Visiting the Kuang Si Waterfall in Luang Prabang
Luang Prabang is without a doubt one of the jewels South East Asia’s travelling crown; spectacular scenery, beautiful temples and great food. Surrounded by rolling hills and winding country roads Luang Prabang is a place where you can easily spend a little more time than you intended.
Kuang Si falls is one of many fantastic day trips from the Unesco World Heritage listed town. As its around 30km away you will need to arrange your own transport. This gives you two choices, hire a tuk tuk with a bunch of other people or hire your own scooter (motorbikes are more expensive and harder to come by in the town) and drive there yourself. Bear in mind that the tuk tuks in Laos a larger than any others in South East Asia, so you can cram quite a few people in making the trip even cheaper. When I was there in 2015, there were charging between $20 and $30, pretty affordable, especially if you have quite a few people. I opted against this option and rented a scooter from my hostel and headed off. Bare in mind you will probably need to leave you passport as collateral. This is why I chose to rent from my hostel as opposed to a separate rental agency.
Luang Prabang is a magnet for backpackers and justifiably so, but getting a scooter is a really easy way to get away from the crowds and explore the stunning scenery surround the town. The waterfall is pretty easy to find and scenery en route is just fantastic.
Upon arriving at the falls you need to park your bike and pay a parking fee of around 2000 kip and an entrance fee of 16000 kip. Again, these prices may have changed since I was there in 2015. After walking past an bear enclosure (weird I know), you start to see the first shimmering blue pools. I decided to explore the area before going for a swim. This proved to be a pretty good decision. The walk up to the top of the largest waterfall is steep and slippery and is probably best not attempted wearing flip flops. The views from the top are fantastic and there are quite a few pools you can rest those tired legs in.
Most people tend to swim in the lower pools. Wherever the locals are swimming, thats probably a good spot to start at least. One useful thing to point out. There are one or 2 sets of changing rooms, so you may want to come wearing your swimming shorts or bathing suits under your clothes. Also there are no lockers, at least when I was there, so you will need to keep your stuff in a pile next to the pool. I brought a backpack with me so I got put my valuables right at the bottom so they would at least be out of sight. Although Laos is a very safe country and the chance of theft is lower than in other countries in the region, its never a bad thing to be careful.
