Highlights of Laos

Laos is an interesting country that is still quite undeveloped and new for tourism. This particular trip was not very inspiring, and particularly as most of the travel was by train which meant not much of the countryside was seen. I didn’t think the itinerary has enough in it

Overall I had a good experience in Laos on my first Explore trip. The positives were a solid itinerary visiting the 3 places of Vientiane, Vang Vieng, and Luang Prabang. Our tour leader Nam was well organised and most of the tour ran smoothly. The negatives were although Nam was nice and helpful he is let down by his communication skills. He wasn't always clear and at times he gave long-winded explanations. He didn't set a whatsapp group until day 4. And it would have been better that our daily plans were posted in Whatsapp to avoid confusion. The optional tour in Vang Vieng at I think USD30 was not value for money. The whole group did this optional tour and the visit to the Hmong village and Blue Lagoon wasn't worth it in my opinion. Lastly the Silver Naga hotel in Vang Vieng had a substandard bathroom with no shower cubicle, making it a 2 star standard.

Nam was a great guide to Laos. I loved this itinerary and found the accommodations to be comfortable and clean. Would recommend to others.

Our Explore trip Highlights of Laos was very good in most aspects. Accommodation including breakfasts was very good indeed. The itinerary was comprehensive. Unfortunately our guide was very difficult to understand as his command of English was poor and this has compromised our overall experience. It is tiring to try to understand poor communication for long periods of time and eventually one tends to ‘switch off’. Nam was a nice enough person, but unfortunately spoke very fast and had poor spoken English and limited vocabulary. When one pays for a tour with an English speaking guide it is frustrating to miss out on the detail because of limited skills. It is important to note that we are both Tourism Industry professionals with over 40 years tourism experience. We have undertaken many such trips. We don’t expect perfect English - but we do expect to understand our guide when he is trying to explain something.

This is a great tour for exploring Laos for the fist time. Each city has a different feel and adventures. The guide was very flexible with the daily activities and would add or change as the group desired. It would’ve great to have activities added as part of the tour in Vang Viera. Also, one restaurant that was chosen by the leader was not one eaten at by locals and had a lot of American food which was not desirable by the group. Would go on another tour with explore.