Pak Ou Caves

These two caves are located some 25km from Luang Prabang where the Nam Ou River flows into the Mekong. The journey on a slow moving longboat from Luang Prabang will take at least one hour and is decidedly picturesque.

Motoring upriver you can see locals fishing and listen to the joyful laughter of children splashing in the water. From the city center, a quicker option is to take a 40min tuktuk ride to Pak Ou village where a pirogue awaits to take you across the river to the caves. The caves are revered throughout Laos and a very popular place for tourists and pilgrims alike.

There are some 4000 statues and statuettes in the caves, mostly of the Buddha, many still covered with paper thin gilding. The first cave is reached by a steep staircase from the river’s edge, while the second cave is a little deeper inside the mountain: bring a torchlight!