Slow Boat to Luang Prabang

Two-day Mekong river journey from Huay Xai to Luang Prabang — one of Southeast Asia's great trips

The slow boat journey from Huay Xai to Luang Prabang takes two days and is one of the classic Southeast Asian trips. Boats leave from the pier below town each morning and travel downstream on the Mekong, passing limestone cliffs, jungle-covered hills, and small villages along both banks. The first night is spent at Pak Beng, roughly halfway; the second day brings you into Luang Prabang in the late afternoon.

Bring snacks, something to sit on beyond the hard wooden benches, and something to read — the journey is beautiful but long. The boats can be crowded in high season. Earplugs help with the engine noise. Buy tickets the afternoon before departure from the ticket office near the pier; don't buy from guesthouse touts, who charge a commission.

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The slow boats are large wooden vessels, originally freight barges, that have been fitted with bench seats and now carry a mixture of Lao travellers and foreign tourists downstream. The boats stop for the night at Pak Beng, a village with a single main street of guesthouses and restaurants that exists almost entirely to serve the slow boat trade. In the 1990s the journey was genuinely rough; today it is a managed tourist experience, but the river and the scenery remain spectacular.