Cheap flights to Laos from £518

When the French controlled Indochina, they called the slowness of pace in Laos and the apparent indolence of the people the “Laotian malaise”, precisely what makes this land tourist heaven. Officially the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, a communist state, Laos is sandwiched between Burma (Myanmar), China, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand, a country about the same size as Great Britain. About 70 per cent of the country is made up of mountain and highland and there is extensive, untouched, forest too. Most Laotians live in the fertile plains of the Mekong and the 11 other rivers, eking out an existence by farming and fishing.

Its capital is Vientiane, home to Wattay International, where many flights to Laos touch down. Most travellers will pick up cheap flights to Laos from Bangkok. Vientiane is on the Mekong, a town of wide boulevards, French Colonial buildings, golden temples and Pha That Luang, Laos’s most important religious monument.

The former royal capital is Luang Prabang, a gilded city locked in time with 45 temples, 32 of them active. The most spectacular temple is Wat Xieng Thong. Early each morning hundreds of orange-robed monks make their daily alms round, a sight not to be missed.

Laos climate

The climate is tropical – extremely humid during the rainy season (July to October).

Getting around Laos

Lao Airlines flies domestically. Apart from flying there are several ways to get around the country including by ferry, bus (there is a good network throughout Laos), rental car, Songthaew (pick-up trucks with benches) and, of course, tuk tuk (modified motorbikes).

What is good to know if travelling to Laos?

• Luang Prabang is the ancient capital city of the Lan Xang Kingdom and a Unesco World Heritage site, with beautiful temples and gilded palaces on the bank of the Mekong River. Wat Xieng Thong is the most lavish temple with a tiered roof and gilded facades. The National Museum used to be the Royal Palace, built by the French in the 1900s and housing the gold-leaf-covered Phra Bang or “Holy Golden Buddha”. Climb the 300 steps to the summit of Mount Phousito see Wat That Chom Sii and for views of the city. If you visit the city very early in the morning, you can see the local people line up to give alms to the monks.
• The nearby Pak Ou Caves – two caves, Tham Ting and Tham Phun, house Buddha images that have been left by followers over centuries.
• Si Phan Don (or Four Thousand Islands) is a group of islands in the Mekong River in Southern Laos. The largest island is Don Khong.
• In Vientiane, the capital, is the Victory Monument, akin to Paris’s Arc de Triomphe, which can be climbed. That Luang (or Royal Stupa, a Buddhist monument) was built in 1566 and restored in 1935.
• Hundreds of giant stone jars – some more than 3 metres high – are scattered around the Plain of Jars in north-central Laos. More than 60 jar fields have been identified so far and some sites have more than 250 jars. Archeological work is slow – and dangerous – as the area is littered with explosives from recent conflicts, but the jars are thought to be connected to burial rituals.
• Follow the Ho Chi Minh Trail, a network of secret roads running parallel to the Laos-Vietnam border. This trail was used during the Vietnam War by the North Vietnamese and during the 1950s by the Viet Minh (against the French).