Champasak

Vat Phou at 8 am, then cycling Don Daeng

Be at Vat Phou for the 8 am opening, cycling or taking a tuk-tuk the 10 km from Champasak village, and climb from the old reservoirs up the frangipani-shaded stairway to the sanctuary and its sacred spring before the heat. In the afternoon, take a boat to Don Daeng island and cycle its quiet track.

Be at Vat Phou for the 8 am opening on your first morning, cycling or riding a tuk-tuk the 10 km from the village. The site rises in stages, from old reservoirs and ruined palaces along a processional way, up a steep stone stairway shaded by frangipani, to the sanctuary at the foot of the cliff where the sacred spring still runs. Near the top, look for the crocodile carving and the serpent stairs, among the oldest features on the hill. Turn around at the summit for the long view back over the plain to the Mekong. Three hours is about right.

Spend the hot afternoon resting, then book a coconut-oil massage on the riverbank before dinner. On a Tuesday or Friday between November and February, the shadow-puppet theatre performs the Ramayana in Lao at 8.15 pm with live traditional music.

On day two, take a boat across to Don Daeng and cycle its village paths through the morning. After lunch, visit Wat Phuthawanaram, about 8 km south, or the small Wat Nyutthitham in town, and drop by the AD Learning Centre, a social enterprise teaching English that always needs supplies and volunteers.

Guesthouse meals and family kitchens on Champasak's riverside road

Champasak has no restaurant strip; meals happen at guesthouses and family restaurants along the riverside road. Expect the core of Lao food, sticky rice, laap, grilled Mekong fish and tam mak hoong, pounded papaya salad, and choose a place with a terrace over the river for sunset.

Menus are short, so choose a place where the terrace looks over the water and settle in for the sunset.

Breakfast usually comes with Lao coffee, and here it has not travelled far. Most of the country's coffee is grown on the Bolaven Plateau east of Pakse, and locals drink it strong and sweet, poured over condensed milk.

Evenings are quiet and end early, so eat before the shadow-puppet show on theatre nights. Carry water and a snack for the climb at Vat Phou, since there is nothing to buy on the upper terraces. For a wider choice of restaurants, markets and cafes, Pakse is under an hour north by road.

Full-moon pilgrims at the Vat Phou Festival

Visit Champasak from November to February, when mornings are fresh for the climb and skies clear. The Vat Phou Festival, held around the full moon of the third lunar month, usually in February, brings pilgrims, offerings and a fair to the site, and village rooms fill early, so book ahead.

The dry, cooler months from November to February are the time to come. Mornings are fresh for the climb, skies are usually clear for the view from the sanctuary, and the riverside road is pleasant for cycling.

The Vat Phou Festival is the high point of the year. It falls around the full moon of the third lunar month, usually in February, when pilgrims from across southern Laos climb to the sanctuary to make offerings at dawn. For several days the grounds below fill with a fair and food stalls. Guesthouses in the village fill up, so book well ahead, and go early in the morning if you want the stairway without crowds.

March to May is very hot; reach the ruins at 8 am and be back by lunch. From June to October the rains turn the rice fields around the village bright green and visitor numbers fall. Downpours can be heavy, and the worn stone steps at Vat Phou get slippery, so wear shoes with grip.