I visited the Plains of Jars at the end of October just after the rainy season when the valley is still nice and green. It gets cold and chilly up here so if you are thinking of combining this with other areas in South East Asia be aware you need something warmer for the evenings here. I stayed at the Kongker Guest House which I don't really recommend but Mr Kong leads a colorful daily tour of the Plains, which I do recommend because it is cheap and gives you more than just information about the site, but maybe bit too much about the Secret War. If you are just interested to see the jars in maybe half a day you can hire a private tour for $50+ and decide how many of the 3 sites you want to see. In a way, seeing Site 1 shows you pretty much everything about the jars already and takes the longest to visit of the three. I will concentrate my the on the sites and not the tour, although I may want to mention that visiting the bombed old capital and the stupa are not worth the time and money.

Once you get to the first site you have a small museum about the history of the jars, theories more or less, but more than they had years ago when first trying to inscribe the place. Basically ICOMOS told them to do research into the jars and they have no chance of getting inscribed for just a bunch of stone structures. A university team from Australia came along and did so resulting in today's results with research continuing at some of the 52 sites that are mostly inaccessible for tourists, and those that are only be trekking on foot. As for Site 1, you then either walk or take a small golf cart to the range, which are in fact hills or jars. There are various generations of jars as can be seen by the alterations to the tops. These jars don't have lids and although there was one placed on a jar rather unfittingly, the “lids” are most likely grave markers for less prominent uses, perhaps poorer dead.

A big problem with the protection of the site is damage. Bombs did plenty during the war, nature did its job rather strongly with trees cutting right through some of the jars splitting them into shards, worst I found the Laotian tourists picnicking and photoshooting in the area, placing their stuff all over the jars and naturally sitting or leaning on them as well. This should be strongly discouraged by guides as the signs don't seem to mean anything, and our guide didn't seem to mind any of it either.

Sites 2 and 3 are less visited and only have a ticket booth. I found this nicer myself but it didn't add much to the experience either. They are not too far off and thus is a day trip.

My personal idea is that they might just store water in the jars for the dryer season, with wooden kids now gone. The graveyard idea doesn't seem quite right or a temporary placement for bodies is a little odd.

As for coming here, I took two cheap flights by a small LaoSkyway biplane that included a monk and a lady on a stretcher, but there is also a more expensive flight by Laos Air that takes you back to Vientiane. Some people take the bus but I only hear bad things about it.

Finally, MAG are doing a good job at clearing the areas of unexploded UXOs, with the 3 sites now perfectly save for visiting.