4-Day Coffee and Culture in southern Laos

Arrival Pakse

You will be met upon arrival at Pakse International Airport and transfer to your hotel in Champasak.

Today you can choose to go on an organised fishing trip with a local fisherman. Discover the different Mekong fish species and/or new fishing techniques to try. Once the fishing trip is complete we will transfer back to the hotel.

Estimated driving time/distance:
40 minutes/40 kilometres

Meal included:
Dinner at hotel

Morning
Breakfast at the hotel and morning at leisure.

11:00 – 13:00 hours
Transfer by car or minivan via Paksong to the start of the tour at Ban Beng.

13:00 – 16:30 hours
Transfer to the jeep for the half-day Mystic Mountain coffee tour. Travel 30 minutes to Tad Moun waterfall. Spend an hour at the waterfalls and enjoy a swim and a picnic lunch. After lunch, the jeep adventure comes into this own. Travel an hour to the Mystic Mountain coffee farm over the vegetable field and along a bumpy, and in the rainy season, muddy road. On arrival at the coffee farm, Mr. Khamsone explains the steps to coffee roasting, including a demonstration. At the end of the presentation, savour the different flavours as you taste the three different coffees (Robusta, Arabica and the Typica).

16:30 – 18:30 hours
Transfer back to Paksong, where you change vehicles from the jeep to a car or minivan, and then on to the hotel, arriving around 18:30 hours.

Estimated driving time/distance:
Approximately 6 hours/190 kilometres

Meal included:
Picnic lunch at waterfall
Dinner at hotel

Morning
After your breakfast, at 8:30 hours, meet in the hotel lobby for a quick briefing about today’s bicycling activity. Select your bicycle, and then you and your guide will start cycling over the bridge to the historic and attractive Champasak Town. The town’s pretty and colourful wooden houses in Lao traditional style (especially the Champasak last King’s wooden teak house) mix with crumbling French colonial homes that once posed as royal residences.

There is time for sightseeing in Champasak before continuing around 8km more to the pre-Angkorian Wat Phu Temple. Wat Phu, a World Heritage Site, means ‘mountain temple’. The temples in this complex are dated between the 6th and 13th centuries. Wat Phu lies on a hillside and offers spectacular views over the surrounding plains and the Mekong River. Hindu Khmer probably chose the site because of the spring that flows from near the top of the hill. Historians say that Phu Pasak was, in fact, sacred to the pre-Angkorian Kingdom of Chenla (6th century) and may have been the site of human sacrifices. The temple is divided into two parts. The lower part consists of two ruined palace buildings at the edge of a pond, used for ritual ablutions. The upper section, the temple sanctuary itself, once enclosed a large Shiva phallus (linga). It was converted into a Buddhist temple, but much of the original Hindu sculpture remains. The lintels feature various forms of Vishnu and Shiva as well as Kala, the Hindu god of time and death. The naga stairway is lined with plumeria (Dokchampa), the Lao national flower.

There is plenty of time to visit the temple and its museum.

After visiting the site, cycle back to Champasak town with a stop for lunch to experience Lao food from the local restaurants on the banks of the Mekong River. After lunch, spend the afternoon relaxing at the hotel or visit Champasak Spa [at own cost]. Whatever you do be sure to pick a good spot to watch the amazing sunset on the sacred Wat Phou Mountains.

Meal included:
Lunch at a local restaurant
Dinner at hotel

After breakfast at the hotel, transfer back to Pakse International Airport.

Estimated driving time/distance:
40 minutes/40 kilometres