There are some friends in this life that are my forever friends. They could do anything to me and I would still treat them as my friend. This group of friends includes about six people at present and I was fortunate enough to meet up with two of them in Laos, their home country.
These friends own a very successful restaurant in Toronto called Lao Lao Bar. I’d highly recommend stopping by there if you happen to visit the city; it’s truly authentic and has a great vibe. I’ve known the couple since 2004 and they are very, very good people.
I hadn’t seen them in about five years, since before the pandemic. Rather than meet in Canada, we decided to meet in Luang Prabang, the beautiful city in northern Laos. I’ve been to Luang Prabang before, but not with locals (it makes quite a difference to speak the language).
For this trip, we didn’t want to do any tourist activities since we already visited the various temples and the Kuangsi Waterfalls last time. We wanted to enjoy local Laos food, drink and relax, and spend time with our friends from Canada.
Local Customs
Before I dive into the recommendations and images, I think it’s important in Laos to understand the local culture, especially given how religious and spiritual the locals are. I’d recommend visiting the official tourism website and spend some time on the do’s and don’ts section.
Some things may surprise westerners such as the intense rudeness of placing feet on tables or touching of people’s heads.
Avani+ Luang Prabang
We chose Avani+ Luang Prabang as our home for four nights. Avani+ is part of the Minor Hotels Group, based out of Thailand. This turned out to be a great choice as the hotel was basically, perfect. The pool especially was huge and a wonderful place to spend time during the heat wave that this region was experiencing (41C + humidity).
Restaurants
Since we were with successful restaurant entrepreneurs, we knew that our food was going to be exceptional and Luang Prabang did not let us down. The abundance of choice was unusually good considering how small the city is. There’s everything from Laotian to French (colonial powers) to Chinese available everywhere.
Lost in Baan
Our very first meal ended up being in our top three. It’s a new restaurant called Lost in Baan, re-opened about four months ago by a French chef. We had the Pandan Chicken and Beef X Betel and they were superbly presented and tasted perfect; the cocktails were also on-point.
LuLaLao Coffee
We stumbled upon this super cute coffee shop while cycling around the city. They’re very passionate about coffee and know their beans inside out. There’s a lot of variety and the owners are more than happy to explain the differences. The vibe is very chill and the minimalist design goes perfectly with the exceptional coffee and service.
Gaspard
Gaspard and Manda de Laos felt similar in that the service and food were truly world class. Upon further research, we realized that they’re from the same restaurant group called Louangphabang Heritage Collection. The collection includes Gaspard, Manda de Laos, Maison Dalabua and La Fontaine.
Manda de Laos
This is perhaps the most popular fine dining restaurant in Luang Prabang. You must make a reservation as the tables are full for every seating in the evening. The design of the outdoor space is incredible and so beautiful to experience at sunset. This was my second time to dine at Manda de Laos, six years apart, and the service and food remains top shelf.
Khao Soi Noodle Shop
On our 2019 trip to Luang Prabang, we stumbled across a noodle shop in the morning that had the best noodles we’d had in all of Southeast Asia. Upon returning in 2024, we were not too surprised to hear that this small noodle shop had become world famous.
You need to get to the noodle shop early when it opens because once she runs out of her stock, she closes shop for the day. This can be at 11:30AM or even earlier. We went at 10AM and had to queue for a few minutes, but it was well worth the wait.
She only has two dishes so it’s quite easy to order and you can be in and out of there in 30 minutes. It’s a great way to start the day!
Getting Around
The best way to get around Luang Prabang must be by bicycle. This is how the locals get around and this is how we mostly got around. Notwithstanding the crazy heat, it was a very pleasant and convenient way to get around city. The hotel provided free bicycles, but they needed to be booked ahead of time because the demand was quite high.
The second-best way to get around city is via the tuktuks which are actually quite spacious in Laos, at least compared to their Thai counterparts. It’s best to negotiate the price ahead of time, but even without doing that, we never had any issues with anyone trying to game the ride.
Finally, there are taxis and boats that you can take but they require some pre-planning and pre-booking. We didn’t take too many taxis during our time because everything is so near that it’s better to take the smaller tuktuks or bicycles.
Sunset Cruise
On my first trip to Luang Prabang last decade, we found the sunset cruise to be one of the most memorable parts of the trip. For this tirp, we wanted to find the same cruise again. Ironically, it ended up being our hotel’s cruise line that we had booked so many years ago.
The boat was perhaps not as new as it once was, but the sunset cruise lived up to its reputation as being one of the most memorable parts of the trip. The best part is that they offer free flow wine and the cruise for only US$50! Because of the haze from the crops burning, our sunset was a bit muted, but the alcohol more than made up for it.
Overwhelming Friendliness
I can’t think of another country where the people are so genuinely friendly. There were several moments in the trip where the locals invited us into their circle and treated us like their family. One such instance was when we were walking down one of the major streets in the city.
A family was eating dinner together which their father was cooking on the side. When we stopped to ask what they were eating, they offered for us to join them. At first, we tried their sticky rice, then their barbeque, and then suddenly we found ourselves eating what seemed like half of their dinner! The family was so fun, friendly and generous.
We found this situation repeating itself again and again in Luang Prabang, with people being friendly, generous and wanting for us to really enjoy their culture and food. It was so refreshing compared to the big cities we spend our days in.
Night Markets
There are several night markets throughout Luang Prabang, with the largest being on the main street, in front of the Wat May Souvannapoumaram temple. We made one small mistake in our time in the city; we ate at too many restaurants.
Instead, the night market is where the action is at. It’s where you can get the freshest and best food in the city. There’s an intense buzz in the night markets, but they do close rather early, so be sure to get there before 8PM so that you have an hour or two to eat and drink.
Street Food
In addition to the night markets, Luang Prabang has a thriving street food culture. Around every corner you’ll find amazing local food. I’d highly recommend looking for Lao sausage as it has a unique flavour that can only be found here.
Local Artisans
Luang Prabang has a diverse range of local artisanal crafts. It pays to come with an empty luggage because there’s so much beautiful stuff to buy. The woodwork especially is incredible and reasonably priced. We bought a beautiful hanging textile from the same company we bought from back in 2019. It will hang proudly in our home in Hong Kong.
There are a number of social impact artisan shops around the city. We visited Ock Pop Tok and found a number of cool items to take back home.
Buddhism
In Luang Prabang, Buddhism goes beyond a religion, it’s a way of life. You can see and experience it in everyday interactions with the locals as they live life in a spiritual way. There are rice and food collections in the morning for the monks which I experienced in 2018, but decided not to participate in 2024 due to seeing the damage that tourists were doing to this beautiful ritual.
There’s a beautiful calm to Luang Prabang that comes from the way society operates and the constant visual interaction with the Monks going about their daily routines. It’s serene, beautiful and thought provoking.
Conclusion
Luang Prabang has a strong pull on it visitors. Everyone that we spoke to wanted to come back again. Indeed, my friends who own the restaurant in Toronto ended up extending their stay at Avani+ by another week because they loved the city and hotel so much.
If life were perfect, I’d love to spend a month in Luang Prabang and just indulge in the local culture by taking a bicycle as far as my legs could peddle. There are not many cities in the world that I feel this way about; Luang Prabang now stands proudly alongside Florence, Tokyo, Bangkok and Koh Samui.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this short trip to Luang Prabang. If you’ve visited this Unesco World Heritage city before, let me know what you thought of it in the comments below.