Where to eat and where to sleep in Don Det, Laos

Don Det is a tiny island in the Mekong, in the south of Laos close to the Cambodian border — the kind of place where relaxing and losing all sense of time happens far too easily.

We spent Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve, New Year's Day… ten nights in total on this little paradise of quiet; sharing smiles with locals and travellers, kids and adults alike.

Spending that long on the island let us work through a proper range of places to eat and sleep, which makes me feel fairly qualified to say what's worth your time — with a lot more accuracy and depth than any guidebook. Don Det was one of the highlights of our month in Laos, and if you're piecing together a southern loop it pairs naturally with the waterfalls at Tat Lo.

Playing with the children in Don Det

First, a quick orientation of the island.

• The northern beach has the ferry dock connecting to the mainland, plus a dense cluster of guesthouses, bungalows… and noise.
• Head south and it gets progressively quieter — and slightly cheaper.
• The west side of the island faces the sunset; it's popularly known as the Sunset side.
• The east side faces the sunrise: Sunrise side.

A note on exchange rates: 1 euro currently equals 10,400 kip.

Where to eat?

In the northernmost part of the island there's only one restaurant worth recommending — the others are disappointing, especially on price.

• Yasmin Indian Restaurant. Breads from 6,000 kip, vegetable curries from 15,000 and meat curries at 25,000. Portions are generous, the variety is good and the quality is solid. Go for dinner rather than lunch, as the bread selection dries up around midday.

Dinner at the Yasmin Indian restaurant

The Sunset side is where you'll find the most worthwhile restaurants:

• Nadao Restaurant, one of the first bungalow operations on that side of the island, does the best banana shakes on Don Det, though at 7,000 kip they're not the cheapest. It has sockets and Wi-Fi (password: 22334455). The food is good — the fried noodles with vegetables and eggs are worth ordering — though you can find cheaper elsewhere on the island.
• A little further along the Sunset side is Tenabungalows, which has the best value-for-money restaurant we tried on the whole island. The curry dishes are especially good, as are the omelette with tomato and the "sweet and sour" plates — wash it down with a coconut shake. I'd skip the pancakes (10,000 kip and you get a single standard-size crêpe) and the baguette with cheese.

Vegetable curry at Tenabungalows

• Next along is Sengthavan, also very good and only slightly pricier. They do breakfast sets for 20,000 kip that include 2 eggs cooked however you like, a warm baguette, butter, jam and a plate of mixed fruit, plus a hot drink — tea, coffee or Ovaltine. The pancakes are well worth ordering, as are the yellow curry dishes. They tend to be the quickest kitchen on the island, which makes them ideal for breakfast before leaving.
• A bit further on is the Happy Bar, which — alongside the "happy cookies" and "happy" everything else on the menu — does an excellent chocolate and banana rice pudding. Fair warning: the kitchen is painfully slow.
• And finally, five minutes further on, you'll reach an organic farm called Organic Path, where a friendly French couple who've been living on Don Det for over two years share food and conversation with visitors. The food is a little pricier, but the experience is worth it. For 50,000 kip you get whatever they've cooked that day — lasagne, vegetable patties, pizza — with a large olive-oil-dressed salad, bread and a slice of cake. If you just want to play pétanque, chat and eat a generous piece of cake, that'll cost you 10,000 kip.

Mango shake and chocolate pineapple cake at Organic Path

On the Sunrise side I can't recommend a single restaurant — nothing we tried there was any good.

Where to sleep?

We tried 3 different bungalow operations in total, all of them on the Sunset side, which I think is the best location — it shields you from the morning heat and lets you enjoy the sunset from your hammock.

• For my money the best bungalows are at Happy Bar — 30,000 kip gets you basic rooms with exterior sockets, decent-sized, a comfortable hammock, river views, quiet, and an excellent mattress. Downsides: the bungalows are old and not immaculate (though the bedding is clean), and the bathrooms are dirty.
• We also tried the bungalows at Nadao Restaurant, which have the advantage of clean bathrooms, Wi-Fi and in-room sockets, as well as spotless rooms. The catch: it is VERY noisy.
• And finally, the first bungalows we tried: Sunset Bay bungalows. They're fine but cold at night, the bathrooms are dirty, the bed is the most uncomfortable of the three and there are no sockets for charging. There is Wi-Fi in the restaurant that sometimes reaches the rooms (but again, no sockets), and they're quiet with nice river views. But the biggest problem is that they give you serious side-eye if you don't eat at their restaurant — and even more so if you try to charge your phone at their sockets while staying in their own bungalows. Given the terrible, painfully slow food on offer, who'd bother ordering anyway? I asked for a Pad Thai (fried yellow noodles with egg, vegetables, peanuts…) and got a plate of fried noodles with a bit of egg. No vegetables, nothing else.

Sunset Bay bungalows

Frequently asked questions

Should I stay on the Sunset side or the Sunrise side of Don Det?

For my money, the Sunset side wins. It shields you from the fierce morning heat, it's where the best restaurants are clustered, and you get to watch the sun go down over the Mekong straight from your hammock. The far north has the ferry dock and the densest cluster of guesthouses — handy on arrival, but also the noisiest. Head south for quiet and slightly lower prices.

How many days should you spend on Don Det?

However many you came for, plus a few more — that's the island's trick. Time genuinely dissolves here. We came and stayed ten nights without really meaning to. Two or three days is enough to unwind; a week lets you fall into the rhythm of the place properly.

What is there to do on Don Det besides eat and sleep?

Not much, gloriously. The whole point of Don Det is doing very little: hammock time, river swims, banana shakes, watching the sunset, and playing with the kids who'll happily adopt you for an afternoon. That slow tempo is exactly why people come — and why they end up staying far longer than planned.

I hope our extended stay on Don Det proves useful to anyone visiting the island in the future.