Luang Prabang, Oudomxay Hill Villages, Vang Vieng & Vientiane, 8 Nights

Your guide and driver meet you on arrival in Luang Prabang and take you to your hotel. After a rest the afternoon is free to walk around the heritage town on your own. No meals are included today.

The morning covers Wat Xieng Thong, Wat Visoun and the former Royal Palace, now the National Museum, followed by the Traditional Arts and Ethnology Centre, with its displays of clothing, tools and ritual objects from Laos's ethnic groups, and Heuan Chan Heritage House, once the home of a royal guard and now a collection of traditional Lao household tools. In the afternoon you take a boat upstream on the Mekong to the Pak Ou caves, two caverns that hold thousands of Buddha images, stopping at the craft villages of Ban Xang Hai and Ban Xang Khong on the way. You return to Luang Prabang by late afternoon. Meals included today: breakfast.

The day starts before breakfast with tak bat, the dawn alms-giving to the town's monks, which you can watch or take part in, followed by a walk through the morning market. After breakfast you drive to a working rice farm about 45 minutes from town, set among old rice terraces. Over half a day you see how rice is grown and can try each stage yourself, from planting to threshing and ploughing with the farm's water buffalo, or simply watch from the terrace. Lunch is served on the terrace over the paddies. Afterwards you walk for about an hour to Kuang Si waterfall, where the water drops over pale limestone tiers into a string of turquoise pools, and the bear rescue centre beside it, with a stop at the Hmong village of Ban Na Ouan on the way. In the late afternoon you climb the 328 steps of Mount Phousi for the view over the town at sunset, then come down to the night market, open from dusk until about 22:00. Meals included today: breakfast and lunch.

After breakfast you take the morning train to Oudomxay, a ride of about 45 minutes. In town you climb to the Phou That stupa for the view, then drive to a resort in the Nam Kat Yorla Pa forest park, where the rest of the day is free. The park's activities can be booked on the spot at extra cost. Meals included today: breakfast.

After breakfast you drive to Muang La, a small town among forested hills, and visit the Buddhist temple of Wat Pha Chao Sing Kham. A 4x4 then climbs to about 1,000 metres, with views over the whole district, to the villages of the Khmu, Ikhor (Akha) and Hmong. The first stop is an Ikhor village, a people with roots in Yunnan and Tibet who have kept much of their traditional way of life. After lunch a 45-minute walk on a path with wide views leads to the Hmong village of Ban Tauser, where you learn about its customs. You return to the resort in the afternoon. Meals included today: breakfast and lunch.

The morning is free at the resort. You are then driven to Oudomxay for the afternoon train to Vang Vieng, a ride of about an hour and forty minutes. In Vang Vieng you visit Tham Chang cave on the south side of town, with its spring at the foot of the cliff and views over the rice fields, then Tham Phu Kham and the Blue Lagoon, where you can swim. The day ends on a small boat on the Nam Song river at sunset. Meals included today: breakfast.

After breakfast you drive to the Nam Xay viewpoint for the view over the karst country around Vang Vieng, then visit Tham Nang Fa cave. The expressway takes you to Vientiane in about an hour and a half. There you visit Haw Phra Kaew, Wat Sisaket, Pha That Luang, the golden stupa that is Laos's most important religious monument, and Patuxai, the victory arch with a view over the city from the top, before check-in and a free evening. Meals included today: breakfast.

Today you drive out to Buddha Park, a riverside field of Buddhist and Hindu concrete statues that includes a reclining Buddha 40 metres long, and take your time among the statues. Back in the city you visit the COPE visitor centre, which explains the prosthetic and rehabilitation work done for people injured by unexploded ordnance. You stay overnight in Vientiane. Meals included today: breakfast.

After breakfast the time is your own, at the hotel or in town, until the transfer to Vientiane airport. The package services end at the airport. Meals included today: breakfast.