“ I expected to try a few local dishes and walk around town, but it turned into much more than that.”
— Tom, 2025
01 Food tours
Original food tours, curated with our local tastemakers to showcase the neighbourhood kitchens, markets and family-run eateries that define Luang Prabang.
Prabang Plates
Luang Prabang
Wake up eating Luang Prabang — alms bowls, sticky rice and khao piak sen.
Mekong Meals
Luang Prabang
Discover Laotian cooking bolder than Thai — sticky rice, laap, or lam and jeow bong.
02 Meet the tastemakers
The local food experts who help us research, refine and lead every A Chef's Tour.
Sticky rice by hand, laap raw with roasted rice powder, or lam bitter stew, jeow bong chilli paste. Laotian food is bolder and funkier than Thai.
04 The pantry
- Padaek, funky fermented fish sauce thicker than Thai nam pla
- Sticky rice, glutinous rice eaten by hand at every meal
- Jeow bong, sweet chilli jam with buffalo skin
- Bamboo shoots, fresh and pickled for or lam bitter stew
- Sakhan, spicy climbing pepper that flavours or lam
05 In the kitchen
- Steaming sticky rice in bamboo baskets over boiling water
- Pounding laap minced meat with roasted rice powder and herbs
- Slow-simmering or lam bitter stew with wood-ear and sakhan
- Drying river weed into khai paen sheets and frying them crisp
- Grilling ping pa stuffed river fish over glowing embers
06 Eat this first
- Laap, herbal minced meat salad with roasted rice powder
- Or lam, bitter Luang Prabang stew with buffalo and sakhan pepper
- Khao soi Laos, tomato-and-pork noodle soup unique to Laos
- Khai paen, deep-fried river weed sheets with jeow bong dip
- Sticky rice, steamed and served in a woven basket at every meal
What happens inside a hammam kitchen
A morning with the cooks who feed the neighbourhood before dawn. Charcoal, dough, the smell of a bakery working its second oven.
09 Recipes
A collection of authentic recipes we couldn't leave behind.
Thin strips of beef marinated in fish sauce, sugar and pepper, air-dried in the sun and finished with a quick deep-fry. Laos's sweet-savoury jerky, always with sticky rice.
Sticky rice packed onto a bamboo skewer, brushed with beaten egg and grilled hot until the outside crisps golden. Laos's morning market snack, sold from carts before sunrise.
Coconut milk, palm sugar and layered tapioca, jelly, banana or jackfruit in a tall glass over ice. The Lao afternoon cooling drink.
Small pairs of steamed coconut-and-sticky-rice cakes sandwiched together and wrapped in banana leaf. Luang Prabang's tea-time sweet, softly sweet and softly perfumed.
Chewy hand-cut tapioca-and-rice noodles simmered in a clear ginger-chicken broth, topped with poached chicken, fried garlic and fresh herbs. Laos's daily breakfast.
Steam-set rice noodle rolls filled with pork and wood-ear mushroom, served with sliced grilled sausage and fresh herbs. Luang Prabang morning market's Vietnamese-Lao crossover.
10 Field Notes
Quick field notes to help you get accustomed to Luang Prabang.
Weather
Tropical monsoon. Cool, dry winters (November–February, ideal), hot dry spring (March–May, hazy from crop burning), and warm rainy summers (June–October).
Currency
The Lao kip (LAK). Thai baht and US dollars widely accepted. Cash is standard almost everywhere; cards in mid-range hotels only.
Language
Lao. Some French heard among older locals; English coverage is decent in tourism.
Etiquette
Cover shoulders and knees in temples. A sarong or scarf helps. During the dawn alms-giving, watch quietly from a respectful distance; don't touch monks (women especially).
Getting around
The old town is compact and walking-only in feel. Bicycles cover further. Tuk-tuks work for longer trips and Kuang Si waterfall.
Prayer
Deeply Theravada Buddhist. Dozens of active temples in the old town. The dawn alms round is central to daily life; participate respectfully or not at all.