Luang Prabang, the Plain of Jars, Vang Vieng & Vientiane, 8 Nights

You are met on arrival in Luang Prabang and driven to your hotel. The town is among the best-preserved traditional towns in South-East Asia, and its quiet streets, temples and river setting make it the most rewarding place to stay in Laos. Only vehicles of up to 16 seats are allowed into the old quarter. The rest of the day is free. No meals are included today.

At about 8:30 you leave for 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. A Lao lunch is served at the farm, looking over the paddies. The afternoon is at 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. Back in town you climb Mount Phousi to the gilded stupa at the top for sunset over the Mekong, then walk through the night market and its handmade textiles. Meals included today: breakfast and lunch.

With your guide you visit Wat Xieng Thong, Wat Sene and Wat Visoun, then the former Royal Palace, now the National Museum, which was the seat of the Lane Xang kingdom's last royal line and holds religious and court objects. You then take a boat upstream on the Mekong to the Pak Ou caves, two caverns in a cliff that hold thousands of Buddha images left by pilgrims. The boat also stops at riverside villages, among them Ban Xang Hai, where rice spirit is distilled, and Ban Xang Khong, where saa paper is made. You stay overnight in Luang Prabang. 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 set out on the long mountain drive to Phonsavan in Xieng Khouang province, which takes nine to ten hours. The road passes viewpoints and Hmong villages, and a Russian tank left from the war years. You check in to your hotel in Phonsavan on arrival. Meals included today: breakfast.

The day begins at the UXO museum and at a mulberry farm and workshop that raises silk. You then drive out to the Plain of Jars and visit sites 1, 2 and 3, where hundreds of large stone jars lie across the plateau. The afternoon continues to Muang Khoun, the old provincial capital, for its ruined Buddhist temples and the nearby villages of the Hmong and Tai Dam. The day ends at sunset beside the large Buddha on the hill at Wat Hai Hin. Meals included today: breakfast.

After breakfast you drive to Vang Vieng, about six hours, with stops at villages and viewpoints and at Ban Pha Tang, some 15 kilometres north of the town. After check-in and a short rest, the afternoon is spent around Vang Vieng. 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.

A sunrise hot-air balloon flight can be added at extra cost. You drive to Ban Pha Thao, about 15 kilometres north of Vang Vieng, for a walk of about two hours between caves: Tham Hoi, the Snail Cave, with a large Buddha at its entrance, Tham Nam, the Water Cave, and Tham Xang, the Elephant Cave. The last stop is Tham Nang Fa cave. In the early evening you take the train to Vientiane, a ride of under an hour, and are driven to your hotel on arrival. Meals included today: breakfast.

A full day in the capital. The morning covers 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. In the afternoon you drive out to Buddha Park, a riverside field of Buddhist and Hindu concrete statues that includes a reclining Buddha 40 metres long, and visit the COPE visitor centre, which explains the prosthetic and rehabilitation work done for people injured by unexploded ordnance. You are driven back to your hotel. 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.