Pleasant transit point and base for exploring the southern regions of Lao (Pakxe)

Member Name: Pablo_Sevilla

Product:	Pakxe
Date:	28/05/09 (7 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good place to organise motobike rental, trips to the plateau, small number of resturants are good..

Disadvantages: Nothing to see in Pakse itself

Pakse is a provincial capital in Champasak province in South Lao.

It's a quiet city by the Mekong river and you'll definitely spend at least some time here if you travel to southern Lao.

It basically serves as a base to explore the Bolavean plateau and the waterfalls of Tat Lo and Tat Fan to the East and the Don Det islands to the south.

You can hire motorbikes for about 80,000 kip to ride to the waterfalls yourself or you can organise a tour at one of the travel agencies in the downtown area which is also home to small but decent cluster of resturanst serving Indian, Italian and Lao food.

Pakse also has a reasonable market so you can stock up on supplies if you plan to ride out to the plateau.

The Thai border is only an hour away by bus if you want to enter Thailand or go on a visa run.

Other than this Pakse doesn't really have any sights that make it a worthy destination in it's own right.

Still, it's not at all an unpleasant place to get stuck for a night. The riverside is a nice place to chill out and there are dozens of budget guesthouses that are good value.

Summary: A good place to arrange trips, rent motorbikes, or wait for a bus!