Southern Laos crossroads — coffee highlands, Khmer ruins, Mekong sunsets and rare river dolphins
Pakse sits at the confluence of the Mekong and Se Don rivers and is the gateway to three of Laos's most compelling experiences: the UNESCO Wat Phu Khmer temple at Champasak, the Bolaven Plateau with its French-planted coffee estates and multi-tiered waterfalls, and Si Phan Don (4,000 Islands) to the south where rare Irrawaddy dolphins still survive. The city's French colonial grid, Lao-Vietnamese markets, and abundance of good coffee shops make it one of the most relaxed bases in Southeast Asia.
Pakse — meaning 'mouth of rivers' in Lao — was founded by French colonial administrator Auguste Pavie in 1905 as an administrative centre for Champasak province. The surrounding region was the heartland of the ancient Kingdom of Champasak, successor to the southern Khmer Empire territories, whose 5th-century temple of Wat Phu predates Angkor Wat by centuries. Under French Indochina, Vietnamese merchants settled in the town's commercial quarter while French planters developed the Bolaven Plateau above — a legacy that makes Pakse the coffee capital of Laos today.