Legend has it that in the year 1323, the inhabitants of the village Ban Luang Cheng in "Takka Sila" town were in the forest to cut bamboo.

Because of that experience, the villagers changed the town's name from "Takka Sila" to "Muang Xay", as the monk's name was "Paxay".

Many women from the surrounding villages of different ethnic groups come to Muang Xay to sell their products at the town markets, often spending hours walk, as they can get better prices there.

Due to its relatively high elevation, there are more variations in temperature during the year and a colder dry season in northern Laos than in the rest of the country.

Due to Oudomxay's location between hills and mountains, fog covers the town from evening to morning.

For some years, efforts have been made to encourage tourism in Muang Xay in order to ameliorate the region's poverty.

The support of DED aims to raise the incomes of the rural population and small-scale enterprises via tourism and thereby protect natural resources.

The tourism office offers guided trekking tours,[8] a Lao cookery course, and a workshop on traditional paper making.

Oudomxay has eight hotels and approximately 52 guesthouses,[10] most of them in the provincial capital of Muang Xay and the riverine traffic junction Pakbeng.

It has a length of more than 16 km, ceiling heights up to 50 m, a stream course flowing in the cave[11] and is rated "exceptional"[12] and "the most significant find and the biggest highlight" [11] in northern Laos by several speleological magazines.