A magnificently preserved fusion of historical 19th and 20th century French-style and Lao urban structures prompted UNESCO to add Luang Prabang to their World Heritage List in 1995; this has played a major role in the protection and preservation of the area's romantic townscape. It lies nestled at the confluence of two great rivers, the Nam Khan and the Mekong in northern Laos, and was the royal capital and seat of government under the Kingdom of Laos.

Despite the speed of modernization, Luang Prabang has remained a timelessly preserved vestige of its colorful past, with broad cobbled thoroughfares parallel the river, flanked by swaying bougainvilleas, and traditional twin-gabled wooden stilted houses and two-storey colonial brick and stucco villas with pitched tile roofs - a French provincial design modified with balconies, verandas and internal corridors.