Lao Lao - Classic

As you touch down at one of Southeast Asia's smallest international airports, you'll be met by a smiling driver who will take you to your charming and comfortable accommodation just near the town area of Luang Prabang. The group will meet in the late afternoon with your guide for a briefing on the tour, a chance to try out the bikes and then for a delicious, authentic Lao meal.

It's time for an introduction to Luang Prabang. First, an early rise to make an alms offering to the procession of monks and novices who will pass by the hotel door at dawn. Then it's onto the bikes to explore the town area and to get an introduction to the geography, history and architecture of the heritage listed zone. We take a walk through the produce market where your guide will be able to explain all the weird and wonderful items on sale. After a coffee in the town's oldest coffee shop, we'll ride up past two important temples on an off-road track alongside the Mekong River. Encounter small workshops along the way producing decorative paper, pictures, and even the famous Lao Lao rice wine. It's then time for a spell off the bikes as we drift downstream on a boat. We dock nearby Ock Pop Tok to learn about the life of silk from the worm to the scarf and everything in between. A tasty lunch tops off a great morning and the afternoon is then yours to relax and enjoy this lovely town.

In the gradual buildup that is our bike tour, we head out on a pleasant ride to the Kuang Sii Waterfall. This is a relatively easy ride with just two sustained hills on a paved surface. After clearing the town, the road takes you through some lovely villages and up through teak plantations with the Mekong on your right. Along the route, we'll stop at Ou village to see traditional rice wine production before continuing on to our favorite waterfall. We reach the falls late morning and after visiting the inquisitive crowd of Asiatic black bears at the Free the Bears enclosure, there is some time for a swim in refreshing water before lunch. After some time to digest our meal, it's time for a hike. It's an enjoyable and relatively easy walk up through the lush forest surrounding the waterfall and then along a forested ridge. After two hours of walking, we arrive in a Hmong Village where our bikes are waiting. Then it's time for a great, mostly downhill ride back to Luang Prabang.

Today is a day off the bikes, a highly enjoyable one all the same. We ride a comfortable, wooden boat known as "The Slow Boat" up the Mekong River. It's a full day cruising, so a good book, perhaps a pack of cards and all your best travel stories are on the packing list. Or you may enjoy just gazing out the window at the stunning landscape that awaits you at every turn. You'll see water buffalo being bathed, fish being caught and plenty of kids doing backflips into the small pools on the side of the river. If you are really lucky you might even see an elephant or two as they come down for a bath from the forest. We arrive into Pak Beng late afternoon. This is one of those mandatory transit hubs as boats cannot make the full distance between the Thai border town of Chiang Khong and Luang Prabang in a day, so everyone stops here for the night. We are in one of the better accommodation establishments where we can enjoy a drink overlooking that fascinating river while the sun bids us farewell.

As the mist lifts off the hills and the roosters' crows are in full swing, we set out on our bikes to pedal our way out of the valley and away from the Mekong for the time being. Through the day we ride through some lovely scenery of rolling hills which are forested or farmed for corn and punctuated by small villages where homes are often made only of bamboo and leaves. In some of these villages, the women practice the art of silk weaving as a way to supplement the family's farming income. After lunch, we drive to reach the trade town of Oudomxai. This town is located on the busy trade route from China and hence many cheap manufactured goods are for sale, and the traders can be found in restaurants serving Chinese favorites.

Today we have the satisfaction of riding door to door. After a couple of steep but relatively short hills to start us off, we find ourselves on a road that follows a small river. The beauty of this is that the road is one of gentle ups and down with more of the downs than ups. We pass through a number of small villages that have only just started to see regular passing travelers since the extension of the route into Vietnam has been completed. The small town that we call home for the evening was until quite recently almost a dead end and a very remote place. This is still evident and it is early days, so it's still just a small village on a nice river.

We awake next to the beautiful Nam Ou River. The hills will likely be shrouded in mist so it takes some time to heat up here. A boat awaits us (one of a smaller scale than our Mekong boat) and this will take us on our journey south-west along this beautiful river with a short van transfer to bypass Nam Ou dam's watergate.

We'll stop at Ngoy Village for our lunch, where is a beautiful view out over the Ou river, before continuing the journey to our final destination, Nong Khiaw. The afternoon is then yours to explore this picturesque village in the shadow of limestone karst cliffs.

A transfer is needed this morning to pass by a busy section of road. Then we hit the bikes and ride an undulating route that follows the path of the Nam Ou River. There are a few more challenging hills towards the end of the ride before we reach the lunch point. From there, the plan is to drive into Luang Prabang, but if you still have the energy, it is possible to ride the whole way in. We spend a final night in this lovely town before starting the journey to Vientiane the following day.

Cycling out of Luang Prabang we are faced with what is, without doubt, the most difficult day of cycling on this tour and also one of the most rewarding with two huge uphill climbs. We pass through lush forest and many small Hmong villages that sit dwarfed by the amazing landscape of limestone mountains that surround them. We stay the night in a small junction village called Phukoun on top of the mountains. Few people stop here overnight so the accommodation is simple but adequate. We do drive a section today to reach our destination and keep the ride achievable.

Another challenging day, beginning with a descent, then back into the climbs. There is a lot of up, a lot of down and not a lot of flat, but this is the northern mountains of Laos, so it is what is to be expected. We are riding today into Xieng Khouang Province, home of the highest peaks in Laos and the Plain of Jars. We stay this evening in the town of Phonsavan. We again drive a section today to reach our destination and keep the ride achievable.

This morning we drive to the mysterious Plain of Jars and explore by foot. These giant stone jars are distributed over an extensive area through an upland valley. The impressive ruins were probably used as burial vessels or as part of burial ritual, and are thought to date back to the Iron Age. After a morning exploring the fascinating Plain, we drive back to Phukoun for another night in this little-visited town. It may seem strange to be spending two nights in this out-of-the-way place, but the previous day of riding and the day exploring the Plain will surely be worth it. And the views from here are truly jaw-dropping.

There is that old saying, that what goes up, must... Anyway, today you get to enjoy something of a payoff for the climbing of the last couple of days. The main descent is a continual, very enjoyable 20km and the rest of the day continues on a similar trend, although there are some short sections where you need to have your climbing legs ready. We ride door to door today and expect to arrive into the very beautiful Vang Vieng in the late afternoon. Vang Vieng is famed as a chillout town and refuge of the homesick backpacker. A pizza may even be in order if you need a break from the rice.

Vang Vieng town may be a strange experience after being off in the remote villages for the last couple of weeks, but with only a few short pedal strokes, we find ourselves in some truly beautiful countryside where rice paddies are framed by jutting limestone karsts. We visit a lagoon for a swim and stop off at a cave along the way. We return to town just after lunch and have a shower before boarding the van for the drive into Vientiane. This evening is our final meal together.

The tour concludes today after breakfast. If you are flying out today we will have a car ready to take you to the airport. If you are continuing your travels or making your way over the nearby border to Thailand, please let us know of any assistance you may require.