Elephant Village

A museum with one of the few remaining pre-colonisation houses. It also features an area to dress in costumes, learn different crafting technique and quite a good cafe for lunch.

The former royal palace, now a national museum. It is not a national history museum however. You pass through the state rooms and the private rooms of the royal family and can see the collection of official cars. No photos, videos, bags, or shoes allowed, free locker provided. No bare shoulders, midriffs or knees; you can rent a cloth for 5,000 kip at the locker room if needed. Also on the grounds of the palace is the former royal temple.

Phou Si Hill dominates the city, and you can get a great view of the whole area from the summit. There are trails from both sides of the hill, including one just across the road from the Royal Palace/National Museum, and it's about 320 steps to the top. Sunrise and sunset are the most sensible and rewarding times to go. There is a near-panoramic view from the top. The ticket office closes at 18:30, so climbing to the top is virtually free afterwards, which gives you about 30 minutes before it gets dark. If you take the south path down, you'll go past several temples including one claiming to enshrine the Buddha's (rather large!) footprint.

Every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evening there is a show featuring one part of the Lao epic Phra Lak Phra Ram. The show is about an hour long and in Lao with story and dance sequences. There are Lao, English and French synopsis available at the ticket desk. The ticket desk opens at least 1/2 an hour before the show and is accessed by entering Royal Palace Museum entrance gate. The museum is closed at this time so entry is free. Curiously the ticket desk is not attended while the museum is open, although they do have the schedule and current ticket prices. Also, the website has a form for tickets, but they do not seem to respond to it.

Monks at dawn collect alms of rice from kneeling villagers (and early-rising tourists). Ask your guesthouse host to assist you the day before in preparing if you'd like to get up and give alms in the morning. The alms giving ceremony is one which, while picturesque, is not without its detractors. Unscrupulous local merchants have used the eagerness of tourists to participate in this tradition as a means of making easy money. They sometimes sell unsuitable, stale and even unsafe food, resulting in monks falling ill after having consumed the offerings, Hence the growing resistance to continuing the tradition. The government, however, has made it clear that the monks must continue the custom or be replaced by lay persons clothed in saffron robes in order to keep up appearances, thereby maintaining tourist revenue. If you wish to participate in this ceremony, prepare the food or fruit yourself. Avoid giving food of dodgy quality. Another problem is the rampant photography: while a photo might look nice in your collection, think about how it must feel for the monks to have hundreds of tourists photographing them every day. Some lowlifes even stand next to the monks, blinding them with flashbulbs. Consider watching this old tradition from a distance instead of degrading it.