Luang Prabang at night: what to do

The old town between two rivers

Mount Phou Si is a hill of 100 metres in the centre of the old town, on a peninsula bordered on one side by the Mekong and on the other by the Nam Khan. It is a local religious site with several Buddhist shrines: Wat Tham Phou Si halfway up and Wat Chom Si at the summit. It has views of the town and the river systems. Because the two rivers frame the old town, they are the easiest way to keep your bearings on a first evening. Go up before the show if the weather is clear, and keep in mind that the hill is a religious site, so dress and behave as you would at a temple.

Wat Xieng Thong by day

Wat Xieng Thong stands on the northern tip of the peninsula. King Setthathirath built it around 1560, and it remains one of the most important Lao monasteries. Its main hall, the sim, has nine cascading roofs, and the interior walls are red and black with gold stencils of mythological scenes. A daytime visit is a good prelude to an evening of Buddhist storytelling, because the symbols on the walls, the dharma wheel and the tree of life, are the ones the show draws on. The ceiling of the sim shows dharma wheels, symbols of Buddhist law and of the circle of reincarnation, and the rear gable carries a glass mosaic of the tree of life.

The night market

At the end of the main street is a night market where stalls sell shirts, bracelets and other souvenirs. Wikivoyage places it on Sisavangvong Road and says it caters to tourists, with vendors who are pleasant to deal with and not pushy. It is an easy walk before or after a show, and because it is a stroll and not a seat, it does not compete with a performance for your evening. Leave shopping to the walk home, and carry a small bag, since the stalls sit along the street and the walk may take longer than you plan.

What to eat

Local dishes include Or lam, Luang Prabang sausage, mokpa (steamed fish), and kaipen, a dried river-weed snack. A dinner of those dishes suits the hour before the show, or the hour after it. Because the performance has a welcome before it and an optional farewell song and dance after it, it is easiest to plan dinner on one side of the evening and not in the middle. Order what the stall or restaurant recommends, and ask about spice before you start. Mokpa, the steamed fish, and kaipen, the dried river weed, are the dishes that most clearly belong to the town and its rivers, and either suits a meal before a performance.

Where Buddha's Light fits

The show is staged in the evening and lasts about an hour, and the ticket gives 1 hour to 100 minutes. A welcome opens the night, and a farewell song and dance of about 10 to 15 minutes closes it, optional for guests. Your confirmation carries the start time for your date, so build the rest of the evening backwards and forwards from it. The seating areas differ only in refreshments, so there is no reason to book early for a better view. Do book ahead in busy weeks, since the booking calendar is the only place that shows which dates and areas are open.

Read next: Buddha's Light show: tickets and areas

Weather and season

Rain falls mostly from May to October, the rainy season in Laos, while November to April is dry. A downpour on the way to the theatre is likely in the wet months, so carry a rain layer or take the pickup. Lao New Year falls in mid-April, the hottest time of the year, and celebrations in towns such as Luang Prabang can last more than a week. If your dates fall in that week, reserve your stay and your show seat early. The hot season is also the time when the festival water is poured, so expect to get wet if you walk out in the streets during the festival days.

Getting around

Luang Prabang is quite flat, which makes cycling an attractive option, and Wikivoyage lists tuk-tuks and minivans as the main choices for longer trips. Large buses and trucks are banned in the old town. Wikipedia names the Kuang Si Falls and the Pak Ou Caves among the natural sites, and the Haw Kham Royal Palace Museum among the historical ones, so daylight is the time for those. After dark, the walk to a theatre can be harder than it looks on a map, so look at the pickup options when you book. The booking calendar shows what is available for your date. If you ride a bicycle, return it before dark and take the pickup for the evening, since the roads are harder to read at night.

The morning after: the alms round

Every morning at sunrise, monks walk in a procession through the streets, accepting alms offered by local residents. It is a religious practice and not a show. Wikivoyage advises that anyone who wishes to take part should prepare the food or fruit themselves, and suggests watching from a distance instead of degrading the tradition. If you plan to see it, keep the evening before light, and read the etiquette guide first. The monks are in a procession and not on a stage, and Buddha's Light is a performance and not a religious service, which is one reason the two should not be confused.

Read next: Alms giving and temple etiquette

Another stage in town

Wikivoyage lists a Royal Ballet Theatre that stages one part of the Lao epic Phra Lak Phra Ram on set evenings of the week. That is classical dance-drama on a Lao epic, where Buddha's Light is a stage show of dance, music, drama, light and imagery on Buddhist teachings. They suit different evenings, and the dance guide explains the epic if you want to understand the difference before you choose. A traveller with several evenings in town could fit both, since the two performances use the same tradition of storytelling in different ways.

Read next: Lao dance, masks and the khaen

A sample evening

A first evening can run in this order: the view from Mount Phou Si before dark, dinner on one side of the show, the performance itself, and a walk past the night market afterwards. Swap the order if rain threatens. Leave temples and the alms round for the daylight hours, and leave the waterfalls and the caves for a separate day. This plan has only one fixed point, the performance, and everything else can move around it depending on the weather and your energy. Keep a plan for rain in your pocket: if the sky turns, move the view and the market to another night.

Who this isn't for

This plan does not suit travellers who have only one evening and want a late night out, because Luang Prabang is a town of early mornings and the alms round starts at sunrise. It also does not suit anyone who wants a dinner included with the show. Buddha's Light is a performance with optional refreshments, so the meal is yours to arrange. It also does not suit travellers who want a long programme, since the show runs about an hour.

• Keep one evening for the show and the rest for daylight sights.
• Take the pickup when it rains.
• Eat on one side of the performance.
• Allow for the alms round only if you can rise at sunrise.