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Islands in the Mekong - Four thousand islands Laos

Route: Pakse/Bolaven - Khong Island

When travelling south from Southern Laos along the mighty Mekong River to Cambodia, you'll pass an area filled with islands called Sipandone. During the dry season, when water-levels have slowly dropped, many of the islands emerge from the river and approximately 4000 islands are created. You'll stay at several of the larger Laos islands where life goes by at a slow pace. While in the area on this Laos island trip, you can ride past paddy-fields on bicycle or try to spot fresh water dolphins during a boat trip.

If you'd like to start building your own Laos trip, take a look at our range of bite-sized Laos tours. Alternatively, if you'd rather leave the planning to us, you can take your pick from our selection of ready-made Laos holidays.

Duration	3 days / 2 nights Departs daily from Pakse	Accommodation	Two nights in a comfortable hotel with private facilities (see our photos). Level 3 (see accommodation)
Price	£115 per person - based on 2 people sharing	Includes	Transportation, accommodation with breakfast
Transport	Bus and ferry	Excludes	All other meals and excursions

Day 1: Bolaven/Pakse - Khong Island (Siphandone)

It's day one of your Laos island trip and we'll arrange your tickets for you to travel south by comfortable minibus towards Khong Island, along with other travellers heading in the same direction. Just short of the Cambodian border you'll board a ferry and cross this mighty river to reach the island of Khong. This area of islands is also known as Sipandone (4000 islands). During the dry season a large number of small islands and sandbanks.

You'll spend the night in one of the more luxurious hotels on Khong Island, a colourful and cosy guest house. During the first evening of your Laos island experience, you could try a typical Laotian dish in the hotel's restaurant or one of the many other local ones.

Day 2: Khong Island

Today is a free day for you to explore this Laos island independently. Khong Island is mostly made up of paddy-fields, hills, vegetable gardens and small villages. Bicycles are an excellent means of transportation on the island. The staff at your hotel's reception area can arrange a boat trip for you to the various surrounding islands such as Don Det and Don Khon.

The Siphandone area, with its waterfalls and rapids, is the largest fluid roadblock for cargo transportation on the Mekong from Laos to Cambodia. In the previous century, French colonists built a railway on Don Khone in an attempt to solve this problem. The railway hasn't been used in quite some time; however an old French locomotive and railway-bridge still remain as memories of days gone by.

Day 3: Khong Island - Pakse

After you've checked out this morning, the guest house staff on Khong Island will take you to the local bus station, where you'll arrange your own bus tickets back to Pakse, where your Laos island tour ends.

From Pakse you can easily travel to the Laos/Thai border (45 minutes), and then onwards to the Thai city of Ubon Ratchatani (approx 1½ hours). From Ubon Ratchatani it's possible to travel by night train to Bangkok, which we can also add to your Travel Plan.

You could also continue your Laos travels south and cross the Cambodia border. We can arrange a transfer to take you from Khong Island to this border where you can then choose from one of our bite-sized Cambodia trips.

A Peek at your Laos Island Accommodation (Click to Enlarge)

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