CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
657 km from Luang Prabang to Luang Prabang, about 9 h 57 of riding. On the way it passes Site 28, Site 52 and back through Site 28. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,250 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Before the sun is properly up, a line of monks in saffron robes walks barefoot along the main street of Luang Prabang, and townspeople kneel on mats to put handfuls of sticky rice into their bowls. The alms round, tak bat, is the daily heartbeat of the town, and it has been going on for centuries. Luang Prabang sits on a peninsula where the Nam Khan river meets the Mekong, ringed by green mountains, and for several hundred years it was the royal capital of the Lao kingdom of Lan Xang. The old town, with its gilded temples, wooden houses and French colonial villas, was listed by UNESCO in 1995, and it is one of the best-preserved towns in Southeast Asia.
Read the complete Town of Luang Prabang write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Town of Luang Prabang is where the day begins. Next is Site 28.
The Plain of Jars is one of the great archaeological puzzles of Southeast Asia: hundreds of carved stone jars, some taller than a person and weighing several tonnes, scattered across hillsides and meadows of the Xieng Khouang plateau in northern Laos.
Read the complete Site 28 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Site 28 comes up about 224 km into the recorded legs. Next is Site 52.
On a grassy ridge in the highlands of Xieng Khouang Province in northern Laos, hundreds of huge stone jars sit scattered among the grass, some as tall as a person, some tipped on their sides and some leaning against each other. This is the Plain of Jars, and Site 52, also called Ban Phakeo, is the most dramatic of the places where the jars can be seen. It has several hundred jars spread over hillsides with wide views across the valley, and it is the one that most tour groups choose. UNESCO listed the Plain of Jars in 2019.
Read the complete Site 52 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 329 km into the recorded legs you reach Site 52. Next is back through Site 28.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Site 28 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Site 28, late in the day. Next is Town of Luang Prabang.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Town of Luang Prabang write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Town of Luang Prabang. That is the ride.
Town of Luang Prabang → Site 28 is 224 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Site 28 → Site 52 is 105 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Site 52 → back through Site 28 is 88 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Site 28 → Town of Luang Prabang is 241 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.