2 week Adventure of Laos and Angkor Wat (ATD-M03)

On arrival at Luang Prabang International Airport, you will be greeted by your private driver and guide, and transferred to your hotel for check-in. You will have some time free to rest and relax after your flight.

Overnight in Luang Prabang

Start your day with a guided tour to the Royal Palace Museum (Haw Kham), which is now the National Museum. It houses many religious and cultural treasures, including the royal throne of the Lane Xang kingdom in its original splendor, and preserves some of the daily royal life up to 1975.

Transfer to the Jetty to board the traditional longtail boat and begin your cruise along the amazing Mekong River. The main destination is the Pak Ou Caves. Locally called Tam Ting, the caves are filled with thousands of Buddha statues in a wide range of sizes. Motoring upriver you can see locals fishing and listen to the joyful laugher of children splashing in the water.

Stop en route to visit Ban Xang Hai, a unique little village on the banks of the Mekong River famous for their handicraft products like distilling and selling whiskey, handwoven fabric, and jewelry.

Returning to town where you will continue to visit the magnificent Wat Xiengthong a superb piece of Lao temple architecture, which presents a sweeping two-tiered roof and ornate mosaics including a beautiful ‘tree of life ‘glass montage on the rear temple wall. This 15th century Wat is the most important in Luang Prabang and one of the most important in the entire country. Until the revolution of 1975, Wat Xieng Thong was a royal temple, supported by the royal family. During the 1960s, Wat Xieng Thong was completely remodeled and redecorated, becoming the splendid temple we see today.

Head to Wat Mai (“New Monastery”), built-in 1796. It was given its present name following the restoration was undertaken by King Manthathourat in 1821. The most striking feature of the temple is the gilded relief panels covering the front facade. The panels tell the story of Vessentara, the highest incarnation of the Buddha. The gilded doorframes merge into the relief panel, forming what looks like a monolithic wall of gold.

You will have an opportunity to visit the Traditional Art and Ethnology Center to learn about Laos’ many ethnic cultures. From there, you will be transferred to Wat Prabath to admire the sunset.

The rest of the evening will be yours at leisure.

Meals included: Breakfast
Overnight in Luang Prabang

Optional Experience: Monk Arm Giving
Wake up as the sun rises, you will prepare to join the most sacred tradition of Laos, the daily morning almsgiving, which dates to the 14th century. More than 200 Buddhist monks depart from various temples to gather their daily meals from the faithful residents sitting quietly on the streets.

Return to the hotel for breakfast and start to visit the morning local market near the Royal Palace. Just set on the ground, the local people come here to barter their day’s catch, from rice to vegetable, to fish, or chicken. This is the best chance to experience the flavor of local life.

Continue to drive through Luang Prabang countryside to Kuang Si Waterfalls. Upon reaching the Waterfall, enjoy the beautiful natural surroundings or explore the dense jungle on foot. For the adventurous, it is possible to walk to the top of the falls via a steep track where beautiful views await. These waterfalls cascade down a multilevel limestone formation creating a series of turquoise blue pools perfect for swimming on a hot day (if swimming, please dress modestly).

There is also the chance to walk to the nearby village of Ban Thapene and explore the hidden waterfalls, which is rarely visited by other people.

If you wish, you can also take a short visit to the Bear Rescue Center, which houses a couple of dozen animals rescued from the hands of poachers and traffickers

On the way back to Luang Prabang, stop at Ock Pop Tok, set in a tropical Mekong garden it opens doors to learning about Lao textiles and crafts. Bringing alive the concept of east meets west, the Living Craft Centre (LCC) is a place where you can meet silk weavers, craft artisans and silkworms and learn about textiles. Weavers work on traditional looms practicing the age-old techniques brought here to Laos over 1200 years ago. Intern artisans from the Village Weaver Projects work alongside the Ock Pop Tok weavers learning new skills that they, in turn, take home to their villages. The exchanges taking place at the LCC have proven to keep alive the spirit that was prevalent during the prime of the Silk Road and all that was instrumental then in the emergence of the silk industry and appreciation of silk textiles around the world.

Return to your hotel in the late afternoon where the balance of the day will be free at your leisure.

Meals included: Breakfast
Overnight in Luang Prabang

Enjoy your free day in Luang Prabang.

Meals included: Breakfast
Overnight in Luang Prabang

You will be on your own until you are transferred to the airport for your flight to Pakse. Upon arrival, drive east to the Bolaven Plateau, a mountainous region home to dozens of hill tribes, waterfalls and coffee, and tea plantations.

The first stops will be at Tad Fane and Tad Yuang waterfalls. Tad Fane is a set of twin 120-meter-high waterfalls formed by the merging waters of the Champy and Pak Koot rivers. These impressive falls are situated on the edge of Dong Hua Sao protected area, 38km from Pakse.

Make a short stop in Paksong, the ‘capital of coffee’ before continuing east to the Sinouk Coffee Resort. An expert in coffee will provide a tour through the site, explaining the different aspects of the plantation, its unique coffee trees and what the different processing stages are. After a delicious local lunch (featuring vegetables from the site’s organic garden), there will be a sample session of the resort’s best coffee.

Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch
Overnight in Bolaven Plateau

After breakfast, you will drive to Champasak to visit Wat Phou Temple. Recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, Wat Phou is a spectacular pre-Angkorian temple that sits amidst the rice fields and waterways of southern Laos. The temple was constructed in three levels: the bottom level is focused on the Baray (water reservoir) and promenade, the second level features pavilions and galleries of carvings, and the top level is the sanctuary. The temple served as the most important economic and political center of the region and still is one of the Lao people’s most revered temples.

Leaving Champasak, drive through the streets lined with French colonial buildings, and then enjoy lunch in a local restaurant.

After lunch, you will continue on to Khong Island, the biggest island in southern Laos and the start of the 4,000 Islands Region. Called “Siphandon” in Lao, this area of the Mekong stretches over 14km wide and is dotted with thousands of islands, cascades, and rapids.

Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch
Overnight in Khong Island

After breakfast, embark on a long tail boat for venturing into the widest reach of the Mekong River, where during the dry season the waters recede and leave behind thousands of islets, giving this area a lovely name” Si Phan Done”. Upon arrival, explore the local peaceful villages of Ban Khone, where you will see an array of relics from the French colonial era and retrace the old colonial past, including old French colonial buildings and the remnants of the first Lao railway with its locomotive.

Continue to discover the 4000 islands area by tuk-tuk and visit the marvelous Liphi waterfall, also called the “Corridor of the Devil” one of the most beautiful waterfalls marking the Lao border with Cambodia. If you are lucky, you may even see the rare freshwater Irrawaddy Mekong dolphin at Ban Hang Khone.

The rest of the day will be your own. It is a good idea to rent a bicycle and cycle around the island to watch the local life and admire the sun setting along the Mekong riverbank.

Meals included: Breakfast
Overnight in Khong Island

In the morning, return to the mainland at the fishing village of Ban Nakasang and drive further south to visit Khone Phapheng, considered the largest waterfall by volume in South East Asia; this is an impressive spot near the Lao-Cambodian border, set within an area which is teeming with wildlife, making this area one of the most breathtaking destinations in Laos. Afterward, wind your way back to Pakse. Founded by the French in 1905 as an administrative post, the capital of Champasak Province is a relatively new town at the confluence of the Mekong and Se Don rivers.

In town, you will first visit Ban Koh, which specializes in stone carving, and walk to the nearby Wat Chomphet, which hosts the biggest sitting Buddha in Laos. Late afternoon, you will ascend to the top of Wat Phou Salao to admire the panoramic view over the town of Pakse, and the nearby area, whilst the dark is falling over the city.

Meals included: Breakfast
Overnight in Pakse

You will be on your own till you are transferred to the airport for a short flight to Siemreap, Cambodia.

Upon arrival at Siemreap Airport, you will be greeted and transferred in a private vehicle to the hotel in downtown for check-in.  

Meals included: Breakfast
Overnight in Siemreap

*** Note: There is another option of drive overland via border gate Laos – Cambodia, to Siemreap, that takes about 6-7hrs driving, on the way we can stop visit hidden temple Koh Ker & Beng Malea.

After breakfast, you will start to visit the ancient city of Angkor Thom, the last capital of the Great Khmer Empire under the reign of Jayavarman VII. This city is surrounded by an 8m high wall, drawing a perfect square. Enter the city through the ancient South Gate, an impressive stone gate carved with Elephants and four giant faces. On each side of the entrance path, a row of 54 gods or demons is holding the sacred Naga snake. Continue on to the incredible Ta Prohm Temple, built in the mid-12th to early 13th centuries. Ta Prohm is unique in that it has been left largely as it was found: overgrown by jungle trees and vines, with many parts of the temple crumbling to the ground.

Lunch at a local restaurant.

In the afternoon, you will visit the legendary Angkor Wat. Inside the temple, the walls are covered with stone carvings and bas-relief depicting Hindu mythology and the wars Suryavarman II fought during his reign. Angkor Wat is well known for the more than 2,000 Apsara dancers decorating the temple.

End the day with a beautiful Sunset View from the top of Phnom Bakheng Hill. Once the sun has set, you will head back to town. Time will be on your own in the evening.

Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch
Overnight in Siemreap

This morning you will embark on an incredible boat trip on Tonlé Sap Lake (Kampong Phluk area), where you will have the opportunity to learn about life on the lake. Tonle Sap is Southeast Asia’s largest freshwater lake with its size varying greatly depending on the season, as it swells to about four times of its size during the wet season. Board a local boat and visit Kampong Phluck, a village where you will see houses on stilts that are submerged when Tonlé Sap Lake swells. On the way, you will pass floating houses and impressive flooded forests, portraying life on the water.

Return to Siem Reap town for Lunch and rest for a while.

In the afternoon, you will be taken on a drive through the countryside to a local village, a beautiful small farming village where life revolves around the seasons and family, located approximately 15 minutes outside of Siem Reap. Here you will embark on a walking tour through the village and local community, learn about their simple way of life, meet local people and you will probably want to chat with them or help them with gardening works or help grow vegetables in the gardens, you will be welcomed by kids saying “Hello” to you. The village tour guide will explain to you about Cambodian daily lifestyle, customers, cultures, and superstitions. Then you will also stop at a local pagoda for an intimate monk blessing (water blessing), wishing you good health and a safe journey – a very special experience!

This is a wonderful village tour that provides a lot of photo opportunities and local experiences. End of the trip, enjoy seasonal fruits & fresh coconut juice at a host family’s house before transferring back to your hotel. The rest of the day will be on your own.

*** Note: Today we recommend you to have proper clothes if you want to join the monk blessing at the local temple.

Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch
Overnight in Siemreap

Enjoy your free day in Siem Reap. You can consider joining one of our recommended optional experiences below.

Meals included: Breakfast
Overnight in Siemreap

Your private transfer greets you at the hotel after breakfast and escorts you to Siem Reap International Airport where you board your flight home or travel on to more adventures, we will help you with the planning.

Meals included: Breakfast