After tonnes of searches, I’ve finally found some availability for Luang Prabang hotels over the new year… but can’t find many reviews on them. Need some help in determining which are good in terms of location and overall cleanliness --- anything would help!

Choice of:
Sayo Guest House
Mouang Luang Hotel Laos
Villa Merry Lao-Swiss

Please help, I’d like to book these asap!! Thanks!

Taia, the only one I can give any advice about here is Sayos, as that was our choice about two months ago, and we never regretted it for a moment. I guess we were lucky.... needing a family room, we booked the upstairs room with the mezzanine (this is really a two-bedder, with the smaller second bedroom built above the first with a ladder for access.... possible because the upstairs rooms in the Sayo have sixteen-foot ceilings.

The hotel was spotless, the room ran the whole depth of the building (and had, therefore, views on three sides -- the front looking onto the temple opposite), and my kids thought it was the best accommodation they had anywhere in south-east Asia. The bathroom was larger than some bedrooms we stayed in! The only negative was that the reception clerk kept asking us to hire his brother (or brother-in-law) as a driver, quoting "very good" rates which, for half a day, turned out to be more expensive than we were able to get for a full day all by ourselves merely by going up to tuk-tuk drivers and asking! So don't be tempted to overpay because of this guy's entreaties.

I hear that the UNESCO people always stay in Sayo's when they visit for a town inspection, and I can see why. We paid $40 for the mezzanine room (for the four of us, so that was reasonably economical, though the most expensive room by far that we had anywhere in three countries of SE Asia), but there are rooms for half that price out the back, in what seems to have been the stables for the old mansion. In my view, however, it's worth paying the extra and staying upstairs in the original mansion!

Thanks Alan... I think I'm leaning towards the Sayo. Would you classify this as a backpacker's kind of hotel or more boutique hotel? Is it in a good location ie. close to town?

Have yo got the e-mail address for Sayo??

We are staying in the large room that Alan must be referring to in Sayo at the moment and it is as lovely as he describes. Huge high ceilings lots and lots of light. What we really like too that it is the first place we have stayed in in this trip including Thailand and Cambodia that dates from earlier times and has not been contrived for the tourist trade. It is full of character with a few concessions to modern life like a big bathroom with a bath. We saw one large room downstairs but if you can, try for the upstairs. From there you can watch life happening below in the street without too much street noise and discreetly watch the monks in the wat across the road. However we are in high season now and the room is $60 with no breakfast. Not a problem as many great breakfast places around. This amount of money means its not really in the backpacker category as there are many good guest houses around for much less money. It is in a great location, in the old part of town.
We went to look at the Villa Merry Lao-Swiss yesterday and it is a fine place. Not quite so centrally located but also in a great area, maybe 10 minutes walk to main streets and tuk tuks are cheap and plentiful. It only opened this year and the rooms I looked at were more hotel standard with bathrobes, slippers etc than guest house. For Luang Prabang great value for money. The VIP room was $50 including breakfast. Lovely large room also with lots of light ( I think four large windows) Nicely furnished with one large and one small bed and big bathroom with a bath. It looked spotless and I would be very pleased to stay in this hotel. We also looked at the room next to the VIP one which was a bit smaller and was $40.
Haven't spotted the other hotel yet but will report back if I do.