4000 islands area, advice on itinerary and transport?

Hi, can anyone help out with this one? We have a few nights to spend in Southern Laos and not having been there before I just want to check if my plan is realistic and what recommendations you may have.

We also are not sure about getting to and from the airport - perhaps getting a driver?

We will arrive at Pakse airport in the afternoon and planned to head straight down to Don Khone that evening and stay there for 2 nights, then move up to the Champasak area for a couple of nights before checking into La Folie for a bit of luxury, then heading back to Pakse airport for the flight to Siem Reap.

Does this sound like the right way to go about things? We would like to chill out a bit but also to go for a nice walk/hike, see those dolphins if we can (though that%26#39;s really up to the dolphins!) and generally enjoy what the area has to offer.

Not sure if its possible or worthwhile to get a driver to take us from the airport? The price quoted from the hotel in Done Khone was $80 to pickup from Pakse which seemed rather a lot!? We will also need to get between hotels so is there any way i can hire a driver that you know of?

thanks for your help!

4000 islands area, advice on itinerary and transport?

When you arrive in Pakse, stay the night. There will be no comfortable transport at that time. Hang out at the riverside and absorb some amazing food and drink.

Take the 8:00am mini-van from Pakse Travel and you will arrive in Don Kone at around 11:00am. Hiring a private driver is very expensive. Mini-vans and buses are cheap! Do not rush travel in the south- it tends to be very slow and somewhat irregular.

If you have flights to catch, make your base Pakse and spend a night or two in Champsak. The islands definitely take time to get to %26amp; from....

4000 islands area, advice on itinerary and transport?

Thanks Maneki-neko for your reply! Yes I agree staying the night in Pakse on arrival sounds the cheaper and easier solution,and probably the most pleasant too, the only trouble is we only have 5 nights in the area and I so wanted to get to see the islands and the Champasak/ Wat Pou areas as well.

I haven%26#39;t been before so am basing everything on what I have read and been told by the hotels on email, so maybe you could advise me based on your personal experience - do you think it is better to spend the night in Pakse, then go to Don Khone in the morning and then only have one night in Don Khone or would you advise to stay the 2 nights there and sacrifice the extra night from the Champasak area? I realise it%26#39;s very little time but it%26#39;s all we have :-(

Also do you happen to have contact details for Pakse travel?

Thanks so much for your help!

I%26#39;m sorry, I don%26#39;t ahve the contact # for Pakse Travel, but you can just go there when you arrive and they will asnwer all your questions.

I don%26#39;t quite understand your itinerary. Where are you planning on going while down south, and for how long?

In February, my friend %26amp; I stayed in Pakse, then did a daytrip to Champasak to see Wat Phu, and returned and spent the night in Pakse. We also saw the Khon Phapheng Falls (as a daytrip from Don Det). We later headed down to Don Det, stayed one night there, then one night on Don Khong island.

In September we stayed one night in Pakse and headed to Don Khong, where we spent 2 nights, then down to Don Kone, where we spent 2 more nights. Back to Pakse for one night before we flew back ot Vientiane.

It is slow work getting from point A to point B in the south, and it is good to break up the trip in Pakse. I was intending to stay one night in Champasak (some folks say the little town is really nice) but we opted for Pakse instead.

Let me know if I can offer any more info.

Cheers!

Karen

Hey Karen,

Looks like it%26#39;s just you and me on this thread!

So basically the reason my itinerary is like this is that I originally booked and planned the trip for 3 weeks to Cambodia but the more I read about Laos the more I realised that I was really desperate to go there, if I%26#39;m honest more so than Cambodia even, so I cut 5 days out of the original trip to free up to spend in Southern Laos, knowing I could do as a side trip from Siem Reap. I hope that makes sense.

That%26#39;s why its so short, really just a taster and hopefully I will be back another time to do it the slow way, that%26#39;s how come I figured flying into and out of Pakse and getting private cars would allow us to see a little bit more in the very short time we have.

The main things I had read about that I want to fit in are the dolphin watching which I understood is in the farthest South near Don Khone, plus I would love to go rafting (although dry season maybe not possible)go to the Boloven Plateau possibly for a long walk, and on an elephant ride, but mainly just wanted to soak up a little of the atmosphere of the islands area and of course see Wat Phou.

My logic was that if i got a car to take us from Pakse to Don Khone we could use the time from 4pm flight arrival to 6/7pm to get there which is slightly useless time anyway, too late to actually do anything but we would still arrive in time for dinner! Then we could get up early and get the whole day in Don Khone to do plenty of stuff. Does that make a bit more sense?

One thing I noticed is that i read somewhere the trip to the dolphin watching as well as other trips, leaves at 11am (from don Khone)so I wonder if that means a) that if I take the bus you recommend I will miss it, or b) is that bus ultimately taking people on to a trip also?

Thanks again for taking the time to help me out, sometimes there is no substitute for a real person%26#39;s advice over just looking at a map and trying to figure it out!

Cheers,

oh, and feel free to message me if you would prefer.

Are you planning on staying on the islands? If so, the dolphin trips are easily organized and it woudl be better to do it that way than a day-trip from Pakse. Please lay out your itinerary (example ';Day 1 Pakse, Day 2 Don Kone...';) so I can see what you%26#39;ve planned so far. I still have no idea where you %26#39;ll be basing yoruself so it is hard for me to give you advice.

Where are you headed in Cambodia? I will be leaving for Phnom Penh this coming Saturday. :-)

Hey there,

OK so here%26#39;s my itinerary as I planned it so far-

Day 1 Arrive early evening at HCMC from UK and sleep there

Day 2 Fly to Pakse via Siem Reap, arriving Pakse 4pm. Transfer to Don Khone that evening

Day 3 Don Khone

Day 4 Don Khone, + transfer to Kingfisher Eco Lodge

Hey there,

OK so here%26#39;s my itinerary as I planned it so far. I figured it would be better to stay in Don Khone than take a day trip there but maybe the region is geared up towards day trips there so it might make more sense that way?

Day 1 Arrive early evening at HCMC from UK and sleep there.

Day 2 Fly to Pakse via Siem Reap, arriving Pakse 4pm. Transfer to Don Khone that evening for two nights

Day 3 Don Khone

Day 4 Don Khone, + transfer to Kingfisher Eco Lodge for two nights

Day 5 Elephant Riding / activities near the lodge

Day 6 Transfer to Champasak to La Folie hotel for one night, visit Wat Phou

Day 7, Chill out at the hotel in the morning before departing from Pakse airport in the afternoon for Siem Reap. For this I know I will probably have to book a private car to the airport

After this we will be spending 3 nights at Siem Reap, then going to Kep, Kampot, Sihanoukville, Phnom Penh and then on to Ho Chi Minh City for a couple of days before the flight back to London.

Sounds like you are going around the same time as us - we leave on Thursday. if we are at the same place at the same time we could maybe get together?! Let me know what you think of the plan anyway!

Cheers!

By the way sorry for the double posting, I pressed return while typing the message and it posted it - that%26#39;s never happened before!

You are arriving at Pakse airport, and hope to get to Don Kone that night? Please know that it is at least 90 minutes to Nakasang port, thenyou have to take a boat to Don Kone 45 minutes or so. You want to do this at night? I don%26#39;t think ANYONE would ever attempt this at night and I doubt boats would even leave the port at night. I really advise against even attempting that. Why not just chill out in Pakse that night and take the 8:00am mini-bus there the next morning? You will arrive in the late morning %26amp; have all day to see Don Kone.

Also, it sounds like you are trying to cram way to much in for Cambodia. Why not realx and spend soem time to really see the sights? By the time you get to your hotel and get unpacked, a day%26#39;s going to be over. Take into consideration your travel time to/form %26amp; around these countries, it is SLOW! I spent 4 whole days in Siem Reap and it wasn%26#39;t enough, so will stay a week there in January. At least 2 days in Phnom Penh is also recommended. There%26#39;s really not much going on in Kampot and Kep. What interests you there? Are you planning on renting scooters to get around, as there is no regularly scheduled transport in that area?

Some members of another travel forum %26amp; I are having a party which starts at Hope and Anchor (restaurant/hotel/bar) right on the riverside in Phnom Penh on the 24th at 5:00pm. After that we will head to the Goldfish for good Khmer food. If you%26#39;d like to join us, you are very welcome!