Released: 17th June, 2008

How out of date is your guidebook for Luang Prabang?

This Travelfish Guide is the most up-to-date guide to Luang Prabang -- on or offline. With this 24-page PDF guide in hand, rest assured you'll have the most recently researched and written guide available.

Traditional guidebooks like Lonely Planet or Rough Guides take anywhere from six months to a year -- following the completion of on-the-ground research -- to get onto the bookshelves. The Lonely Planet for Laos was published in August 2007, the Rough Guide in February 2007 -- so if you've one of those in your pack, in an absolute best case scenario, you'll be travelling on the back of research that is a year to eighteen months out of date.

This Travelfish Guide to Luang Prabang was researched on the ground in the second quarter of 2008 and was published in mid June 2008 -- travel guides don't get any fresher than that!

Does it matter? Sure it does. Laos was named by the New York Times as the top country destination for 2008 and it's now seeing more foreign tourists than ever before, with 1.6 million expected by 2010. With our updated research you can rest assured that you'll have the latest information available and you'll hit the ground running.

But don't listen to us, here's what Lonely Planet had to say about Travelfish in their 2007 Laos guidebook:

"Travelfish: The most consistently updated website for independent travellers in Southeast Asia."

Traditional guidebooks work within tightly constrained work limits -- not us. This Luang Prabang Guide includes more than 50 reviews of hotels and guesthouses alone. Many of these reviews are supplemented by opinions from other Travelfish readers, so you'll get a variety of opinions -- not just our viewpoint. And need it be said, unlike some travel publishers, Travelfish researchers don't take freebies for any kind of coverage -- positive or negative -- so be comfortable in knowing there's no special interests at work.

Other features include detailed maps, comprehensive information on activities and sights, restaurant and bars, and, of course, detailed transport and timetable information.

But that's not all. The guide also includes complete coverage of the northern towns of Nong Kiaow and Muang Ngoi -- both ideal overnight trips out of Luang Prabang. There's also a raft of suggestions on how to get the most out of Pimai Lao (Lao New Year) and a comprehensive feature on how to travel from Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang.

All this for just US$4.95 -- less than the cost of a massage.

We're so sure of this, that we support all Travelfish Guides, including this Luang Prabang edition, with a 7-day, money-back guarantee -- no questions asked. If you don't feel it's up to scratch, then send it back to us within seven days and we'll refund your money on a single Guide purchase*.

We've been visiting Laos regularly since 1994, and Travelfish is, without doubt, the most comprehensive online resource to the country. This PDF guide is 100% original Asia travel intelligence authored by dedicated travellers who know what they're talking about.

Price: US$4.95