Orange Robe Tours
Orange Robe Tours
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About
Orange Robe Tours is a profit-for-purpose social enterprise, based in Luang Prabang, Laos. We employ former Novices and Monks who have recently left the temple to lead culturally appropriate tours. This provides much-needed support during the transition from temple life to layperson life for our guides, and helps in the overall preservation of the traditional culture and customs of Laos.
Luang Prabang, Laos
Awards
Travellers' Choice
2024
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
Popular mentions
5.0
230 reviews
Excellent
216
Very good
10
Average
3
Poor
1
Terrible
0
Eleanor2022
6 contributions
Dec 2023 • Solo
Would highly recommend for anyone who wants the chance to listen and talk to a former novice monk about Buddhism (and anything else, i.e life in Laos, Buddhism in Laos) 😊 It was a relaxed environment at the temple and we chatted for a hour about Buddhism and we asked questions as we went along. Si was very thorough in his answers and had excellent English. I felt comfortable asking questions about Buddhism and his life as a monk. I could've talked for much longer. He had excellent English and could understand and interpret our questions and I learnt so much about Buddhism.
We then went inside the temple with Si explaining main areas and talked to us about different types of meditation, before practising with/alongside him. The temple was just for us so no one was watching us or with us, apart from our group, which I liked.
We explored sitting, standing and walking meditation. He was excellent teacher and made us feel comfortable. He asked us how many minutes etc, so no pressure and you could stop if you wanted too.
If you are into Buddhism, spirituality in Asia then I'd recommended this really enriching, authentic experience.
We also had the joy of seeing a little puppy and it's mum at the temple 😊😊
Thank you si, and orange robe tours xx
We then went inside the temple with Si explaining main areas and talked to us about different types of meditation, before practising with/alongside him. The temple was just for us so no one was watching us or with us, apart from our group, which I liked.
We explored sitting, standing and walking meditation. He was excellent teacher and made us feel comfortable. He asked us how many minutes etc, so no pressure and you could stop if you wanted too.
If you are into Buddhism, spirituality in Asia then I'd recommended this really enriching, authentic experience.
We also had the joy of seeing a little puppy and it's mum at the temple 😊😊
Thank you si, and orange robe tours xx
Written 6 December 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Yaelle
4 contributions
Jan 2025 • Couples
This is such an underrated experience. We were very lucky to be the only people on the tour that morning so we got to spend an hour with our lovely guide who is a former monk. He talked us through what life is really like as a novice and then a monk. But the conversations got much deeper too and we ended up talking about Buddhist beliefs and approach to life more generally. No question was off limits and the hour flew by. Best tour we’ve done in Laos.
Written 6 January 2025
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Eilidh H
2 contributions
Nov 2024 • Couples
This is a great tour which gives wonderful insight into the lives and practices of Buddhist monks and novices. It was fascinating to hear personal insights from our guide Alex, and he also gave us plenty of time and opportunity to ask questions. I’d really recommend this tour for anyone visiting Luang Prabang, it gave us a deeper understanding of the rituals and customs that we saw on our trip. Thank you Orange Robe Tours
Written 26 November 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Daydream09264185255
1 contribution
Nov 2024 • Family
The tour and guide was okay. Somehow we had the impression before booking, that it’s suitable for kids, and that you experience the temples behind the scenes. However it turned out to be rather a classic sightseeing tour of the public parts of the temples, yes, with much better explanations of the life of monks, but at the end not so special as expected. For our 3 kids age 6-10 not suitable at all, they felt bored after 15min. The guide did not interact with them, he was just monotonously talking.
I could recommend the tour if it’s your first time getting in touch with temple life in South East Asia. For us that have lived in the region, and visited Luang Prabang already 2nd time, there were limited new insights, and as mentioned, not suitable for kids. Total family costs of 70 USD are overpriced compared to other activities in town in our opinion.
I could recommend the tour if it’s your first time getting in touch with temple life in South East Asia. For us that have lived in the region, and visited Luang Prabang already 2nd time, there were limited new insights, and as mentioned, not suitable for kids. Total family costs of 70 USD are overpriced compared to other activities in town in our opinion.
Written 3 November 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Sabaidee, thank you for taking the time to leave us a review, we're truly sorry the tour did not live up to your expectations.
While we don’t advertise our tours as being suitable for children, we have taken your feedback on board and included a note on our website to make it clear that our tours are primarily aimed towards adults. Thank you for bringing this to our attention and we hope that this will help future customers.
With regards to pricing, our tours are carefully priced to ensure we pay our guides a fair, dignified wage. Our prices also ensure we are able to give back to the temple and local community. I hope this provides some clarity into our pricing.
Written 5 November 2024
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Sarah
3 contributions
Mar 2023
Me and my friend did the combination tour (Cultural Temple Tour & Guided Meditation Experience) and we highly recommend! Our guide (Tay) taught us a lot about Buddhism and we could ask a lot of questions. We asked questions about Buddhism, the lifestyle of a monk, almsgiving, the Novice practice, meditation et cetera.
We started the tour with a walk around the temple. Tay pointed out certain parts of the temple, and gave an explanation what they meant.
Afterwards we did a guided meditation inside the temple, which was also a great experience. We did 4 meditations: sitting, walking, standing and sitting again. It was very calming and interesting to learn the techniques that the monks use.
Overall, would 10/10 recommend to learn more about the Laotian culture!
We started the tour with a walk around the temple. Tay pointed out certain parts of the temple, and gave an explanation what they meant.
Afterwards we did a guided meditation inside the temple, which was also a great experience. We did 4 meditations: sitting, walking, standing and sitting again. It was very calming and interesting to learn the techniques that the monks use.
Overall, would 10/10 recommend to learn more about the Laotian culture!
Written 17 March 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Sabaidee Sarah! Thank you for joining us on your and for leaving a review of your experience— this is super helpful in our attempt to spread the word about what we do. We could not be more pleased that you enjoyed your tour. Safe travels onwards!
Written 26 March 2023
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Casper Roosenboom
6 contributions
Jan 2023 • Couples
Our guide was very kind and could tell us about many details of the temple routine. It was mainly focused on buddism as a religion. In the guided meditation it was very interesting to learn about the 4 different ways of meditating. All in all we thought it was slightly expensive, but are aware off the contributions it makes for the temple community and would definitely recommend taking the tour as it made us more curious about buddism!
Written 10 January 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Sabaidee Casper. Thank you for coming on our tours and for taking the time to leave a review. As you mention our tours are are carefully priced in order to allow us to give as much back to the community as possible, while also paying our guide a dignified wage.
Khop jai!
Written 11 January 2023
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
GhettoGirlTravels
Detroit, MI485 contributions
Jan 2023 • Solo
Orange Robe Tours is a profit-for-purpose social enterprise and should be considered a first stop before attending the popular early morning Alms Giving Ceremony in Luang Prabang. This cultural Buddhist tour is led by a former Novice or Monk. Attendance will help tourists understand why they should not chase after Novices and Monks, (to get that perfect Instagram picture), use flash setting on cameras, or drop money into the collection containers. Who wants to eat sticky rice that tastes like paper currency? The tour has two sections, an hour each. The first is a tour of the Temple. The second is a meditation lesson. You don’t need to do both, as I did. I really enjoyed learning methods for sitting, waking, and standing meditation. Our guide was open to answering any and all questions and the tour is a great way to giveback to the community. So, while not as grand (and social media content worthy), as the Alms Giving Ceremony, you’re still doing good in the Hood!
Written 28 January 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you for such a detailed review of our tours GhettoGirlTravels, we are really glad you enjoyed your time with us. Khop jai!
Written 15 February 2023
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Dimitri G
1 contribution
Nov 2023 • Friends
We’ve decided to start the visit of Luang Prabang immediately with this tour, because we thought it would be interesting to understand (in such a spiritual city with so many Buddhist temples) what Buddhism is, what their ‘rules’ are, their spirituality, the symbols and architecture on their temples, etc. You also learn the difference between novices and monks, their different rules and respective everyday life habits. The plus of this tour is that it’s given by a former novice or monk, which changes the whole atmosphere as you can imagine. We were also lucky because we got a really amazing guide (he is called Tay). I would really recommend him, because he is very generous in his explanations (which are so INTERESTING!), attentive, makes sure you understand everything, always asking if we have more questions before going on and speaks a very good English. We also did the one-hour meditation. There, you really understand what their meditation is… I do meditation in Europe, but I found it different and, therefore, interesting. I’ll try that one once back home. So, I would do it if I were you, it’s an experience and it’s teaching you an ‘atmosphere’ you will feel and see during your entire trip, which you wouldn’t understand if you were not given the keys for…
Written 9 November 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Andrew Y
1 contribution
Feb 2023 • Family
Fantastically thoughtful and generous tour with Tay who patiently talked me through the history and practice of Buddhism writ large but also specifically in Lao - even my 7yo enjoyed it! As a former novice monk, hearing his experiences of time spent living in a temple was equal parts humbling and inspiring. It was also super useful to learn about the role temples and Buddhism play in broader Lao society, culture and education. Tay took us through Wat Pa Phai and explained the purpose of each of the buildings, Buddhist symbols as well as daily routines. Couldn’t recommend this highly enough. If possible, try to organise this near the start of your time in Lao. The percentage of Lao boys/men who spend time as novice/monks is higher than I expected which led to some enriching chats with other Laotians we met on this trip.
Written 23 February 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Sabaide Andrew! Thank you for taking the time to join us on a tour, and for leaving such a lovely review. Tay and all of us at Orange Robe Tours really appreciate it. We hope you enjoyed your time in Luang Prabang!
Written 26 March 2023
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Daniella A
London, UK8 contributions
May 2023 • Friends
Our tour has been a highlight of our trip so far! It was incredibly enlightening to hear of the inner workings of life as a monk/novice, and our tour guide was brilliant- patiently answering all of our questions with great detail. The guided meditation was great- we left feeling very peaceful!
Written 31 May 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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