Travel Itinerary

Start Day 2 riverside: explore open-air pavilions blending traditional Lao materials with contemporary design and textile exhibitions.

Short walk to a 1903 governor’s residence turned boutique gallery; high ceilings, louvred shutters and lily-pond courtyards.

Admire Laos’ oldest temple with a Sri-Lankan–style stupa and classic wooden windows; a key reference in Lao religious architecture.

Hands-on look at carved facades that decorate temples; understand joinery and motifs still used in local buildings.

Finish Day 2 in a 1930s shop-house turned minimalist restaurant—French windows, rattan chairs, fusion menu celebrating local produce.

Begin Day 3 with a short boat hop across the Mekong; study 1880 teak sim and hillside stupas with sweeping river views.

Wander lanes of wooden houses on stilts, bamboo fences and wattle-and-daub walls—a living museum of vernacular Lao building.

Cross a bamboo bridge to see 18th-century murals and gilded porticoes where kings once retreated before coronation.

Back in town, inspect 1920s reinforced-concrete arches and period tiling—still functioning and photogenic.

End beneath rows of 1920s arcades; red-brick colonnades frame handicraft stalls—perfect finale to an architectural journey.