Kuang Si Waterfall – how to visit it from Luang Prabang

Luang Prabang is the biggest city in the North of Laos and yet it’s small enough to find your way through it on foot. It offers many temples (wats), beautiful sunset views over the Mekong, and one of the most beautiful waterfalls in the world. Especially the spectacular Kuang Si Waterfall. Go see for yourself!

The most famous waterfalls to visit are Kuang Si and Tad Sae. Kuang Si is good to go to all year round while the boats to Tad Sae only run in the wet season (October to late April) and a few weeks past that. By the way, Laos is nice to visit all year round. Even in the wet season, it doesn’t rain all day. Rather short but strong.

How to get to Kuang Si Waterfall

• Get a tuk-tuk for 250k kip per tuk-tuk (good for up to eight people).
• hop on a shared van (40k kip per person)
• drive yourself on a scooter (rent is 90-120k kip per day, which is more expensive than in other places in SEA. However, with that, my hostel Aham Backpackers still seemed to have the best prices).

By scooter, it’s very easy as there are not many cars on the road and the way is well signposted. Kuang Si waterfall is 39 km out of town and it is pretty much one single road to get there.

It took us about an hour, and we drove past a buffalo farm and an elephant camp.

At the waterfall, there are some restaurants. Parking the scooter cost 2k kip and the entrance fee was 20k.

At the beginning of the walk, you can observe the cute moon bears with their fluffy heads and long tongues. They had been rescued from poachers.

2 mins later you reach the first bridge with view on the lowest levels of the waterfall. Already, it’s very picturesque. We continued a little on the dirt path on the right of the bridge, but it just led through the muddy and steep jungle and wasn’t worth to take it. Therefore, we returned and walked up on the official path on the left side of the river.

We reached the pool where you can swim, and the waterfall was impressive too. Unfortunately, there had been a long and heavy rain the previous night and the pool was the color of milk tea instead of a clear blue. It was still nice though. We continued along smaller levels, and, in my mind, I rated it as my top three prettiest waterfall past Angel Falls on Cebu and Erawan Waterfall in Thailand. Little did I know that there was much more to come. The noise of the water got louder and suddenly we faced a huge and broad drop of water, very close in front of us. This was better than Niagara Falls as you can walk across a bridge directly at the bottom in front of the falls and be impressed by the water force.

After taking nice photos, continue on the steep climb on the right side. It will get your heart pumping in this heat but the view at the top will be worth it. Up there, the waterfall looks like an infinity pool reaching into the lush jungle. Walk across the shaky wooden bridges and then take the path down on the other side of the falls. You will reach stairs directly along the side of the waterfall which are actually flooded from the falls!!! There, I took off my flipflops in order not to lose them. Otherwise, I was fine with flip-flops, but sneakers still would have been more comfortable.

Then, you are back down at the platform at the bottom of the falls.

This whole experience turned Kuang Si waterfall into the most amazing waterfall in the world.

We went there shortly before 10 a.m. and it was still okay with the crowds. We stayed until noon when there were already more people. In the afternoon it would fill up even more.

How to get to Tad Sae Waterfall

This waterfall is only good to visit in the wet season and you can take a shared van (if there are enough people) or hire a tuk-tuk (about 140k kip return). The best way to go is by scooter as it actually only is 20 km out of Luang Prabang (find the ferry spot on maps.me) and the ride goes through a cool valley and a nice “mountain” pass. The last 500 meters were a dirt road and a bit slippery after the rain but not too bad.

To park the scooter, it costs 5k and the return trip ferry to cross the river costs 20k if you are alone or 10k per person if you are more than one. I waited, to join up with someone else. However, you have to come back in the same boat with the people you came with. This wasn’t a problem though as we only got there at 3.30 and therefore all wanted to stay until closing time at 5 p.m.

The entrance fee is 15k kip. There you can also book tours to ride on an elephant or feed them. Unfortunately, they still use the wooden crates to sit on top of the elephant, which apparently hurts their back.

I imagine Tad Sae to look very pretty when the water and the pools are blue (not after heavy rains). Also, the main fall is pretty broad and nice. However, compared to Kuang Si, Tad Sae is just another waterfall. Yet, we were the only people there and had the whole pool to ourselves to swim and jump. How cool 🙂

If you like waterfalls, definitely pay a visit to picturesque Luang Prabang and its surroundings.

Read more about Laos in my I love Laos travel guide which you can buy on Amazon in English and in German.