The Apsara

Rooms

This is a gorgeous little place and the rooms don’t let it down. There are 2 houses, both over 2 floors. Superiors are in the main house, while Standards are found in a building 2 doors down the street (just as lovely). We had a first-floor Standard with a small balcony and loved it. The main difference between the 2 types is this: Superior rooms are a little bigger, have deep baths (not just showers) and come with a daybed. But that’s about it. Go for the first-floor rooms and you get more light and have better views. However, if you can’t get one, book whatever is available - you don’t slum it in the ground-floor rooms, which open onto shaded terraces.

First-floor rooms open onto a small balcony, which is, in effect, communal, but strategically-place potted palms add privacy. Ground-floor rooms open onto a terraced sitting area that does very much the same thing. Views across the quiet road shoot over the river to its far bank, where locals grow vegetables neatly in the sun.

Décor is similar throughout: all rooms come with off-white walls, shuttered windows and big comfy beds. A chic colonial simplicity infuses every corner. First-floor rooms have varnished floorboards; ground-floor rooms come with coloured cement floors. Expect crisp white linen, local art and silky voile curtains. Colour comes from cushions and throws, even glass Buddha statues, and each room combines 2 colours to great effect: red and green; blue and orange, gold and lime. All have airy high ceilings.

Lovely bathrooms have enormous walk-in deluge showers. Superior rooms also have a bath; in first-floor rooms, it stands behind a screen in the bedroom.

Features include:

• Fan
• Hairdryer
• Safe box
• WiFi

Eating

Breakfast is served from 7am until lunch. It is brought to your table by a waiter; there is no buffet here! It is relatively simple: freshly-squeezed orange juice, freshly-cut fruit, a bowl of toasted baguette with delicious home-made jam (flavours vary from day-to-day, we had pineapple!) and a choice of hot dishes if you fancy one including eggs any way; there’s strong coffee and a selection of posh teas, too.

The Apsara’s restaurant is one of the best in town, so make sure you eat here at least once. It’s open-plan and very colourful, with lime-green lanterns scattered around the floor and Chinese inscriptions hanging on the walls. A light lunch menu offers carrot and coconut soup, watercress salad Lao-style, a BLT baguette, steak frites, buffalo sausages and caramelised onion tart.

Dinner brings a slightly grander, more Laotian menu. Try spicy prawns and a green papaya salad, stir-fried quail with shallots and garlic, tagine of young goat with a citrus-fruit salsa, then polish things off with bananas flambéd in rum or a dollop of honey and ginger ice cream.

Luang Prabang has some of the best food in Indochina, with a clutch of fabulous cafés and restaurants from which to choose; the streets at night are alive with tourists and locals.

Features include:

• Bar
• Restaurant
• Restaurants nearby
• Room service
• Vegetarian options

Activities

• Take a boat 25 km up the Mekong to the Pak Ou Caves. You’ll find Buddha statues jostling for space and the cruise up the river is spectacular
  
• Drive or cycle up to Kuang Si waterfalls and check out its impressive 150m drop that tumbles from the sky over four ledges (at its best in November-January, after the rains); there are swimming holes downstream, but remember that Laotians bathe fully clothed. The journey south through the countryside is equally enjoyable
  
• Don’t miss the Royal Palace (not that you can, it’s in the middle of town). An hour here is well spent; outlandish interiors with fine murals and interesting curios
  
• Phu Si, the temple on top of the only hill in town: come up for sunset and meet every other tourist in town. Tacky - well, yes, a little, but the views of forest and the Mekong are great, and you can see the wood smoke settling above the tree-line at dusk, one of the loveliest sights we saw in Laos
  
• Play pétanque by the banks of the river. Luang Prabangers seem to love this game and there are pitches all over the place
  
• Check out the markets: Phu Si market, away from the old town, is where locals do their shopping. The night market sprawls through the side streets around the Royal Palace and its pretty lights make it a lovely evening stroll
  
• Luang Prabang bristles with ad hoc massage and spa places, mostly on Sisavangvong Road; the aromatherapy massage at the Spa Garden on Ban Phonheauang is recommended
  
• And there are several cookery schools, among them Tum Tum Cheng on Sakkaline, just around the corner from The Apsara

Activities on site or nearby include:

• Cooking classes
• Cycling
• Hiking
• Historical sites
• Kayaking
• Shopping / markets
• Traditional cultures

Kids

As the hotel hopes that its guest will have a tranquil stay, families with young children (12 and under) are restricted to the ground floor. Under 12s go free (maximum of 1 child per room).

Family friendly accommodation:

The 2 Superiors on the ground floor are the only option for families with young kids; both have single daybeds which can be made up as an extra bed or can fit a baby cot. Superiors on the first floor and fit 1 teen in their daybed.

Cots Available, Extra Beds Available

For more family-friendly places, see our Kids Collection

Location

The Apsara is in the town of Luang Prabang in northern Laos (also called Lao PDR). It's on the banks of the Nam Khan river (or Khan river), near its junction with the Mekong.

By Air:
There are no long-haul flights into Luang Prabang, but there are connections from neighbouring countries including Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Siem Reap and Hanoi, as well as Laos' capital, Vientiane. Click on the links below for a list of airlines serving these airports. In rainy season dense cloud can cause delays, so leave time for connections, especially if moving on to an expensive long-haul flight.

From the airport
The hotel can arrange an airport transfer to pick you up, or tuk-tuks will take you for a few dollars.

Overland from Thailand
From Chiang Rai in northern Thailand, you can travel by bus or car to Chiang Khong on the Mekong river (the border), and then take a boat across to Houei Xai in Laos. From Houei Xai there are boats down river to Luang Prabang (1-2 days), but there are no schedules or safety enforcements, so you should be prepared for an adventure.

Overland from Vientiane
This is a bus journey of 8-9 hours, and not to be underestimated.

More on getting to Laos and getting around