We spent two nights here with our teenagers. It was lovely and we were relieved to not be on the main road. The position is great and a few minutes walk from everything. Lani and her pleasant ladies made us feel very safe and looked after. I enjoyed evenings reading on the gorgeous veranda after my girls had gone to sleep. Can't imagine that this place has changed much in the past 30 years so if you like large rooms , a garden, and simple pleasures like pots of coffee brought to you on the veranda, and nothing of great consequence happening, then you will love this place. There is no internet and that was part of its charm. Lani told me hers was the first guest-house to open after the war. She has a formula for quiet, simple and down-to-earth hospitality. It wasn't a great bargain but a fair price. Laos in general had higher accommodation charges compared to Cambodia and Vietnam.

Tucked into a little road off one of Vientiane's nicest tree-lined street, the Lani has a simple, peaceful atmosphere that makes it quite inviting. The rooms in the front are quite large and clean and comfortable - we stayed there coming and going out of Laos and were happy with both rooms, although the one we got downstairs (one the 2nd stay) seemed to run out of hot water rather more quickly than the one we had upstairs. Not the greatest breakfast but the coffee is guaranteed to jack you up!

For you light sleepers, you might want to take into consideration that it is right next to one of the city's minor Wats, and you may thus hear the monks next door who wake up with some minimal drumming and chanting very early in the am (seemed to be around 5am). I didn't mind it - in fact, I actually sort of enjoyed it and went back to sleep listening to it - but since not everyone would probably feel this way it seemed worth mentioning!

We stayed at the Lani - an old, colonial house with a beautiful garden for a week.. It was a delight. Lovely large room with comfortable beds, TV, airconditioning and free WiFi. Large clean bathroom with good shower. The staff were pleasant and we had time for several long conversations. Breakfast was good and taken in the garden and if you asked for something different they would provide it for you. Great situation right in the centre of town, loads of restaurants and bars nearby, but situated down a track by the side of a Wat which meant it remained quiet at night - apart from the occasional banging of drums first thing in the morning.

Some what run down, rooms were dingy, shower tiles falling off, etc. I was visiting friends in Vientiene and after dinner we went to hotel to catch up. They stayed pretty late and when they were leaving, the night guard approached them and started berating them. He informed us that we needed to leave the hotel in the morning and wanted money for the unregistered guests. The next morning, found another, much nicer property just around the corner. When I went to check out the staff seemed surprised. The manager had no idea about the previous evenings events and was particularily upset that we had paid the guard and not "gotten a receipt". She appologized and said that the guard "should" be fired (a receipt probably would have changed that). Not a pleasant stay at all.