Driving a motorbike around the Bolaven Plateau a highlight during my month in Laos. At a high elevation, the weather is cooler and rainer than the surrounding areas in southern Laos, and the conditions create an ideal environment for growing coffee, tea, and other crops. Along the loop there are dramatic waterfalls, minority villages, and farms to explore and tour- deepening your understanding and respect for Laos. With mostly paved, smooth roads and relaxed, rolling hills with gentle curves the loop is manageable for beginner (but not completely new) motorcyclists, and could even be completed on a bicycle over a longer period of time.
I decided to drive the small loop and add an extra day to see Champasak and Wat Phou, a Khmer style temple older than Angkor Wat.
PAKSE
HOW TO GET THERE
The loop starts from Pakse, the third largest city in Laos, and it’s easy to find buses there from Vientiane and Thakhek as well as cities near the Laos border in Thailand and Vietnam. There is also an international airport in Pakse but the flights (even domestic) are not the cheapest and I wouldn’t recommend it unless you are short on time and have a large budget.
I took a local bus from Thakhek to Pakse and it was definitely the most grueling travel for me in Laos. As of July 2024, a bus ticket itself was 180,000 kip ($8.10), and I paid 50,000 kip ($2.25) for a transfer from my hostel. In the bus we didn’t have normal seats and had to share a flat bed/seat with another passenger for the drive, if you’re a solo traveler that means a stranger. Even for Lao people the space was tight, so if you’re a couple of larger western tourists things might feel cramped and uncomfortable.
The overall trip took 10 hours, the road was pretty rough, and there were many stops as typical for buses in SEA. Differing from buses I have taken in Thailand and Vietnam, the toilet breaks were generally on the side of the road into bushes or town alleyways, not rest stops with restrooms.
I heard the night bus is a little easier and takes closer to 6-7 hours. I would recommend that instead if starting in Thakhek or if you have time consider breaking up the trip with a visit to Savannakhet which is between the two cities!
WHERE TO STAY
Initially I stayed in You Empire Hostel & Bar for 130,000 kip ($5.85) per night in a dorm bed, it was the cheapest stay in town with curtains around the beds and an included breakfast. It was okay. The beds themselves were very noisy, there were a lot of mosquitoes in the main indoor seating area, and the restrooms had a consistently bad smell (even by Southeast Asia standards) with no air circulation. If you’re really on a strict budget, Bolaven Trail Guesthouse was good reviews and was even a little cheaper.
When I circled back around to Pakse I stayed at Sangha Hostel which I loved for 170,000 kip ($7.65) per night in a dorm bed. For only a few dollars more you get free homemade ice cream bars, clean and pleasant smelling restrooms, and an excellent restaurant/cafe on site. The Lao green tea is so delicious. A small bonus surprise was finding a box of sewing supplies available for guests to use! I broke a hat I bought during the loop after a couple days of wearing and was able to repair it myself without going to loop for sewing supplies or a repair place.
There are a few guest houses with private fan rooms in the $10-15 per night night range and if you want something with AC or a little nicer room you’re looking at $20+ per night.
WHAT TO DO
Pakse is a local feeling, small city and the tourism sector there is mostly based around hosting people heading off the the Bolaven Plateau nearby or selling people international bus tickets. The only tourist activity is visiting Wat Phousalao, across the bridge on the other side of the river. It’s a beautiful temple complex with a large golden Buddha on top of a mountain. There are many giant golden Buddhas in Southeast Asia but I still think Wat Phousalao is worth a visit if you enjoy temples and are interested in Buddhism. Inside the main temple there are gorgeous paintings depicting the story of Buddha’s enlightenment.
You can rent a motorbike and drive over or take a tuktuk to the base of the hill. From there you can climb about 600 stairs to the top and enjoy the temple and Buddha images, it’s best done outside of the heat during the middle of the day and is a great sunset spot. You can also drive to the top and park up there instead of climbing but be very careful there are a lot of blind curves and tourist vans use the road most.
Outside of Wat Phousalao there aren’t many sights to see specifically but there’s a lot of reasonably priced, yummy food, and a specialty coffee scene influenced by Pakse’s proximity to Laos’ majority coffee growing region. I ate a delicious Lao beef noodle soup (similar to pho) for 30,000 kip ($1.37) for breakfast at a small local restaurant I was brought to by a hostel worker I befriended. I also enjoyed some satisfying (but rich) Indian food at Jasmin restaurant, though I ordered a paneer curry and instead of cheese I got tofu. Acceptable for me, especially when I can eat curry and naan for under $3!
For coffee I really enjoyed Caffeine. Delicious coffee and they roast their own beans (local and internationally sourced). They have an intimate and comfortable indoor space where I spend a few hours “working” on my laptop (watching Youtube and writing a few paragraphs).
There are also a few non touristic markets around with a collection of Chinese made goods, knockoff designer clothes, and other essentials if you need to stock up!
RENTING A BIKE
I rented from Miss Noy Motorbike Rentals in Pakse, owned by the Lao and Belgian couple Miss Noy and Yves. They’re probably the most popular rental place in town, and are recommended by most of the blogs who write about the loop online. I think it was a great choice, especially as a newer driver, and the price was really low at the time I rented. I paid 110,000 kip ($5) per day for a Honda Wave 100 (Price as of July 2024, low season in Laos).
My hostel was asking over twice that amount for the same type of bike, and I noticed other places around town charging a daytime rental rate of around 70,000 kip ($3.15). The bike wasn’t new, but that wasn’t a con. There was no need to do a walk around and take pictures/video to guarantee your passport deposit was returned without extra charges for “damage” you didn’t cause.
I stopped by Miss Noy’s in the afternoon and asked Yves about renting a semi automatic bike for the loop with no prior experience. He invited me to his daily loop briefing at 6pm, told me to bring my passport and closed toe shoes and he could show me the basics.
The briefing was very informative and given in French and English, I was the only person in attendance who wasn’t a French speaker and Yves explained everything in English for me. He covered what to see, where (and where not!) to stay, and which roads were most difficult or dangerous. He also stressed the prevalence of motorbike theft along the loop and told us how to lock our bikes and where to park to prevent this.
Afterwards Yves got me on a bike, showed me how and when to shift gears, and had me drive a few loops around on the city streets. By the time I finished and got back to the shop I felt pretty comfortable on the bike, my shifting was still a little off but I felt confident and steady. I decided to go ahead and rent a Honda Wave which I would pick up the following morning to start the loop.
SEMIAUTOMATIC VS AUTOMATIC BIKE?
Based on what I experienced during the small loop, I think that an automatic motorbike (Honda Scoopy, Zoomer X) would be fine but I wouldn’t recommend it. The roads on the south section of the loop heading to/from Paksong are paved without many potholes and the north section is more rough with a few wood bridge crossings in various conditions. Most of the roads heading into villages, to the waterfalls, and to homestays are dirt with lots of rocks, and mud if it has rained.
I drove a Honda Zoomer X across Koh Phangan in Thailand and it was more difficult than any section of the Pakse loop. Though it was my first time renting a semi automatic bike I felt more comfortable and safe on the bike than I did on the Zoomer X. It felt like I had a lot more control over the bike, was able to slow down fast or speed around obstacles, and I had more power to climb up steep dirt side roads.
This was only my second time renting a motorbike in general, but I am an experienced cyclist and the concept of shifting through gears isn’t new to me. By the end of my first day on the road my shifting up and down was smooth and accurate.
In my opinion, even though you could technically complete the loop with a automatic bike, if you’re an inexperienced driver and would chose to rent one because you’re unable to feel comfortable on a semiautomatic I would skip driving the loop altogether. If learning to drive a semi automatic- feeling comfortable multitasking, focusing on the road and shifting through the gears as needed- is a barrier for you and you are just learning to drive a [automatic] motorbike in general I don’t think the loop would be a safe or fun experience for you or others on the road.
SAFETY AND POLICE
Most rental companies will rent bikes to anyone who leaves their passport as a deposit and Lao police will rarely ask for a license from foreigners. Please keep in mind that your travel insurance WILL NOT cover your medical bills if you are to have an accident while driving a motorbike and you are not properly licenced (this means an International Driving Permit AND a motorcycle license/endorsement from your home country). If you decide to get on the road and drive, whether it be a car or a bike, you are always taking a risk- even if you are a safe and experienced driver. There is no guarantee that you WON’T have have an accident.
I am not properly licensed or overly experienced, but I am a slow and defensive driver and decided to do the loop accepting this risk. Many travellers rent motorbikes in Asia every year, have fun, and come out unscathed. Many travellers also are killed or severely injured riding motorbikes. Sometimes their driving influences the accidents they have, but often it is chance or coincidence, and accidents can happen in any country when you chose to get on the road- as a driver OR passenger. If you are unable to accept this risk, or do not have the finances to cover damages to yourself or your motorbike, DO NOT drive one.
DAY ONE: PAKSE TO SHARED HAPPY FARM
I set out on the bike around 9am, heading east on route 13 towards the Plateau. Stop for gas and have your scooter filled completely right past the first roundabout while you’re still in Pakse. The first 10 km on the road leaving Pakse are the most busy of the whole loop, with lots of mixed traffic- songthaews, trucks, tuk tuks, cars and other motorbikes.
Once you pass the second roundabout and the road turns into route 16E point things quiet down a bit and the road widens out but it’s still best to be especially diligent for the full first 20 km before you come to a point where you can either continue straight or veer left towards the north.
In those first 20 km you’ll pass plenty of restaurants and other businesses before things start to thin out a little and become more rural. There’s a blacksmithing village and they have stands selling machetes along the road. Personally I didn’t stop in this section but there are cafes and places to pull over if you need to check your map or anything.
Once you hit 20 km you come to a fork with a lot of roadside shops selling imported goods and a few restaurants. At this point you need to decide whether you will drive the loop clockwise or counterclockwise. Yves at Miss Noy’s recommended during his evening briefing to continue straight (counterclockwise) if the weather is pleasant, otherwise turn left and drive the loop clockwise. There’s no guarantee that you’ll have good weather for everyday of your loop (especially during rainy season) and it’s best to take advantage of the main four waterfalls of the small loop while it’s sunny
THE FOUR SISTERS WATERFALLS
I took the loop counterclockwise and my first stops were at the four sisters waterfalls- Tad E-tu, Tad Fan, Tad Champee, and Tad Yuang. It was my intention to make a stop at the first waterfall, Tad E-tu, but found the restaurant I was recommended to pay to park at closed (Arrived around 10am) and the end of the road before the hike down to the falls abandoned.
I didn’t feel comfortable leaving my bike so decided to not walk to the falls but it was an interesting test of my driving skills- the 2 km round trip back and forth from the main road is a rough, steep, dirt road. If the restaurant is open and you can park out there check out the falls, otherwise I would be hesitant to park for free in the area.
I had heard the road to Tad Champee was rough so I didn’t drive all the way out but I took part of the road to see the coffee growing. The road is dirt and a little gravelly but it’s even with no large holes or anything so I think it’s a little more manageable than I was told initially. If you drive slow and carefully you can make it down to the falls.
Opposite to Tad Champee is Tad Fan, it cost about 10,000 kip ($.45) for motorbike parking and 30,000 kip ($1.35) for an entry ticket. Inside the park you can see the two falls from a distance on viewing platforms and there’s also a cafe and restaurant. The waterfalls are gorgeous sitting in the middle of a super green landscape but you are VERY far away from them.
There is a zipline for $35 and it looked really fun. You zipline towards the falls, trek a bit, and make your way back on another line. If you want to do the zipline plan in advance and bring enough cash, it’s a lot more expensive than anything else on the loop. I have a major fear of heights so decided to skip it hahaha.
The last waterfall is Tad Yuang (Tad Gneuang on Google Maps), It was about 50,000 kip ($2.25) for entry and motorbike parking combined at the gate. I think I preferred this one to Tad Fan, you are right up close and have a view from the top of the falls and also near the base. If you make your way to the base you will get soaked, it does feel great but keep your bags in mind. Technically you are not allowed to swim here (and you cannot at Tad Fan either) but Tad E-tu and Tad Champee and swimming spots.
Right along the main road before the turn off towards Tad Yuang is the Bolaven Plateau Coffee Producers Cooperative Cafe. You are welcome to explore the coffee and tea fields on your own and check out their roasting process. There are “better” coffee related stops along the loop but I think it’s worth the stop if you’re not in a rush anywhere. There’s a cafe on site with talented baristas serving great coffee and interesting coffee and tea related souvenirs.
SHARED HAPPY FARM
I decided to skip through Paksong because I wanted to end my first day a little further down the road but there are some good cafes in town as well as some reasonable accommodations if you want to stay. I was very overcaffeinated at this point so I wasn’t able to enjoy any coffee spots but I did a little roadside shopping in some of the stalls selling clothes.
Coming out of Paksong you veer left to stay on route 16 and the small loop. Going straight would be committing to the large loop and personally I didn’t feel like it was worth it, especially being alone (See Large Loop vs. Small Loop). The services along route 16 are limited until you hit Houayvay but the road is smooth and peaceful.
That is the point where you’ll turn off onto the road leading to Shared Happy Farm. It’s only two kilometers but the road is flat but difficult (and muddy if it’s rained) so be very careful and drive slowly. I dropped my bike twice in the mud because I got stuck and arrived at the farm pretty dirty.
If you’re taking the Small Loop I would recommend staying a night here or at least stopping by. The farm is beautiful and relaxing, and the food served was some of my favorite in Laos. The accommodations are very basic (dorm or private bungalows with shared toilets and showers) and there’s no wifi available but you’re literally on a farm in rural Laos. I paid 100,000 ($4.50) for a dorm bed plus additional charges for dinner and breakfast. I was the only guest on the farm the night I stayed.
Noy treated me to complimentary tea and avocados from the farm and gave me a tour upon arrival. He showed me all the different plants, how they farm organically, and projects they’re working on around the property. I was able to recognize some of the plants and we even grow some of the same back in California/the US but there were also crops I was unfamiliar with.
We ate finger limes/caviar limes which reminded me a little bit of kumquats (which Noy had never heard of!) and a few different kinds of berries. I was surprised to see them starting to grow blackberries which I hadn’t seen in Asia yet. The plants looked pretty small and young but Noy said they do okay in Laos! There are so many friendly animals on the farm- cats, ducks, and dogs running around freely.
For dinner Noy cooked me a feast of squash soup, stir fried squash and duck egg, and an avocado salad. I helped prep the veggies and enjoyed some time indoors because it poured rain the whole afternoon after I arrived to the farm. The food was excellent- everything was fresh from the farm and I was so ecstatic to eat plant focused vegetarian food that reminded me a lot of my home cooking. After dinner Noy and I had a few shots of lao lao (Laos rice whisky) and went to sleep early.
DAY TWO: SHARED HAPPY FARM TO TAD LO
For breakfast I ate pancakes (roti style not the fluffy western ones) with loads of fresh fruit on top and drank black coffee. Truly healing to eat so much fresh produce after all the fried food and meaty soups I’d been eating traveling around Laos.
CAPTAIN HOOK VILLAGE AND TOUR
Day two didn’t have a whole lot of driving but my day was filled with activity. I stopped at Captain Hook’s village where I spent a lot of time relaxing to avoid the rain and did a very long and interesting tour.
When I arrived I tried the bamboo coffee, a hand drip/pour over style coffee brewed through bamboo tubes with no filter for 20,000 kip ($.90). It’s served in a bamboo cup and I was asked if I preferred a medium or stronger coffee, I was given the medium which was arabica. The coffee tasted good but it didn’t particularly stand out from other coffees I had on the loop or in Laos, it was mainly interesting because of the novelty in the brewing process.
The highlight of the day was the 70,000 kip ($3.15) tour that lasted over three hours explaining all about the Katu people, coffee farming in the village, and other medicinal plants. I heard the tour can be anywhere from three to eight hours depending on how many questions you ask, I was the only person and ended up not having very many questions- Hook explains so much!
We walked around and Hook showed me the different kinds of coffee are grown on the farm. I learned a lot about how they care for the plants and harvest the fruit. At the end of the tour I watched Hook’s wife roast coffee their traditional way in a wok over charcoal, and I even got to try it out myself! Stay tuned for a longer post discussing coffee in Laos and Southeast Asia, I want to share more of what I’ve learned specifically.
There are many ethnic minorities in Laos and Katu are one of them which reside on the Bolaven Plateau and areas close to the Vietnam-Laos border. They are traditionally Animist instead of Buddhist, get married at 13 years old (it used to be five years old but they’ve changed things), and start smoking tobacco out of bongs starting at age three. He killed some ants for me to eat and said they use it instead of lime on salads- they tasted very vinegary!
Their main source of income is the sale of green coffee and other crops and most people never hold income earning jobs outside the village. They have been affected significantly by the US bombing of Laos and have to live with bombs still in the ground near the village. Hook showed me trees marked with an “X” where they cannot farm or dig very deep due to a very large unexploded bomb in the ground.
I was shown which plants they use for all different kinds of ailments that can come up in the village. It was interesting to hear about how the Katu are navigating balancing their traditional medical system with western medicine now existing in Laos. I was also able to learn about how local people revolted against the French during colonization shooting them with reeds dipped in poison (he taught me how to shoot the reeds), and how Vietnamese soldiers were always able to track American soldiers during the war by timing the opening and closing of sensitive plants.
TAD LO VILLAGE
That night I stayed at the Palamei Guesthouse in Tad Lo village, only a 17 km drive from Captain Hook’s, which was recommended to me by Yves. I chose a simple room with a fan and shared bathroom for about $5, and again due to low season I was the only guest. Ben, the owner, was friendly and accommodating, and the staff parked my motorbike in a garage at night for security.
The village is small with one main road but there are a few different restaurants and guesthouses to choose from. The main attractions are the Tad Hang and Tad Lo waterfalls, as well as Tad Soung which is further away. I ate dinner at I Love You restaurant had had some standout chicken fried rice for 50,000 kip ($2.25), and then walked down to Tad Hang which was only 250m away from the main road to watch the sunset. Tad Hang is one of the swimming spots along the loop but the current is very strong during rainy season so swimming conditions are not ideal.
DAY THREE: TAD LO TO CHAMPASAK
After a pancake and honey breakfast, Ben pulled out a map and pointed out the best route to take heading to my next stop- Mr. Vieng Coffee Plantation.
There are a couple other stops I could have hit in between, an ancient tree and temple in the forest, but my timing was unfortunately off the whole loop so I just didn’t have time if I wanted to make it to Mr. Vieng’s in time for the tour. As a new driver I struggled to accurately anticipate how long it would take me to get places on the bike. I always gave myself a lot of time to get places. I was able to see Tad Lo in the morning though which was beautiful and drive down a slower and greener winding route that connected Tad Lo village to Tad Soung and then back to the main road.
MR. VIENG’S COFFEE PLANTATION
Mr. Vieng’s coffee tour was 80,000 kip ($3.60) for about an hour and a black coffee was 20,000 kip ($.90). We had the choice between Arabica, Robusta, and Liberica and I went with Liberica out of curiosity because it’s not something I would be able to easily find back in the States. The coffee had a sweet, red fruit, plum like aroma but a woody, nutty, and bitter taste. Definitely really interesting to try and it was distinct from the Arabica and Robusta offerings which smelled very similar to each other.
Mr. Vieng started the tour by showing us his roaster, explaining how they process harvested coffee cherries with the equipment onsite, and and how they sort coffee and get rid of beans with defects. He roasts some coffee on the farm to sell and brew in his cafe and the rest is sold green to Dao Coffee, a major coffee producer in Laos.
Like at Captain Hook’s, we walked around the farm to check out different varieties of coffee, manoke, and other crops including some medicinal plants.
There was some overlap with this tour and Captain Hook’s tour but Mr. Vieng’s introduced different information and was primarily about coffee while Captain Hook’s tour was about a wider variety of topics. Both tours were great but if you had to pick only one I would go with Captain Hook’s.
At Mr. Vieng’s place a lot more backpackers around than any of the other stops who and it was fun to relax and trade information about the conditions on the roads and stops. We enjoyed lunch from the cafe which was egg fried rice for 50,000 kip ($2.25).
THE ROAD TO CHAMPASAK
It only took about an hour to get back to Pakse from Mr. Vieng’s plantation but I decided I wasn’t done with the bike and wanted to check out Wat Phou, about 50 km south.
This was the point where maybe I pushed my luck a little too far because I had my only accident of the trip (other than falling over in the mud outside of Shared Happy Farm). Right before turning onto the road heading from Pakse to Champasak, the village nearby Wat Phou, I had a moment of confusion going around a toll check and hit my breaks on gravel causing my bike to slide out and fall over.
Thankfully I was only going around 5 km an hour and just fell to the side with my bike rather than something more dramatic. One of my mirrors fell off but I was able to pull to the side of the road and screw it back on, and physically I came out of it with only a scraped up arm, leg, and feeling sore.
I was a little shaken up but I wanted to finish my trip strong and drove down all the way to Champasak still. The road was excellent, and not just by Lao standards, it was pretty new and completely free of potholes.
In Champasak I stayed at Khamphouy Guesthouse. The room was very clean and the bed was comfortable, for a very reasonable price of 170,000 kip ($7.65)
The town was very quiet during rainy season but beautiful and peaceful. There isn’t a ton to do for visitors in town, and dining options did feel a bit limited, but it’s a launching pad to visit many historical spots in the province.
I had two meals while in town at Check-In resturant, they were both delicious and the prices are affordable for a (typical Lao sized) portion.
DAY FOUR: EXPLORING WAT PHOU AND BACK TO PAKSE
I woke up the next morning, grabbed breakfast and coffee, and drove to Wat Phou which was about 10 km away.
There’s a 50,000 kip entrance fee including a golf kart ride to the temple complex, and a small museum with pieces of the temple and some history about it and the region in Laos. At the temple you explore partially restored halls with some intricate engravings, statues, shrines, and steep, difficult to navigate stone staircases.
The whole complex covers some ground but temple itself is very small! It’s interesting to see how different the depictions of Buddha look compared to more recently built temples in Laos. The view from the top of the hill of the walls and the complex below is amazing. I think this is one of the best places to visit in rainy season specifically because everything is so green and fresh!
After spending about two or three hours walking around the temple and museum I drove back up to Pakse and returned my bike that afternoon, but not without being caught in heavy rain and getting completely drenched.
CONSIDERATIONS
IS IT WORTH DOING IN THE RAINY SEASON?
It’s so subjective so it’s hard to say one way or the other. A major bummer for me during the loop was not being able to swim in any of the waterfalls, I did miss some of the “swimming spots” of the small loop (See “The four sisters waterfalls) but part of not being able to swim was due to the rainy season. Currents were very strong and the water was pretty brown with lots of trash and debris at some falls. Is it still safe to swim? Probably! It deterred me though.
Depending on exactly when you go you may or may not have to drive in heavy rain. I got caught in the rain twice but I never HAD to drive in it, there’s plenty of cafes and shops in most sections to take a break.
A large part of the loop is coffee farms, and the rainy season is not coffee harvest season so that aspect may feel less “exciting”. It was still interesting to me! If you are looking to see red fruit and harvesting visit in November – February.
The positive part is how full the waterfalls are, and how green everything is. That’s something that you definitely won’t see in the dry season. Temperatures were also very mild, especially at night.
HOW MANY DAYS TO TAKE?
I drove the loop itself over two nights and did a visit to Champasak as an overnight.
My time management was not perfect and I drove relatively slow. I saw a ton, but there are still sections I feel like I skipped over or didn’t spend enough time on. I think I could have still done those things with three nights on the loop but also could have benefited from an extra day. Some people chose to spend two nights in Tad Lo village specifically, lengthening their trip.
It’s possible to do the loop in as little as one night/two days, but I would recommend three or four days to make it more relaxed. A trip to Champasak/Wat Phou can be done with one night or even as a day trip from Pakse.
I hope this post gives you some inspiration if you’re considering a trip to Laos at some point! This is a region worth seeing and I do believe it’s best seen by motorbike if you’re able to drive.
Stay tuned for more frequent and varied posts. Currently, I’m planning a more general itinerary guide for Laos as well as a gear update now that I’ve been traveling for three months and things have changed. I also want to talk about coffee culture in SEA. I’m passionate about sharing my personal, emotional experiences and I’ll continue to do that, but one of my goals of this blog was to teach people how to travel with what I’ve learned. I feel like I’ve hit a point where I have banks of specific information and tips that you can’t find anywhere online so I’m working on sharing that.
Please let me know if there’s anything you’re hoping to see or learn about more specifically!