Most tourists visit Phonsavan because they want to see the Plain of Jars. It is a sleepy little town not a wide variety of restaurants and far not as many tourists as in Luang Prabang. 35 years ago this town was bombed to the ground. No buildings left there was no water or electricity so it was newly built from zero also this part of Laos was the most bombed from all. There are still many bombs left in the ground around town so only walk the area where the bombs were cleared unfortunately this is not a place to hike. Since the city is 2000 meters above sea level it can get really cold during the night bring some warm clothes. There are 4 ATMs in town however none of the 4 was working while we stayed there. I had to take a cash advance on my credit card at the hotel for a 5% fee. Many tourists were trapped with no money becuase of this. The problem is that there are only one bank has ATMs in this town so if one doesn’t work chances are that the rest will not work either.
The hotels however are very cheap. Even in a big hotel you can get a room for under $20. Most guesthouses do not offer Wifi only bigger hotels do. There are daytrips to the Plain of Jars I am not sure about the cost though as we hired a motorbike for a day for 100.000 Kip.
We only stayed here for 2 days and there was a very positive surprise with the Happy Motorbike rental place owner. It turned out that this guy was living in Hungary for 5 years and could speak perfect Hungarian. That was the last thing we expected in some remote area of Laos 😀
He was so happy to see some people from Hungary that he invited us for dinner and for breakfast and gave us discount on the motorbike rentals 🙂 He actually does own the minivan station and the wedding house closeby and I bet a couple of more businesses and houses in the area. He does speak many languages including French, English, Hungarian, Japanese, Chinese, and Vietnamese. There is also a travel agency next to his place which I think is the cheapest in town. His place is located right next to the minivan station.
Phonsavan Map:
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