Welcome to Pha Tad Ke
We are excited to invite you to our garden and look forward to creating memorable experiences for you.
Pha Tad Ke is privately funded and 100% of our revenues are reinvested in the garden’s development, research and education ! Please see an updated list of our experiences here. And thanks again for your support!
Opening Hours
8 am-6 pm - Garden and Reception closed every Wednesday(Closed one week for Lao Pimai in April and during boat racing festival)
Getting Here
We are located 15 minutes, by boat, from Luang Prabang. To access the garden visitors can catch a boat from our downtown reception in Ban Wat That. Included in ticket price.
Accessibility
Most of the gardens are easy to access and walk on our gravel paths as well as the entrance to our cafe and reception. If you have trouble with stairs then we can organize a car to drive to the garden instead of taking our boat over the Mekong.For more information on transport and price please contact our reception at: reception@pha-tad-ke.com.
Boat Times
The boat leaves every hour to the garden from our downtown reception, starting at 9:00am and returns to town every hour until 5:30pm. The boat ride is included in your excursion ticket.
Admissions
Adult Excursion $25
Children under 12 are free
Includes:
Orchid talk (11am and 3pm every day in the Public Nursery)
Bamboo handicraft workshop (10-11am and 2-3pm every day in the Baci Sala)
Herbal tea tasting (all day in the cafe)
For information on other activities Read more here !
Reservations and Ticketing
Please purchase your ticket at our downtown reception in Ban Wat That before boarding.
Download our brochure for free here
For special requests, group bookings, or reservations, please contact:
bookings@pha-tad-ke.com
Tel: 020-22540999
Visit Us
What's On
FREE Daily Activities
Conservation talk (11am and 3pm every day in the Public Nursery).
Bamboo handicraft workshop (10-11am and 2-3pm every day in the Baci Sala).
Herbal tea tasting (all day in the cafe, please ask our hospitality staff).
Exhibition in our Baci Sala
Seeds of Culture: from living plants to handicrafts
For the next three months we are delighted to show "Seeds of Culture", an exhibition curated by Dr. Yukino Ochiai, an ethnobotanist at Ryukoku University in Kyoto, Japan, and produced by the Traditional Arts and Ethnology Centre.
Job's Tears - Coix lacryma-Jobi L.
Job's tears is a wild and cultivated grass plant that is indigenous to Southeast Asia - learn how it is used as food, medicine, and ornamentation in Laos, Myanmar, Southern China, and Thailand.
Read more here in the blog from our resident ethno-botanist Biba Vilayleck.
In the Garden
We are now at the start of the dry, cool season in Laos. It's a great time to visit the garden as everything is still lovely and green, and the lower temperatures are good for walking around.
Ethno-botany Garden - Learn all about the local use of plants for a variety of situations - from skin burns to cloth dying. This garden is divided up into plots, each with a focus, and there are lots of information boards about the plants displayed.
Pha Tad Ke Cave (approx. 1 hr return) – Visit our cave and enjoy the sights and sounds of the forest along the way. You can see unique limestone plant species along your route; Keep your eyes peeled for orchids in particular. Nestled at the base of Pha Tad Ke Mountain, our cave is home to a Buddha and provides a moment of tranquillity after your short trek from the gardens.
The cave hike requires a moderate fitness level. We STRONGLY recommend hiking boots and a full bottle of water.
View Point - Our new view point (in the upper arboretum) gives a great view out over the surrounding area. You can see the buffalo in the fields nearby, and all the way across the Mekong and back towards Luang Prabang itself.
Birds – You can hear many different bird calls in the garden but they can be harder to spot. Be quiet, still and patient and you'll likely get to see a few. Our cafe is a good place to view them from, as many like to hang around in the trees around our pond. You may also spot a bird of prey circling in the warm thermals above our mountain. Keen bird watchers are encouraged to bring binoculars.
Courses
We run a variety of courses and trainings for Luang Prabang locals and international visitors such as:
A 3-months, full-time horticulture course. This course is taught in Lao and is focused on training currently unemployed young people from ethnic minorities and supported by LUXDEV.
A 2-days introduction to ecology and biodiversity for Lao tour guides and international students.
Field-botany trips for Lao and International University Students.
A 5-days horticulture course for local hotel gardeners.
Perma culture - Starting 2019 when our demonstration and research perma culture farm will open to the public we will propose half and full day visits to international visitors. A 6-days training course for local farmers and a 2-weeks perma culture design course in collaboration with established international designers.
If you/someone you know might be interested please get in touch with us via the Contact Us section of our website. We can provide all the information documents about these in Lao or English.