Our top 10 places to stay in and around Don Dhet
The price is about right
Whether Tena 1 Guesthouse is good or not depends on what you pay for the room, and we wouldn’t pay more than the 50,000 kip for a double that we were quoted as a walk-in customer.
That price is about right, which is paying 20,000 kip more than the usual basic bungalow and in return getting solid walls, a private bathroom and a river view. Climb the steep stairs to a communal balcony that towers over the water and commands a grand view.
Rooms have wooden floors, solid walls, beds with decent mattresses, fan and both windows and a glass panel door allowing in a generous amount of sunlight. The wetroom bathroom has an electric heated shower and a western toilet, though in the room we inspected, it was missing the toilet seat!
There’s a few more details to make you scratch your head like the fact that there is no mosquito net and no security bars on the window and some may not feel safe to leave the windows open at night. The balcony — what should be one of the selling points — has no hammocks or chairs and the owners are completely unresponsive.
The silly part is, if they replaced broken toilet seats, added a mosquito net and balcony loungers, they could charge more. For now, it’s just a guesthouse that may appeal to a traveller on a tight budget not keen on a bungalow or shared bathroom. We suggest you treat this as a walk-in choice. Check out the room (and ensure there’s a toilet seat) before accepting.
Address: Don Dhet, sunset side 350 m from boat landing
T: (020) 2272 2730;
Coordinates (for GPS): 105º54'51.71" E, 13º59'3.79" N
See position in Apple or Google Maps: Apple Maps | Google Maps
Room rates: Under US$10
What we were quoted as a walk-in.
| Dbl fan private bathroom | 50,000 kip | 50,000 kip |
Reviewed by
Cindy Fan
Cindy Fan is a Canadian writer/photographer and author of So Many Miles, a website that chronicles the love of adventure, food and culture. After falling in love with sticky rice and Mekong sunsets, in 2011 she uprooted her life in Toronto to live la vida Laos. She’s travelled to over 40 countries and harbours a deep affection for Africa and Southeast Asia. In between jaunts around the world, she calls Laos and Vietnam home where you’ll find her traipsing through rice paddies, standing beside broken-down buses and in villages laughing with the locals.
Our top 10 places to stay in and around Don Dhet
