Luang Prabang is simply stunning. The old town is a UNESCO World Heritage site, packed with temples, villas and monasteries, encircled by the river and jungle-clad mountains. Three days will fly by in a riot of colour and culture. First, hop on a bicycle for a religious architecture tour and stop at the excellent Traditional Arts & Ethnology Centre to learn about Lao textiles, crafts and music. Explore Kuang Si Waterfall, a buffalo dairy farm, and meet retired elephants at an ethical sanctuary. In the early morning, take part in the ritual of alms giving to long lines of orange-robed monks, while at day end, relax and watch the sun set over the Mekong.

If Luang Prabang is an open-air museum, the capital Vientiane is a real working city replete with mopeds, markets and offices. There are pockets of history, and an insightful local guide will show you Patuxai Monument, a homage to the Arc de Triomphe, and royal temples housing thousands of Buddha statues. The place that really sticks in our memory is the moving COPE exhibition centre which supports the victims of unexploded ordnance, a result of the heavy bombing Laos suffered during the Vietnam War. You'll also sit down to a traditional sindat BBQ dinner as part of an experience exploring the city after dark.

From Vientiane onwards you’ll take the slow road, following the course of the Mekong River. The car journeys are an integral part of the experience, passing temples wrapped in bunting, roadside stalls stacked with dried fish, and dramatic karst mountains. Today’s transfer takes four and a half hours, but your guide will break this up with a stop at the Buddha Park outside Vientiane and Prabaht Ponsan, a 15th century stupa where it’s said the Buddha left his footprint as he crossed the Mekong. You’ll also visit a Hmong ethnic minority market, and Phou Pha Marn for a vertigo-inducing look into a spectacular limestone gorge.

The landscape between Kong Lor and Thakhek is littered with jagged limestone mountains rising vertically from the plains like giant teeth. At the base of the karsts, lakes and lagoons have eroded caves in the rock face. The most spectacular of these is Kong Lor Cave. Picture travelling through the darkness by boat into a 100m high cavern with a gallery of stalagmites. Explore the rock formations on foot, then return to the boat and carry on down a 7km river tunnel, all the way through to the other side of the mountain. Back in the sunlight, picnic in a remote village in the tobacco fields. Your journey continues on to Thakek in time for sunset over the Mekong.

Heading further south will take you through Savannakhet; once an important trading post between Thailand and Vietnam, and is now the best-preserved town in southern Laos, steeped in languid charm. Arriving into Pakse, you'll notice a trend, as Pakse is also a small town founded by the French in 1905 as an administrative outpost. Many colonial-style buildings remain today, and you can discover more as you stroll the boulevards this evening.

The final leg of the drive takes you from Pakse, via the cooler climes of the Bolaven Plateau to Champasak, where you'll settle in for three nights at a boutique riverside resort. Start your morning by climbing the steep steps of Wat Phou, atmospheric temple ruins that predate Angkor in Cambodia, in time for catching the sunrise. You'll also discover Don Khong, the largest of the 4,000 Islands where the river splits into hundreds of tributaries. Explore colourful fishing villages by mountain bike, an adventurous end to your trip to Laos.