“We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us.” – Anonymous

Champasak

Location

Talk about Champasak, of course many people know the province attached with the famous destination named Pakse. Beside the province has its very long history with the impressive features related the power in the Mekong River Area. Today, Champasak is considered one of the important places for economy and tourism of Laos. And from here visitor who can explore different things fascinated in the largest province of this country.
Champasak is located in the west of the city. The province is bordered with Cambodia to the south and with Thailand to the west.

  • Districts: Pakse is the center city of the province and there are the districts like Champasak, Khong, Paksong, Sukhuma, Sanasomboon etc.
  • Climate: Champasak is in the area of tropical climate with the specific feature of hot and humid climate. There are the rain time from October to April and the dry time from May to September.   
  • Transportation: Travel conveniently by land, river way and airline to the city and from it to other provinces.

         The distance (by airline) is for reference as below:
         From Champasak to Ha Noi: 709 km
         From Champasak to Ho Chi Minh City: 433 km
         From Champasak to Luangprabang:  710 km
         From Champasak to Luang Namtha:  853 km
         From Champasak to Savannakhet:  249 km
         From Champasak to Vang Vieng:  608 km

Landscapes

  • Bolaven Plateau and Tad Fane Waterfall: the great destinations that attract many tourists to come. The Bolaven Plateau is located to the northeast of the province. It is the large plateau with the coffee farm where visitors who can take the best moment in the harvest in the period of October to February each year. Beside Tad Fane Waterfall is also the fascinated place. It is located in the south of the country. It is far from Paksong Town some kilometers to the west. This is the twin waterfall with more that 100 m high. Visitors can explore the rich wild land around further more.
  • Wat Phu: is called Vat Phou. The temple is located in Pakse to the southwest of the country. Wat Phu is considered one of the oldest temples in Laos. The complex was found with the time from 11th to 13th century. In which there is the temple that was in 5th century. In February of the year, in this area there is the big festival with many activities attractive.
  • 4.000 islands: people called also 4.000 islands by the name of Si Phan Don with many small islands that located on Mekong River. There are two most important islands which are Don Dhet and Don Khong where visitors who can come to explore and understand the local life. The rest islands are almost wild without habitants. Don Dhet and Don Khong are so close with Cambodia and in the past, these islands are also the connection to Sai Gon of Vietnam under the time of French Colonial. Come here today, visitors can find the restaurants, the bars where serve them cuisine and relax. However, the main point for tourists to explore is the local life in the islands with local activities normally but traditionally.
  • Pakse: the famous city of Champasak and Laos with the important location that be in the mouth of Xedong and Mekong River. Beside this is also the important place to connect to Bolaven Plateau. Especially from here there is the airport where there are the airlines to connect to Cambodia and Thailand. Pakse is the active city where you can see the strong development in many fields. From Pakse, you can find some famous destinations to come such as Wat Luang, Wat Phabad etc.
  • Paksong: called the coffee capital of Laos, Paksong is the attractive destination for all people who love to explore the farmer life in the country. There are also many fascinated places for you to visit such as Tat Lo Waterfall, Tad Suong Waterfall and some other great destinations.

And there are many other famous destinations in the cities.

Festivals:

  • Boat Racing Festival: The local traditional festival that happened in October each year.
  • Vat Phu Festival: or Wat Phou Festival - the famous festival of the province is happened in Wat Phu in January and February of the year.
  • Laos Coffee Festival: this is one of the new festivals that happened in October of the year because this time is the beginning of the harvest. The first time of the festival was in October in 2014.
  • Bun Bang Fai: or Rocket Festival is happened in May of the year.

And there are many other unique festivals in the city.

Local specialties

There are different local specialties in here such as fried rice with vegetable, Laap with chicken, rice vermicelli soup, papaya salad and other typical specialties.