Mekong River Cruises from Luang Prabang, Laos – Travel Tales from India and Abroad

I did four trips on the Mekong River, Mekong River Sunet Cruise, Cruise while coming back from Kuang Si Waterfall, Private boat hire to visit Ban Chan Village and Cruise to and from the Pak Ou caves. All of them were beautiful and some of my choices are weather related. I did all of them from Luang Prabang. I booked the sunset cruise and the independent boat hire from the river area in Luang Prabang. I booked the Kuang Si Waterfall and Pak Ou Caves from Manifa Tours from their office in the main market.

SaSa Sunset Cruise

For me at number 4 is the Mekong River Sunset Cruise. I did it with SaSa Cruise. They have a big boat, the ticket price includes a drink and snack and they do some interesting activities on the boat. At sunset everything is beautiful but it is really just a hop around the city so it remains at No. 4. There are many other boats that go out at the sunset so you have a choice.

The Return Cruise from the Kuang Si Waterfall

At No. 3 is the return trip from Kuang Si Waterfall. Kuang Si Waterfall is probably No. 1. attraction around Luang Prabang. It is accessible by road. We went there by road but came back on the Mekong River. I booked this trip with Manifa. There were just 4 of us, three ladies and one gentleman and we all got along! The gentleman was from Pune, me from Gurgaon, one girl from Switzerland and another from the USA but working in Manila. This was a longer trip but we were moving against the sunset. Our boat stopped in the middle, broke down. All the while I thought there was the captain of the boat and our guide. But when the boat broke down, a third boy emerged and fixed the boat! When we reached back to the pier how we wished it took longer for them to repair as there was still daylight left. We all wanted to be on the boat for longer time!

Visiting Ban Chan Village by Private Boat

At No. 2 is my private boat hire to visit the Ban Chan village which is also known as the pottery village. I was hanging around the Mekong River side at Luang Prabang and having coffee at the Saffron. A boatman asked me if I would like to visit a nearby village on his boat? I looked at the map and decided to visit the pottery village! The village was nice, but while coming back, I sat on the banks and watched the village boys and some girls playing on the Mekong River.

I was thrilled. I had seen it from far away on my other cruises but now I was part of the group, sitting on the banks dipping my toes in the river! It was this encounter that puts my visit to Ban Chan at No. 2.

The Boat Trip to and from the Pak Ou Caves

At No. 1 of all the cruises I did was the trip to and from the Pak Ou caves. The scenery is beautiful, the caves are wonderful, we had a whisky village visit clubbed in but when we were at the village it started raining lightly with sun also shining. I went looking for the rainbow and I saw it. Then we boarded the boat and we kept seeing rainbows along the way! It was magical! The first picture is from the same trip!