7 Days Laos Spirit Tour with Elephant Experience

Places You’ll Visit

Tour Overview

Itinerary

What’s Included

Relax on 7-Day Laos Tour

Duration

7 Days | 6 Nights

Destinations

Laos

Travel Type

Private | Customizable

Places You’ll Visit

Tour Overview

This 7 Days Laos Tour with an in-depth elephant experience is designed to offer you a precious chance to get close to Laos’ adorable elephants for three days. During the stay at Elephant Conservation Center, you will get close to the lively giants, learn their interesting characters, observe how they interact in the semi-natural environment, learn some simple commands to interact with them, try to feed them, and prepare their socialization area, stroll with them in the dense forest, and see them taking bath, etc. Besides the elephant experience, some natural and cultural highlights of Luang Prabang are also included.

Highlights of This Tour

Visit iconic landmarks in Luang Prabang such as Wat Xiengthong, Royal Palace Museum, and Mount Phousi.
Experience unique Laos traditions: morning rituals of saffron-clad monks collecting offerings and the Baci ceremony.
Cruise upstream along the Mekong River to explore the mysterious Pak Ou caves with numerous Buddha statues.
Marvel at the natural beauty of Luang Prabang by vising the Pha Tad Ke Botanical Garden, and Kuang Si waterfalls.
Enjoy 3 days of close contact with the elephants at the Elephant Conservation Center in Sayaboury, look into the great efforts the staff made to protect these animals and help them back to nature.

Itinerary

Welcome to Laos! Upon arrival, your local guide and driver will be ready to welcome you at the airport and escort you to your hotel in Luang Prabang.

After a short rest, visit the Royal Palace Museum (closed on Tuesday) which presents a wealth of interesting artifacts. Followed by a visit to Wat Mai, the most picturesque and most photographed temple in Luang Prabang. If time permits, you will be guided to stroll along the small streets in the city center to look into local life.

Then enjoy the panoramic sunset view of Luang Prabang and the Mekong River from the top of Mountain Phousi. After that, join in the Baci ceremony at a local family where a local elder will honor visitors by chanting blessings and tieing white threads around your wrists.

Luang Prabang panoramic view from Phousi Hill

After the ceremony, enjoy dinner with the host family, a great chance for you to experience real and authentic local life and traditions.

Meal: Dinner

Overnight: Luang Prabang

This morning, you can get up early to catch the daily morning rituals of saffron-clad monks collecting offerings. Laos is the only Buddhist nation that still preserves this unique tradition.

Laos alms-giving ceremony — Alms-Giving Ceremony

Then, a short visit to the local morning market is waiting for you for your more in-depth experience of local life.

After that, enjoy breakfast at your hotel before we head to Wat Sene, the first monastery in Luang Prabang, whose vihan was covered with yellow and red tiles.

Next, relax on an upstream cruise along the Mekong River before you reach the mysterious Pak Ou Caves. Located by the Mekong River, Pak Ou Caves are two linked caves, in which you’ll discover thousands of gold lacquered Buddha statues.

Buddha statues in Pak Ou Caves in Luang Prabang — Buddha statues in Pak Ou Caves

During the cruise to Pak Ou Caves, you can enjoy the beautiful scenery along both banks of the Mekong River, and glimpse into local life by visiting Ban Xanghai village, villagers here are good at making local rice wine.

After the Pak Ou Caves visit, drive back to Luang Prabang, and take a visit to Wat Xieng Thong, the highest symbol of Buddhism in Laos, to appreciate the characteristics of 16th-century Lao architecture.

The last stop today is the Traditional Art and Ethnology Center (closed on Monday) where you can learn about the interesting local ethnic culture.

Meal: Breakfast

Overnight: Luang Prabang

After breakfast, hop on a cruise to Pha Tad Ke Botanical garden. After a short briefing about the gardens, you will walk through the Ginger Garden and the Ethno-botanic Garden, and walk along the Limestone Walk to enjoy the stunning mountainous Mekong landscape. Then move to the site of the hunting lodge of the former royal family to learn to make bamboo stick animals. Then walk through Arboretum, Palm Garden, and Bamboo to discover more beauty of the Pha Tad Ke Botanical Garden and the rice fields far away. At the end of the visit, have an optional orchid talk at Pha Tad Ke Nursery.

Pha Tad Ke Botanical garden in Laos — Pha Tad Ke Botanical garden is the only botanical garden in Laos

Enjoy a delicious Lao set lunch at the Pha Tad Ke café.

In the afternoon, continue cruising downstream along the Mekong River to Ban Sing where you will be attracted by the peaceful rural scenery. Then hop on a local tuk-tuk to the Kuang Si Waterfall where you will immerse yourself in the beauty of this three-tiered waterfall when it flows through the limestone jungles, and discharges into a series of cascading turquoise pools. You can either have fun around the turquoise pools or enjoy leisure walking along the forest trails.

Kuangsi Waterfall in Luang Prabang — Stunning Kuangsi Waterfall

After the visit, take a boat upstream from the Mekong river back to Luang Prabang while you enjoy the awesome sunset view on the Mekong River.

Ride a local tuk-tuk back to your hotel at the end of the day.

Meal: Breakfast

Overnight: Luang Prabang

After hotel breakfast, your driver will transfer you to the appointed place where you will ride the minivan of Elephant Conservation Center for the transfer to Sayaboury (about 90 km). You will first arrive at the pier at Nam Tien Lake, then take a boat to the center.

Sayaboury Elephant Conservation Center in Laos — Boat to Sayaboury Elephant Conservation Center

If you are lucky, you can encounter some elephants while the boat docks, then, take a short rest in your private bungalow before enjoying a local-style lunch.

This afternoon, you will follow your guide to visit the Center’s facilities. Visit the only Elephant Hospital in Laos, as the veterinarian and biologist narrate to you the conservation actions they implemented. Following is the exciting time as you see the elephants’ daily bath, learn their interesting characters, learn simple commands with an expert mahout and try to interact with them, feed the elephants, take photos with the giants, discover the unique bond between the mahout and his elephant, and enjoy walk in the dense forest together with the giants.

You will be left with free time to take in the surroundings before dinner.

Meal: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Overnight: Elephant Conservation Center’s bungalow

This morning, enjoy a leisure walk together with the elephants in their natural environment. If you wish, it’s possible to ride the elephant while they walk through the forest (bareback on the neck).

After the elephants drink enough water, they will be brought to the Socialization Area, a semi-natural living environment for the elephants to freely interact. Follow your guide to learn more about the elephants, and observe how they form a new herd from different platforms.

Enjoy your lunch at one of the viewing platforms, then you will be left some free time to sink in all the information. At the nursery, you get a rare chance to see the resident mother and baby play together with their mahout.

Afterward, hop on the boat back to the center to see the elephants’ afternoon bath. Meet the veterinarian or biologist again as they are conducting training by using” positive reinforcement” techniques. If you like, you can see how they work from a safe distance. At the end of the day, you can walk the elephant back to the forest.

Meal: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Overnight: Elephant Conservation Center’s bungalow

On the third day in Elephant Conservation Center, you will be introduced to the dynamic process enrichment activities. You will be invited to help the team prepare the socialization area for elephants, including cutting and hiding the food, making elephant toys, etc. And observe how they interact with what you have prepared for them.