Laos forum

LP is a small town. Effectively there is the Mekong side and the Nam Khan side. I prefer staying on the latter because it is quieter.

And not that LP is San Francisco, but you sure get a different taste in the Warf vs the Castro vs SOMA.

that covers a much much larger area than central Luang Prabang where the majority of the guesthouses are. try looking at both on wikimapia/Google satellite view & compare their sizes.

behind Joma Bakery refers to the entire neighbourhood of Ban Houa Xieng (with neighbouring Ban Wat That often included). 'Joma' is easier than 'Houa Xieng' for non-Lao speakers to pronounce correctly. Joma Bakery & the PO are also the most easily recognisable landmarks along the main road for tourists who are new to a city that doesn't have much in way of street name signs, & where even locals don't really know the names of most streets.

to me there's the Disneyland area (2 of the most famous temples, gentrified, beautiful nicely conserved buildings turned into hotels, guesthouses, restaurants, travel agencies, galleries, spas, etc, see more foreign than local faces along the fully paved streets), the behind Joma Bakery area (every other house is a guesthouse, more local faces), the 'bar alley' (near Wat Aphay, whole bunch of bars that can get noisy at night), the 'old bridge' side (Ban Meunna, think it's the same quieter Nam Khan side that #2 mentioned), the 'China package tour groups' side (Phouvao Rd with Shell stations on either end), the 'old hospital-turned-Amantaka' side (quiet pleasant streets of Ban Viengxay & Ban Mano), & so on (many other 'sides', but with few - if any - guesthouses). the individual areas have different pockets of character within too. great place for a flaneur. have a look at hobomaps.com.

Thanks Wanderingcat, Hobomaps are always awesome. Do you have any additional thoughts on the Joma Bakery pocket vs the Nam Khan side of the river? Nam Khan sounds nice — I just don't want to be much more than a 10 minute walk to town. We were about that in Siem Reap and it was just right. I don't like being right on top of the late night scene as I'm usually up and down with the sun.

Same to you Glomer. Any more specific thoughts on the personalities of these little areas?

I personally avoided Joma (missionary-owned). I liked the area from the primary school (had breakfast at Café Ban Vat Sene everyday) to the tip of the peninsula, but also enjoyed the morning market on the other side of town. We were there just before Christmas, so Sisavangvong was quite crowded, but useful for atms/internet. My big regret is not making it to Nong Khiaw, so if you have time, go!