Chateau Orientale Resort

It is very private. Restaurant is a great place to chill while watching daily life of the people and elephants in the river.

My second stay at Chateau Orientale. One of the most beautifully appointed properties to be found anywhere. 30 minutes from Luang Prabang, it sits above the Nam Khan River with views out of a storybook. Only superlatives for this unique place in the world.

Nothing.

Location is amazing. Staff lovely. All round amazing.

NA

beautiful place

Wow! Wow! WOW!!! This exceptional hotel is now one of my two favourites in the world. Where do I start... Grounds: From the moment you get out of the car, you'll realise you've arrived somewhere exceptional. You may even witness an elephant amble up the driveway if you arrive in the morning at about 7:30!!! There are large carved antique entranceways and open-sided buildings that create features along a meandering path through the grounds. At times, you wander across a pond, with stepping stones cleverly placed and dragonflies dancing between lotus blossoms. Location: the property sits perched high on the riverbank, looking out across a village, lush valley, and distant mountains. Butterflies are absolutely everywhere, and the only sounds are those of nature. Rooms: large, airy, and with comfortable beds, my twin room had its own large balcony overlooking the river. The bathroom had a bath with chrome feet, and the tapware/ basin was embossed brass. Carved antique wooden doors and wooden shutters completed the look. Facilities: When you walk into the main building, your jaw will be on the ground and your head swivelling from side to side. It's crammed full of antiques from India and is more like a gorgeous home than a hotel reception/ restaurant. Small turret-like rooms with pillows for sitting on make you feel like a princess. There's also an upstairs area (go up the spiral staircase), but you will probably stay glued to downstairs like we did, studying the detail of the decor, and watching elephants cross the river. Pool: overlooking the river, it may be smaller in size, but the pool is simply perfect. It is pretty, has shade where there is a swim up bar, and has seats built into the pool on the sunny side, for relaxing. Again, the decorations are unique (throwback to Germany), and there are shaded hidden spots for reading or watching the world flow by.

If you can find ANY fault with this property, you need to look at yourself first. There is nothing to improve, nothing to complain about, and even the most sour, difficult guests would find themselves smiling and happy.

Amazingly beautiful location by the river, quiet (though we did hear some loud music coming from afar 🤪), we were the only customers so we had the swimming pool for ourselves (and everything else actually 😅), the kitchen looks like a western castle from the middle Ages with a touch of orientalism (Marroccan). I've seen the most beautiful furniture at Le chateau oriental and our cupboard looked like it came straight out of a Grimm tale. We enjoyed the balcony and the bathroom had a bathtub as well as a shower room. The room was spotless. Staff were absolutely delightful. We were treated like princesses. I recommend the elephant activity: you get to feed, brush and wash the elephants and the staff are very helpful. A dream place for sure.

We didn't particularly appreciate the fireflies? Not sure what they were but little flying insects attracted to light. They literally flew all over the room and balcony and ended up in tens of thousands all over our floor, dead? Some were moving. We had to use the available rugs to get rid of them. Maybe a broom inside the room would be useful?

Breakfast was fine . Location for us was perfect away from everything and room had great views

You could hear the people in the room moving around upstairs When booking we hadn’t realised the Elephant Sanctuary was part of the hotel . We saw tourists riding elephants which I think is wrong and query the name “ “sanctuary “.

This Hotel is one of the beautiful Hotels where i ever been ...it the rooms the hotelarea the Nature around is amazing . everything was fine and for Sure we will come Back

Beautiful location on a river overlooking mountains with elefant sanctuaries close by. Well designed, pictures are accurate. Would definitely come back for a few days, very relaxing and peaceful.

Staff were not trained well and it was hard to communicate (but due to the distance from the Luang Prabang, it is understandable that most staff come from a very local village, which I like and support). Overall not super clean but better than most "rustic" places we stayed in. Definitely more of an upscane rustic. Worste part was that the two elefants linked to the property are not yet being handled in the best way possible and even elephant riding was happening (possibly only by the guides and not by tourists- but it should just stop).