Luang Prabang, the Plain of Jars and Vat Phou: Laos in three listings

Day 1

Arrive in Luang Prabang

Transfer from the airport, about fifteen minutes, to a hotel in or beside the old town. Late afternoon walk along the Nam Khan to the point where it meets the Mekong; the whole peninsula is the UNESCO town.

Day 2

Wat Xieng Thong, the Royal Palace, Mount Phousi at dawn

Wat Xieng Thong at opening, before the tour groups

Mount Phousi at sunrise rather than sunset, when it is full. Then Wat Xieng Thong, built in the sixteenth century, its roofs sweeping almost to the ground. The Royal Palace Museum opens 08:00 to 11:30 and again 13:00 to 15:30; cover knees and shoulders, and leave bags and cameras outside. Your guide explains how Luang Prabang stayed a royal capital under the French protectorate established in 1893.

Day 3

Alms round from a distance, weavers, the river

If you wish, watch the morning alms round. It begins around 05:30 in the hot months and closer to 06:30 in the cool season. We watch from across the street, in silence, with no flash, as the Laos Tourism Board asks. After breakfast, a weaving workshop and a paper-making village across the Mekong, and an evening at the night market for food rather than souvenirs.

Day 4

The road to Phonsavan

A long day: the mountain road east to Phonsavan. Public buses take about eight hours; by private vehicle we plan seven to nine with stops at hill markets and viewpoints. This is the price of seeing the jar sites from the north, and the reason this trip has a road day at all.

Day 5

The Plain of Jars

Site 1 in the first hour, mist still on the plateau

UNESCO counts more than 2,100 stone jars in 15 components, made between about 500 BCE and 500 CE and used for funerary practice. We visit three jar sites, starting with the largest at opening. Xiengkhuang was heavily bombed in the twentieth century; the jar sites have been cleared, and we keep to marked paths. Markers set by the Mines Advisory Group show cleared ground on their white side and uncleared on their red.

Day 6

Fly south to Champasak

Flight from Xieng Khouang to Vientiane, then on to Pakse, on the days the airline operates; Lao Airlines runs four to six flights a week to Xieng Khouang depending on the season. From Pakse, the road runs south to Champasak; Vat Phou lies about 40 kilometres south of Pakse. If the connections do not line up on your dates, we add a night in Vientiane and the journey becomes nine days.

Day 7

Vat Phou

The upper sanctuary before 10:00

Vat Phou opens at 08:00 and we are there for it, to climb the ceremonial stairways before the heat. UNESCO describes a planned landscape running about ten kilometres from the summit of Phou Kao, the mountain read as a linga, down to the Mekong, with the ancient cities of Shrestapura and Lingapura on the plain. Allow two to three hours. Afternoon at rest; evening on the river.

Day 8

Depart from Pakse

Transfer to Pakse airport for your onward flight, or continue south to the Mekong islands near the Cambodian border.