The Louang Phabang tourist information office (Mon-Fri 8am-5pm; tel 071/212487) is on Phalanxai Road, about 140m downriver from the Silversmiths Fountain. The hand-drawn 3D map of the town is quite useful and available free at Louang Phabang and Vientiane airports.

Beyond having multiple spellings for each street name , some streets have as many as four different names, while other roads switch names as they wind through the city. For clarity's sake, we've chosen one street name and stuck with it. But, as elsewhere in Laos, locals prefer to use landmarks, such as monasteries, to identify parts of town: thus Ban Wat That ("Wat That district"), refers to the area south of Setthathilat Road, between Wat That and the Mekong River.

Although you can comfortably walk everywhere in Louang Phabang, bicycles are a great way of touring the old city. They're available at many guesthouses and shops on Xiang Thong Road ($1 per day). Motorbikes are no longer available to rent. To get out to the bus stations or airport you'll have to rely on the town's small fleet of tuk-tuks , which tend to congregate around Dala Market and the boat pier.