Southern Laos Holidays 6 Days
- Culture & Heritage
- Off The Beaten Path
Overview
Day 1 – 2 Pakse – Bolaven Plateau
- Arrive in Pakse, and stay one night there.
- Drive 24km to Bolaven Plateau. Discover the agricultural village of Ban Katuu, coffee plantation, Talat Dao Heung Market, Japanese Bridge.
Day 3 – 5 Bolaven Plateau – Wat Phou – Champasak – Don Khong Island 4
- Transfer to Wat Phou & take a half–day to explore the remains of Khmer history.
- Transfer to Ban Khiet Ngong, trek 4 hours with an elephant to the jungle. Then, take a scenic drive to Don Khong. Have one full day to discover Siphandon. Visit the impressive Lippi Waterfall and hop on a boat to cruise across to the peaceful island of Done Khone.
Day 6 Don Khong – Pakse – Departure
- Visit the famous cascade falls of Khon Phapeng before return to Pakse. Board your flight to the next destination.
Customizable itinerary
The southern region of Laos is actually a hidden gem with spectacular landscapes. And our 6-day Southern Laos Holiday is created to show you its splendors.
Start from Champasak, discover the beautiful sight of Bolaven Plateau – a famous coffee plantation area in Laos. Visit the ruins of Wat Phou, a striking Hindu temple under the Khmer Empire. Next, trek to meet the people in Ban Khiet Ngong village to gain an insight into their lives and traditions. Wrap up your journey by exploring the wonderful Si Phan Don – or the ‘4000 islands. This archipelago is home to some of the most impressive landscapes in Laos with tiny remote islands, stunning waterfalls, and small tranquil villages.
Saibaidee! Welcome to Pakse, Laos.
Arriving at Pakse Airport or at the border gate of Chongmek, your private guide and driver are waiting to meet you, holding up a welcome signboard with your names on it and take you directly to your hotel in Pakse town. After checking into your hotel room, spend the remainder of the day at your leisure.
Overnight in Pakse
Meals: (_/_/_)
Morning
After breakfast, you will be picked up at your hotel in Pakse and transferred (1 hour) to the beautiful Bolaven Plateau. Upon arrival, embark on an excursion to the agricultural village of Ban Katuu, home to the Katu ethnic minority. The village is within a coffee plantation surrounded by beautiful nature. Here, you will get a glimpse of local coffee production and sample fresh Lao coffee.
Afternoon
After enjoying lunch at the coffee plantation, continue to explore the Bolaven Plateau’s famous features: Tad Fane waterfall. Situated in dense rainforest, this waterfall has twin streams that plunge from an impressive height of 800 feet. Next, you will drive to Tad Yeung waterfall and the surrounding coffee plantation and enjoy a swim in its cool, clear waters.
Toward the end of the day, visit Talat Dao Heung Market near the Japanese Bridge, where you can bargain for coffee and browse colorful stalls of spices, dried fish, fresh fruits, and Lao sweets.
Finish your excursion and transfer to your resort in Bolaven Plateau. After checking into your room, spend the remainder of the day at your leisure.
Overnight in Bolaven Plateau
Meals: (B/L/_)


Morning
After breakfast, depart Bolaven Plateau, you are driven Champasak to visit Wat Phou, a UNESCO protected temple where you will commence your explorations of the remains of Khmer history in the region.
Upon arrival, you will set out to visit the ruins of Wat Phou, understood to be the most important Hindu sanctuary of the Khmer Empire. Set among the rice fields and waterways common to this part of the country, the spectacular three-level temple is particularly striking. The first temple on the site was built as early as the 5th century, though the current ruins are from the 11th to 13th centuries. Your thorough 2-3 hour visit of the ruins includes a steep climb to holy shrines of worship on the upper level where many sacred Hindu, Buddhist, and Animist elements can be found.
You also visit the Wat Phou Museum exhibition hall on the lower levels to study the rich heritage of Khmer artists and Buddhist sculptures.
Afternoon
After you’re done exploring, transfer to the charming town of Champasak where you will check into your riverside resort. Spend the remainder of the day at your leisure. You can discover French colonial buildings, Buddhist temples, or simply enjoy an evening in the Shadow Puppet Theatre.
Overnight in Champasak
Meals: (B/_/_)


Morning
After breakfast and check out of the hotel, you are picked up and driven to the little village of Ban Khiet Ngong. From there you will embark on a medium trek (4 hours) alongside your elephant through paddy fields and wetlands, you will be led inside the jungle that surrounds the area by your mahout and guide. This activity is now an important source of income for the villagers and it helps them to avoid selling the elephants and discourage wildlife hunting.
Today you will have a chance to eat with the village’s residents, enjoying a traditional local meal of papaya salad (som tum), sticky rice, and grilled fish.
Afternoon
After lunch, take a scenic drive to Don Khong, one of the larger permanent islands in the ‘Si Pan Don’. This area in the Mekong is an archipelago of over 4,000 islands where the pendulum of time swings slowly and postcard-worthy views are the rule rather than the exception. This unique cluster of islands is found in a section of the river that’s over eight miles wide (no, that’s not a typo) and is dotted with rapids and waterfalls.
Late afternoon you will arrive and check into the hotel on Don Khong Island. Here you will be able to get a rare glimpse of river life by visiting one of these communities, touring a local school, and meeting village elders.
Overnight on Don Khong Island
Meals: (B/L/_)


Morning
After breakfast, you will embark on a full-day tour to Siphandon. Here the Mekong River is at its widest, stretching up to 12 km during the rainy season. As the waters recede, many small islands emerge, giving the region its name.
On arrival, you will visit the village of Ban Nakasang and then hop on a boat to cruise across to the peaceful island of Done Khone, a small island in Si Phan Don home to rural villages and plantations and where you can spend some time cycling around.
After this, travel on to the impressive Lippi Waterfall, famous for the Irrawaddy freshwater dolphins that swim nearby. Ban Hang Khon is one of the few places on earth it’s possible to spot these endangered mammals. You also view the old locomotive, a railway, and a colonial bridge built by the French in order to avoid navigating the rapids and waterfalls in this section of the Mekong River.
Afternoon
After lunch at a local restaurant, continue with further explorations on the river. By late afternoon, head back to your hotel Don Khong Island in time to watch the sunset.
Overnight on Don Khong Island
Meals: (B/L/_)


After breakfast and check out, transfer to the famous cascade falls of Khon Phapeng, Southeast Asia’s largest waterfalls, and one of Laos’ most magnificent natural attractions. You can hear the thunderous roar and gaze at the awesome power created by millions of liters of water crashing over rocks.
After lunch in a nearby restaurant return to Paske airport to take a short flight to Siem Reap, Cambodia, or taking an overland exit through Chongmek International checkpoint to Ubon Rathani in Thailand, two and a half hours away. From there, board your one-hour flight to Bangkok and connect on to your flight home or travel on to more adventures, we will help you with the planning.
Meals: (B/_/_)
Useful Information
This sample itinerary was created by our travel experts as inspiration for your next trip. Ready for your customization. You pick to suit your budget, desires, and cultural experiences. The price of this trip will vary, depending on the number of people in your party, dates of departure, and the availability of ground services. Please click on REQUEST A FREE QUOTE (above) and give us the necessary information to enable us to send you a FREE personalized quote within 48 hours if not sooner!
Sightseeing Highlights
- The scenic green mountainous area of Bolaven Plateau with various watefalls, and plantation
- Explore the ruin of mysterious temple of Wat Phou to learn about the history of southern Laos
- Stroll around exciting 4000-island area and admire the life of the local peaceful village
- The amazing Khone Phapheng waterfalls, one of the biggest waterfalls of the world
Dining Experience
- 5 hotel buffet breakfasts.
- 1 dinner and 3 lunches at well-selected restaurants
Travel Highlights
- Your own private guide and driver for in-depth cultural touring based on your interests
- Firsthand, sophisticated destination knowledge and recommendations from our locally born travel specialists
- Itineraries that are customized according to your interests and preferences
- A seamless travel experience, including all logistics, hand-picked hotels and restaurants, private airport transfers, internal transportation, and entry visa assistance…etc
- Around-the-clock support from your travel designer and concierge before, during and after your trip
What’s Included?
Private English speaking guide, accommodation, private tours and transfer, A/C vehicles, some main meals, all entrance fees, tax, and service charge.
What’s Not Included?
Your international flights from and to Laos, the entry visa to Laos, personal expense, tips to guide and driver.
Free service. No credit card required
Reviews on Our Service
Experiencing across different cultures with Asia Pioneer Travels
we planned a customized tour with Asia Pioneer travels to visit Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia from mid January to Early February 2025. Adam Duong , travel designer of our trip had done an excellent job to give us the best comforts and addressing our requirements requested. Everyday contacting us. Thank you very much for your commitment. It was a hazel free enjoyable tour since our departure from Sri Lanka until our arrival. They planned this tour in such a way that we were greatly cared and looked after. We were in the comfort zone during the whole tour. All tour guides and drivers were on time and well taken care of us. We had great experience and informative guidance about culture, food, history, shopping and night markets and many more which we not even thought of…… Its worth for the money we spent and a big Thank you for Asia Pioneer Travels for organizing this great tour for us. Highly recommend this company for my friends and others.
An enjoyable family trip
Our trip from Ho Chih Minh to Hanoi was seamless and wonderful. Chloe and previously Jolie have drawn our itinerary to meet to our preference. We enjoyed our trip thoroughly.
Year End Vietnam Adventure
Asia Pioneer Travel turned our Vietnam trip into an absolute dream! Huge shoutout to Stella, the ultimate tour coordinator—she’s like a travel wizard with lightning-fast responses and a knack for making every detail perfect. Seriously, her itinerary was next level (probably the most detailed proposal we’ve ever seen!), and she sprinkled in some jaw-dropping surprises in every city: Ho Chi Minh City, Hoi An, Hue, Hanoi, and Sapa—each stop more magical than the last!
And let’s talk about our incredible tour leaders: Mr. Phong, Vinh, Thi, and Bob—these guys were the real MVPs! Not only were they walking encyclopedias of Vietnam’s history and culture, but they also made sure we were comfortable, happy, and laughing the whole way.
This trip wasn’t just about seeing beautiful places—it was about creating unforgettable memories and bringing us even closer as a family.
Thailand – beautiful country, fantastic sites, friendly people, a profound experience!
We went to Thailand; Bangkok, Ayutthaya, and northern Thailand, specifically. We were in a group of 4, three seniors and a niece in her 20s, also one of us was wheelchair bound.
Ms. Elly Do worked hard and imaginatively to help us design the perfect vacation. We would highly recommend Asia Pioneer Travels. Our itinerary met all our needs and our guides were totally reliable. Our group of 4 was able to split up to meet our different interests and abilities and reunite seamlessly. This, again, was due to the diligence of Ms. Elly Do.
We would especially like to reach out and thank Mr. Bigz who helped us out (twice!) in circumstances beyond Asia Pioneer’s control. It was wonderful to have backup in a faraway place!
Pros: We wanted to see the temples (wats), learn about Thai culture and history (particularly the hillside village tribes), and scenic views. We worked with Ms. Do – she was very responsive to our many emails to tailor our itinerary until it was just right! Our guides and drivers were always on time. Asia Pioneer used local guides who spoke English and were knowledgeable. Ms. Kanoon guided us every day while we were in Bangkok and also visited Ayutthaya. We also went out with her every night for dinner. She took us to the airport for our flight to Chiang Mai, which was perfectly smooth and without stress for us.
Mr. Poly was our local guide in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. He also met us at the airport and from there, we were in good hands. Mr. Poly spoke good English, was very personable. He related the history of the different hillside villages we visited. He was always on time. All our drivers were very competent and our rides were in beautiful vans with ample room, AC (wonderful!) and coolers of cold water.
To sum up: Asia Pioneer Travels worked with us, so to speak, from appetizers to entrees to dessert! We always had friendly and reliable guides, drivers, and transportation. The price we were quoted was the price we paid. There were no hidden fees. We had flexibility on our tours.
Cons: Asia Pioneer told us there were no handicapped rooms left in Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. We found them online and booked our hotels ourselves. Often in Bangkok, we had dinners that were quite disappointing. Our guide will no doubt in the future know better dining options – it is a learning curve and she tried hard.
Tips: Research options if you are planning to use a guide service. We recommend Zicasso, who evaluated our expressed objectives and recommended two different services who would meet our needs. There are scammers out there, of course, but we felt very comfortable using Zicasso as our starting point.
Next, the more details we shared with Ms. Do, the better Asia Pioneer Travels could customize our trip and recommend options.
Handicapped accessibility: It is difficult to find any information concerning wheelchair accessibility online in Thailand. The information we read was often incorrect or conflicting in nature. The following is what we found in person…
Wheelchairs are not allowed inside many of the temples. Many boutiques or smaller hotels do not have accessible rooms. We did find wonderful rooms at the TK Palace and Bonovoy Marriott Hotel in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and Chiang Rai. Although they were extremely nice, none had grab bars by the toilets or in the showers. Sidewalks are often rough or absent outside the main tourist areas. It was challenging or impossible to participate in some activities…the hillside villages and the elephant sanctuary were extremely hard on both myself and the wheelchair! It must be mentioned, however, that the guides wanted to be helpful but probably didn’t have experience with travelers with disabilities. This was just my personal opinion.
Finally: We drank bottled water and reused the bottles at safe refilling stops. Only use ice cubes with holes as they indicate manufactured with purified water. Always be polite, never loud or upset, be respectful. The Thai people we interacted with were kind and helpful. We will review our hotels separately elsewhere.
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