony and peace. The interior of the main temple has decorated wooden columns and a ceiling covered with wheels of dharma, representing the Buddha's teaching. The exterior is just as impressive thanks to mosaics of colored glass that were added in the 1950s. Several small chapels at the sides of the main hall are also covered with mosaics and contain various images of the Buddha. The bronze 16th-century reclining Buddha in one chapel was displayed in the 1931 Paris Exhibition. The mosaic on the back wall of that chapel commemorates the 2,500th anniversary of the Lord Buddha's birth with a depiction of Lao village life. The funerary carriage house near the compound's east gate, with a gilded facade, contains the royal family's funeral statuary and urns, including a 40-foot-long wooden funeral carriage.
Sisaleumsak Rd., Luang Prabang, Louangphabang, LaosSight Details
Rate Includes: 20,000 kip
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