Our favourite Laos tours and excursions

If you want a real adventure (and we’re talking the old-fashioned kind, complete with creepy crawlies, strenuous exercise, and lots of sweat) this one’s for you.

Back in its 11th-century heyday, the Khmer Empire covered over a million square kilometres – including much of what we now know as Laos. Wat Phou is a relic of that golden age.

Over a kilometre above sea level, the Bolaven Plateau is your chance to experience a totally different Laotian landscape – where cool temperatures, volcanic soil and plentiful rain conspire to create a wonderfully rich and fertile land perfect for growing coffee, cassava, bananas, tea and cardamom.

We’re suckers for a mystery, and this is one of Asia’s best archaeological conundrums. Scattered across hundreds of square kilometres on the Xieng Khouang Plateau, these giant stone jars might have been burial urns, rainwater butts, or rice wine kegs belonging to a race of giants.

Luang Prabang has seen numerous cultures come and go in its 1,500 years, but what makes it so special is the way it has fused those traditions together to create something completely new.

By night, the jungle comes alive with the hoots, squawks, screeches and chirps of a whole new cast of characters.

On this alternative tour, we’ll whisk you away from the boutique hotels and gilded wats of the town centre to a side of Luang Prabang few tourists get to see -- where tuk-tuks putter along dirt roads to quiet temples, and minority villages sprawl along the banks of the Mekong.

There aren’t many trekking locations more impressive than Nong Khiaw, and this challenging route up the “100 waterfalls” is one of our favourites.

What does Laos have in common with turn-of-the-century Provence? An abiding love of the boules, for one thing.

Where the Lower Mekong is broad, slow, and pulsing with life, the Upper Mekong is faster, narrower, and altogether more remote.

There are few people better placed to introduce you to traditional and contemporary Lao textile culture than Carol Cassidy.

With 4,000 islands to explore, how do you know where to begin?