The Kuang Si Falls

Kuang Si is a limestone waterfall of the terraced kind: calcium-rich water depositing travertine into a staircase of shallow basins, each holding a pool the pale blue-green that dissolved limestone produces. The main drop at the top is around sixty metres and falls into forest; below it the pools step down over several hundred metres, and several are open for swimming with wooden platforms and changing huts. The path in passes the Free the Bears enclosures, where Asiatic black bears taken from the bile and pet trades are kept.

What you actually see

• The pools - a staircase of travertine basins in pale blue-green, several of them swimmable.
• The main drop - a fall of around sixty metres at the head of the terraces.
• The bear enclosures - Asiatic black bears rescued from the bile and pet trades, at the entrance.
• The upper trail - a steep climb beside the fall to the stream above it, where the water enters.

When to go

November to April is the dry season, when the colour is at its strongest and the pools are clear. Heavy rain turns the water brown and the terraces lose the blue entirely, though the volume is greater. Early morning is the only time the pools are quiet, because the tuk-tuks from town start arriving around ten.

Honest expectations

By mid-morning in high season the lower pools are crowded and the walkways are queued. The water is cold, colder than people expect in the tropics. The trail to the top is steep, slippery and roped in places, and it is a genuine scramble rather than a stroll.

Nearby

Luang Prabang is about forty minutes away, and Tad Sae falls are on the other side of the town.