Nong Khiaw to Luang Prabang

By bus or minivan the journey from Nong Khiaw to Luang Prabang is scheduled to take from 4 to 5 hours depending upon which service you take.

Bus Times from Nong Khiaw to Luang Prabang

There are currently 10 bus and minivan services a day from Nong Khiaw to Luang Prabang available to book online.

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Nong Khiaw Bus Stop

Naluang services from Nong Khiaw to Luang Prabang depart from Nong Khiaw Minivan Station.

Luang Prabang Bus Stop

Naluang services from Nong Khiaw to Luang Prabang terminate at Naluang International Bus Station which is adjacent to Luang Prabang Southern Bus Terminal.

About Travel to Luang Prabang

Luang Prabang is an interesting, pleasant and unusual city with around 55,000 permanent residents. Mass tourism to Luang Prabang only began in the 2013 to 2014 period and the city remains fairly small without the type of commercial over development that has plagued many other major tourist destinations in Asia.

History of Luang Prabang

Archaeological finds in the area suggest that there has been a settlement in Luang Prabang since around 8,000 BC. The town began to grow in the 7th Century after it was conquered by a ethnic minority group (the Tai people) who migrated from China to escape the growing centralisation of power under the Han Chinese.

Luang Prabang then went on to become the first capital of a new unified Kingdom of Laos in 1353. Over time Vientiane became the main administrative centre of Laos, however, Luang Prabang remained the home of Laos’s royal family until 1975 when communists took over the country and the monarchy was dissolved. Nonetheless, culturally and historically Luang Prabang is in many ways still the most important city in Laos.

Tourism in Luang Prabang

Prior to the expansion of the local airport in 2013 and the completion of the first fully sealed road to Luang Prabang in 2014, reaching the city involved either a long and uncomfortable bus journey on bad roads, or a slow and uncomfortable boat journey on the Mekong River. Despite achieving UNESCO World Heritage Site status in 1995, not so many tourists other than intrepid backpackers visited Luang Prabang until the upgrade in transport links.

Luang Prabang now receives a steady flow of international leisure travellers, with numbers increasing even further with the completion of a high speed railway link to China and Vientiane. The main street in the city, Sisavangvong Road, has become very commercialised with a near continuous row of cafes, restaurants and small hotels charging fairly high prices and largely international cuisine. This type of development, however, has not really spread out across the city to the same extent and only a short walk from the touristic centre of the city things are very different.

Visitor Attractions in the City

The main attractions in Luang Prabang are its temples. The estimate of the number of temples in the city varies from around 33 to over 100. Some of the temples are well known tourist attractions, most however aren’t. The most visited temples are:

• Wat Xieng Thong
• Wat Mahathat
• Wat Aham
• Wat Visounarath
• Wat  Meun Na

Other major points of interest in the city centre include Phou Si Hill and Haw Kham Royal Palace Museum.

Phou Si Hill is located right in the centre of the city and rises to 100 metres above sea level providing fantastic views across the city and the surrounding countryside. There are also two small temples on Phou Si Hill.

The Haw Kham Royal Palace Museum was formerly the main residence of the Laotian royal family. The palace consists of a collection of buildings, some residential and others used for formal purposes. The museum contains a range of very important artefacts, including the Lao crown jewels and the Phra Bang statue, which is a 50 kg solid gold statue of the Lord Buddha believed to have been made in Sri Lanka in the 1st Century. Other interesting items at the museum include the last king’s collection of cars.

Visitor Attractions near Luang Prabang

Luang Prabang is located in a remote area which is largely mountainous and heavily forested and mostly inaccessible. There are, however, a small number of places of interest which you can visit on day trips from Luang Prabang either by river or partially sealed roads. The two most popular of these places are the Kuang Si Falls and Pak Ou Caves.

The Kuang Si Falls are located 30 km by road to the south west of Luang Prabang. The waterfall has three sets of falls, each with a pool underneath which you can swim in. Near to the bottom of the waterfall is a sanctuary for bears saved from the trade in traditional medicines which is worth visiting at the same time.

The Pak Ou Caves are located on the Mekong River about 28 km by road to the north west of Luang Prabang. The most popular way to visit the caves is by boat from the centre of Luang Prabang. The boat journey upstream to the caves takes around 2 hours and the return journey is about 1 hour. There are two caves to visit, both of which have been used as places of worship since the 16th Century and contain thousands of statues of the Lord Buddha. On the return journey most boat trips stop at Lao-Lao Village which is famous for making rice whiskey.

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