Prepare your trip to the most secret of Southeast Asian country with our Lao travel guide. Spend a few days in Vientiane, the peaceful capital, before heading north to discover Luang Prabang and its sumptuous temples overlooking the river, the cave of a thousand Buddhas in Pak Ou, the bucolic site of Nong Khiaw, and the ethnic minorities in the mountains near the borders of Thailand, Burma and China. Follow your guide through the intense jungle of Nam Ha Nature Reserve. Take a boat on part of your route, along the Mekong or the Nam Ou river: the waterways are the most beautiful, the softest (the roads can often be hard on the vertebrae). Go on a trek on the Bolovens plateau. In the South, where the Mekong is no longer navigable,
explore the river archipelago of Siphandone - ‘4000 islands’ in Lao - the pretty Khmer temple of Pak Ou is listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Do not leave Laos before enjoying a traditional herbal sauna - a scented and seriously relaxing experience.