TIGER TRAIL

We had a really nice experience with Tiger Trail.
We did the 3 days tour biking, kayaking, hiking and visiting the villages in the mountains.
Homestays have been a really highlight of our travel and and an experience that you cannot do easily otherwise. We had the chance to participate to a village party and everyone was so welcoming!
Our guide Cha was really good and he makes us totally comfortable and safe in everything we were doing.
Definitely recommended if you want to take a glimp of authenticity and a real experience of ecotourism.
And... They provide loads of good food multiple time a day to be eaten in the craziest locations :)

Thanks all!

Réservation d'une excursion avec les éléphants auprès de l'agence. Bonne expérience. Nous avons eu un souci de rendez-vous le matin mais l'agence a bien réagi.
Cependant, revoir la description des activités sur le site web car ce n'était pas toujours les mêmes.

Bien situé face au Mekong.
Chambre propre avec balcon
Petit déjeuner buffet bien garni.
Une bonne adresse

I rarely leave bad reviews but I was so unimpressed with Tiger Trail. One of the main reasons I booked was because of the great reviews but I was sad indeed not to experience this.

The good: our guide, Chancey was FANTASTIC. Knowledgeable with brilliant English he gave us the best hikes. Really enjoyed it and getting to know him.

The bad: the office firstly, we walked in and they told us they had no tours, then we reminded them we had been talking on email and they suddenly remembered.
We booked the tour and they charged a 3% card fee which is pretty unusual when you pay large sums. The office staff were a mix of Laos and European, and I said hi to the European owner several times and he totally ignored me. The Laos staff were lovely.

We tried to book a tour sold as ‘eco lodge tour’ as it has private eco lodges because we were keen on hiking but not on staying with strangers. However they told us the eco lodge was not available but assured us we would have our own room in a home stay, so off we went.
Both home stays we arrived at, in two villages had no idea we were coming. The first family were so unwelcoming we felt really bad to be in their space (the village itself was very kind and welcoming!). We really felt forced on this family to stay, at the start we were told everyone in the same room, then they found space separately. We totally understand in some places it’s not possible to have your own room, but then don’t sell the tour on that fact-we wouldn’t have booked it!

Both times we arrived at the village we spent at least 2 hours waiting for the head of the village to arrive and tell us where we would be sleeping. What a waste of time in this beautiful area to spend hours sitting on the road waiting.

We arrived at the second village who were very kind but again no separate room, and even more-not allowed for couples to stay together! Again I respect this is cultural differences but the tour could have told us, and we would simply not have booked.

Then we went to see the eco lodge, and it is up and running but we couldn’t stay there apparently. We ended up just stopping the tour early and returning to Luang Prabang and paying for a hotel.
Both places didn’t have the accomodation tiger trail promised and indeed we asked if they would have. I don’t recommend them at all.