LAOS
1 day cycling in Luang Namtha
High ethnic diversity, traditional villages, National Protected Area

This bicycle tour offers easy cycling through the valley of the Nam Tha River. Surrounded by high mountain ranges, you cycle on mainly unpaved but smooth roads and visit many different ethnic groups, each of them having their own distinctive lifestyle.

Day 1: Luang Namtha
Around 8:30 am, meet at the Zuela Guesthouse, opposite the market in the center of town. Get an introduction by our guide and select your bicycle. The tour first leads through the town, before you enter a smooth unpaved road, which goes up to the That Luang Namtha Stupa. After visiting the stupa continue your ride along the hill slopes on the unpaved road, which passes a village of the Lanten ethnic people. A few kilometers further, we walk up the hilltop to the Tat Poum Pouk Stupa, in order to see a good view of the Nam Tha River valley. We continue to visit Ban Nam Ngaen. Observe the distillation of the famous Lao Rice whiskey, which is a common practice in almost all the households in Ban Nam Ngaen. Continue to Ban Nammat Mai, an Akha village, which has been resettled from inside the NamHa National Park. The people of this village still wear their traditional dress and practice their traditional lifestyle. From here, we follow the road through a Tai Dam village and beyond, through some rice and tobacco fields to reach the old town of Luang Namtha. Here, we stop for lunch at ‘The Boat Landing Guesthouse’, a rewarded Eco-lodge along the Nam Tha River. On the way back to town, we will have a look at a traditional house of the Kalom people in Ban Vieng Nuea, which serves as a community center for the village.

- Distance: approx. 20 km
- Duration approx. 5 hours
- Departure time: 8.30 am  
- Road condition: Mostly flat and 60% unpaved roads.
- Landscape: green flat river valley with mostly rice paddies. Great views over the valley and surrounding mountains.
- Bicycles: Mountain bikes, 24 gears with front suspension.
- Difficult Level: easy soft adventure
- Group size: 4 to 10 pax

Including:
English speaking guide
Drinking Water
Local lunch
Bicycle