One of several floating restaurants in Pakse, Banlao has a reliable menu of expected favourites but also many dishes you might not have encountered before, such as the seasonal ant-egg gôy (gôy kài mót sòm – gôy is similar to láhp but with added blood). For the less adventurous there's mild, central-Thai papaya salad and grilled fish with herbs.
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
18 MILES
Bucolic Wat Phu sits in graceful decrepitude, and while it lacks the arresting enormity of Angkor in Cambodia, given its few visitors and more dramatic…
28.63 MILES
One of our favourite national parks in Thailand, Pha Taem is named after and centred on a large cliff above the Mekong River. The cliff's ancient rock…
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21.44 MILES
Tat Fan is one of the most spectacular waterfalls in Laos. Twin streams plunge out of dense forest and tumble down more than 120m to form the Huay Bang…
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28.44 MILES
These ancient rock paintings, which are at least 1000 years old but probably much older, sit on a cliff face down below the visitors centre. A fantastic,…
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22.14 MILES
Probably the most developed of the Bolaven Plateau waterfalls, Tat Yuang, as some signs spell it, is impressive, with its twin torrents falling about 40m…
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22.13 MILES
Not to be confused with the far inferior waterfall of the same name along Rte 20 on the way to Tat Lo, this is the smallest of the four waterfalls west of…
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26.27 MILES
The views from this busy temple above the town (best seen from atop the bell tower) are alone worth the walk up from Khong Jiam, but it also has a…
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28.79 MILES
Nam Tok Soi Sawan is a 25m-tall waterfall flowing from June to December. It's a 19km drive from the visitors centre and then a 500m walk, or you can hike…
Nearby Pakse attractions
0.32 MILES
This vast market near the Lao–Japanese Bridge is one of the biggest in the country. It's at its most chaotic in the food zones, but just about anything a…
1.04 MILES
The centrepiece of this hilltop temple across the Mekong from Pakse is the giant golden Buddha statue looking out over the city. The views from his perch…
1.05 MILES
This modest, tin-roofed building isn't much to look at from the outside, but the one-of-a-kind paintings inside are the reason to visit. They show Jesus…
1.39 MILES
The riverside Wat Luang is one of Pakse's largest temples and is notable for its old monastic school built in 1935, which has recently had a roof…
5. Champasak Historical Heritage Museum
2.85 MILES
Highlights here include ancient bronze drums, stone carvings unearthed up on the Bolaven Plateau, stelae with Tham script dating from the 15th to 18th…
5.99 MILES
This temple just past the stone carvers in Ban Don Khoh is well worth a visit, not only for its 30m-tall gold-painted Buddha but also some of the…
7. Ban Saphai Handicraft Centre
8.83 MILES
Next to the boat pier, several weavers have their looms here and locally woven textiles and other crafts are on sale. Some people here can speak a little…
13.49 MILES
This modest but interesting U-shaped waterfall is 2km from the highway, within the Uthayan Bajiang Nature Resort about 35km from Pakse. Hawkers sell…