Laos Itinerary and Recommendations

Hotels

Luang Prabang – 7 nights – 3 in an Airbnb outside of town.  Message for details – recommended for location but not for host. 4 in the city, another Airbnb which was at Tui Cafe and can be booked as a walk in.  Highly recommended.  Clean, great breakfast and perfect location.

Nong Khiaw – 3 nights.  1 in NongKhiaw River View which I do not recommend.  Hot with sun all afternoon, not clean, out of main drag of town, no English speaking staff, breakfast was a stale roll and dried out fried egg.  2 nights at Arthith Guesthouse.  Great location and views.  It was booked do line but when I went and asked I was put in their second building which was fine.

Muang Ngoi 3 nights – Nicksa Bungalows.  Was fine.  Don’t expect much – it is a small village on the river with very basic amenities.  Go upmarket if you want a clean working shower and reasonable room.  The view as to die for though.

Vang Vieng 3 nights – Sky Hotel – highly recommended. Clean, pool, rooftop to watch the balloons, good breakfast, friendly and helpful staff, good location.

Vientiane – 2 nights – LanXang Korea Hotel – do not recommend.  Very noisy if you are in a room on the side with the bar, had to be moved.  Breakfast all Korean.  Good location though.

Other

I did not go South in Laos, it is a long distance, bad roads, and somewhere it is better with a travel buddy or partner.  There are some 'loops' to see the countryside from Pakse and Thackek, but most people do them on scooters.  Not me.  Hiring a car and/or driver was expensive $240USD for 3 nights.  Not something I wanted to do solo.

There are the 4000 islands which are on the Mekong and a place you can 'chill'.  However I heard there isn't much to do there, and a lot of weed around.  To be honest, there are nicer places I think to chill, so I didn't go.

I have worked out on this trip that some places are not worth the effort to get there.  Will write a blog post on that at some point.