Laos Holiday and Travel Reviews

We recognise the financial expense of a holiday in Asia, as well as the time it can take to plan your perfect holiday. From initial consultation and planning, right through to the day you return, Selective Asia staff will strive to ensure that every moment and every detail is just right.

'Everything went remarkably smoothly (considering it was Indochina!) and all our guides were excellent. A special mention though for Khamla, our guide in Luang Prabang who couldn't have been any more polite, considerate and just absolutely lovely. One of our highlights was the alms giving to the monks and Khamla arranged every detail for us - even down to providing a sash for each of us to wear and a bench for us to sit on! An amazing experience.
Every hotel we stayed in was perfect for us - we especially liked Villa Maly in Luang Prabang. Our transfers were always met and went without a hitch. Another highlight was the trip up the Mekong to the Eco tent and meeting the Kamu Tribe. Fascinating.
Our final few days in Krabi were perfect and we would all like to thank Selective Asia for providing an excellent service and giving us some fantastic memories of a wonderful continent. We are already looking at your Vietnam itineraries for 2011!'

Mike and Trish W.

'The website has been extremely useful from researching the trip in the early stages to right up to the time of travel with information of what to take and what to expect on arrival.'

Julia M.

'When we spoke to your consultants, first Lionel and then Nick, we knew we had to book our holiday with you as you had so much detailed knowledge about the region.'

Rita H.

A good guide is essential for a successful and enjoyable holiday in Laos. They will ensure you are in the right place at the right time, and have a wealth of information to offer.

'Somnam was fantastic. Khamsone was one of the best 2 guides I've had in 20 years of traveling 1-3 times a year. Great guides, lots of minority tribe village visits, lots of markets, some temples but not too many, tremendous people, relaxing aura of Lao.'

Paul S.

'Just a short note about your services in Luang Prabang. They were excellent.
Your driver was always on time and your guide Mr Rolf informative and helpful. The hotel (The Maison Souvannaphoum) was special - fabulously run and the balconies massive and very evocative of French colonial Indochine. I would highly recommend your holidays 10 out of 10.'

Norman L.

There are so many hotels to choose from and so many websites offer conflicting advice and often fake or misleading reviews. Our staff have been there, personally inspected the hotels, and often slept in the beds.

'Your categories of the hotels were 100% correct. We all enjoyed the Ancient Luang Prabang Hotel as it was very central and had its own unique charm. We enjoyed the day out on the Mekong at Luang Prabang as we had a lovely big boat to ourselves.'

Ian S.

'Dara and Pooh in Laos need special mention for being excellent, especially Pooh. Brumlow, apologies for spelling, was more difficult to understand and was less flexible. He was still very good. Zanthana in Bangkok was superlative!
The absolute best of the whole trip was, we all agreed, The Arun residence in Bangkok. All were very good. We enjoyed the 3Nagas in Luang Prabang-lovely rooms, and outside space and informal atmosphere.The Green Park in Vientiane is more swish. We would have loved to use the beautiful pool but the weather was poor unfortunately.'

Mrs Anne L.

'Our guest house in the village in the village near Hongsa - never to be forgotten!! Villa Maydou lovely, Kingfisher, La Folie, Zazen all lovely.'

Penny and Iain P.

'Our guide told us that Luang Prabang is at its most beautiful in the early morning and we soon see what he means. Our first stop, once we manage to wake up, is to buy baskets of sticky rice from a street vendor and then we take an stroll to the centre of town where we wait for the Buddhist monks (literally hundreds of them) to stream out of the temples and do a circuit of the town to collect alms. Our guide shows us what to do and we kneel by the side of the road (next to some old Laos women who have obviously done this before), bow our heads and offer the food to the passing monks. Feeling virtuous once our food has all been taken, we head with our guide back to our hotel where we tuck into our own breakfast of Laos- style noodle soup. We had told our guide we were sporty types so the rest of day was spent on bikes touring the town and visiting some of Luang Prabang’s gilded temples, including Wat Xieng Thong, the Golden City Monastery. The advantage of being on bikes was that we were also able to cross a rickety old bridge and get a view of Luang Prabang from the other side of the Nam Khan river (a fantastic sight) as well as visiting some little villages outside of the town. We made it back by late afternoon, and our guide persuaded us to take the hike up Phu Si (visiting a tiny shrine hidden in a cave on the way up) to stand next to the huge stupa at the top of the hill and watch the sun set. Once we had meandered back down, the centre of town was coming to life and we headed to the candle-lit night market, where the hill tribes lay out rugs covered with embroidery, textiles and other oddities (including some brilliant tribal hats) for sale. After practicing our bartering skills (the only part of the day where our guide refused to help and just laughed at us) we moved on to a grand old French colonial restaurant along the Mekong River, where we had some of the most tasty (and unusual) food we had ever eaten and finished the day in style.'

Jenny F. Laos Traveller!

'And if I say I nearly wet my pants when they offered to actually allow me, humble city dweller, to sit on the elephant’s neck and guide it, it wouldn’t be too much of an exaggeration. For those who aren’t familiar with elephant riding (your poor, sad souls), I’ll do my best to describe the most amazing experience of a lifetime. Your sit up high, around 12 feet from the ground, with nothing to cling precariously to but the thick skinned dome of an elephant head. You tuck your knees in the hollow behind its ears, which then encircle you with a vice-like grip.
Elephant skin feels like extraordinarily old, wrinkled and dried out leather, and is amazingly hairy. But they are astonishingly placid creatures and extremely receptive to shouted commands, although quite why we had to yell at them with ears like that I couldn’t quite fathom. Additional encouragement can be given by kicking just behind the ears (well, I think it would probably encourage me to go a bit faster as well) and thankfully they respond. It was just so incredibly brilliant. After we had persuaded our elephant to lie down so we could climb off, we walked for another hour or so to the next village. However we were so exhausted by now that we could only muster some enthusiastic clapping for the wonderful dancing display put on by the village children. Later that night, I collapsed into a deep and welcome sleep, and dreamt of running away to the circus.'

HM. Laos and Vietnam

Its such a shame that we you hadn’t allowed time for a stop in Van Vieng as people we met in Luang Prabang told us how much they had enjoyed it – having said that I’m not sure where you would have found the space in our itinerary as I would not have wanted to lose a single day. My only other negative is that the food was a little basic and repetitive although my wife seemed to enjoy it far more than I.
Great holiday, fascinating holiday. Well done and thanks.

Jamie. Adventure Travel in Laos