Laos Shopping

Where to Shop and What to Buy in Laos

Laos is an excellent destination for anyone interested in picking up elaborate handicrafts. Hill- tribe silks, arts, crafts, home-furnishings, jewellery and couture-quality textiles dominate the market. Although many of these products are available in Thailand, some of the things listed above are unique to Laos and its hill-tribes. In buying traditional crafts such as silks and carvings, tourists are invariably helping to support a still-growing and fragile economy.

Lao women wear the traditional phaa sin - a wraparound skirt. The phaa sin is worn with a silver belt and you will soon notice it is worn by school and university students and government office workers. A vast choice of phaa sin, shawls, bags and jewellery can be found in the morning market and around Vientiane. As well as traditional Lao weavings, you will find hill-tribe embroidery, wall hangings and quilts. The inherent art-form of weaving has been practiced in Laos since the 14th century; subsequently it has attracted the attention of affluent and educated western based weavers who have descended on Laos to re-establish the trade that dwindled so rapidly under the Communist regime - the vast majority of which operate on a fair trade basis, working to increase sustainable development within the country.

Champasak Shopping

As with every city in Laos, there is a Morning Market selling fresh meats, vegetable, and food ingredients. While souvenirs like weaving silk, silverware, jewellery, antiques and hill-tribe products can be found from stalls located surrounding most of Champasak's attractions like found at temples. When in Champasak, don't forget to try (or even buy) Laos' famous Arabica Coffee grown on the Bolaven Plateau. Read More...

Luang Prabang Shopping

Much like Vientiane, Luang Prabang trades in handicrafts, art, textiles and jewelry. Be sure to explore the night markets such as Thalat Sonpao or Thalat Dalat, where Northern ethnic hill-tribe people sell handicrafts and creative textiles such as hand-sewn bedding, bags and many other distinctive souvenirs. The numerous gift shops around town are good for picking up couture-style textiles and quaint household objects. Read More...

Savannakhet Shopping

Savannakhets, stands Laos’ only Special Economic Zone (SEZ) or the Savan-Seno. At the borders where Savannakhet bridges with Mukdahan (Thailand) is a large active junction where ethnic minority people from the two countries trade. Read More...

Vientiane Shopping

Laos is an excellent destination for those interested in picking up elaborate handicrafts and Vientiane is the best place to do so. Hill tribe silk, arts, crafts, home-furnishings, jewelry and couture-quality textiles are all readily available within the city. There are quite a few markets taking place around Vientiane. Read More...

Antiques

There are many antique stores littered around the bigger cities of Vientiane, Luang Prabang and Savannakhet, where clothes, Asian pottery, musical instruments, jewellery, carvings and coins can be found. Please note that fines are enforced to those caught trying to leave the country with Lao antiques or Buddhist artefacts.

Carving

From the simple and mundane to the aesthetic and highly spiritual, Lao craftsmen can carve a wide variety of attractive pieces from wood, bone and stone. Like most Laotian arts and crafts, religious imagery and figures such as the Buddha provide the subject and source of inspiration.

Authentic opium pipes can still be bought in Laos (for ornamental purposes) but ivory carvings will be confiscated by most countries if found in your luggage, so probably best steer clear.

Jewellery

The crafting of gold and silver jewellery is another skill at which the Lao people excel. Many of the best examples of silver jewellery to be found in the country are the work of several of the hill tribes, who use silver and gold for portable wealth and inheritance purposes. The majority of jewellery shops trade primarily in silver and gold, which can be bought at a cheaper price than in neighbouring Thailand. Laos gold is 99.99% pure and is sold at a set price per gram. You can get various gemstones, gold and silver ornaments and jewels, making it a good place to design and customize jewellery.

Many westerns find the look of Laos gold to be artificial due to its brassiness, but it is in fact genuine. The central markets in Vientiane and Luang Prabang have a great variety of souvenirs and unlike the private shops which have fixed prices, bargaining is acceptable. However, it should be noted that some silver and copper items exported from Laos are subject to tax according to weight.

Laos Coffee

Lao known as the best place in Southeast Asia to grow coffee. Laos coffee is often called Pakxong as it usually grown around the town of Paxong onthe Boloven Plateau.

The quality in flavor and consistency can be found in both Laos arabica and robusta. The duty free shop in Savannakhet offers a wide choice of Laotian beans while a number of stalls on main streets serve arabica with condensed milk in glasses.

Weaving Silk

The art of weaving is still very much a home industry in Laos, where some of the finest silk and cotton weavers in the world can be found in the smallest of communities.

Traditional designs and patterns vary from province to province, and the intricate work can be purchased much cheaper at the source than from many handicraft stores, markets and hotel shops. Antique woven pieces are still available but are becoming increasingly rare, often fetching very high prices.