Things to do
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Bolaven Plateau
Coffee grows well at around a thousand metres on volcanic soil east of Pakse, where waterfalls drop off the escarpment at Tad Fane and Tad Yuang and Katu villages keep their own weaving. A loop of road takes two or three days by motorbike, with roasteries offering tastings along it. Nights at that altitude are cool enough for a jacket even in the wet season.
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Don Det
Backpackers have based themselves on this island for years, on a sunrise side of bungalows over the water and a quieter southern end of rice fields and buffalo. A disused French railway bridge links it to Don Khon, where a trail reaches the Li Phi falls. Boats run from Nakasang, and power and water can be patchy at the southern end.
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Khone Phapheng Falls
Sheer volume makes this cataract on the Mekong remarkable. The river funnels through rock ledges near the Cambodian border and blocks navigation upstream, which is why the French once built a railway across the islands to portage cargo. Walkways and platforms line the Lao bank, and the flow peaks after the rains in August and September.
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Si Phan Don
Four thousand islands fill a braided stretch of the Mekong above the Cambodian border, where the river spreads wide and drops over rapids. Don Khong, Don Det and Don Khon carry guesthouses, colonial rail remains and hammocks. Irrawaddy dolphins survive in a deep pool below Don Khon. Water levels change the boats and the beaches by season.
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Vat Phou
A Khmer temple older than Angkor climbs a hillside toward a spring its builders held sacred, its causeway lined with sandstone posts and its upper sanctuaries reached by steep laterite stairs. Carvings of Shiva and a crocodile stone survive near the top. Early morning suits the climb, and a shuttle covers the flat approach.