Kong Lor to the 4,000 Islands

Meet your guide and driver in Vientiane for the scenic drive south along Route 13 toward Ban Kong Lor. Break the journey after around three hours at Wat Prabath Phonsane, the Temple of the Buddha's Footprint, before lunch at a local restaurant. Continue into the Phou Hin Poun National Protected Area, where the scenery turns to dramatic limestone karst, forest and rice paddies. Arrive in the small town of Ban Kong Lor in the afternoon, with time to soak up the surrounding views or take a guided walk through the local villages. Overnight in Ban Kong Lor.

Early risers can take a walk around the villages as they wake for the day, best arranged with your guide the evening before. After breakfast, drive a short distance to the Kong Lor Caves, donning life jackets and headlamps before boarding a longtail boat for a 7.5-kilometre journey along an underground stretch of the Hin Boun River, entirely without daylight, past vast formations of stalactites and stalagmites. On the far side, stop to stretch your legs with a walk through a local village before returning by boat back through the cave to Ban Kong Lor. After lunch, continue south on a four-hour drive to Thakhek, a sleepy colonial river town, arriving in time for a sunset stroll along the Mekong. Overnight in Thakhek.

After a leisurely breakfast, set off south for Savannakhet, stopping en route at the sixteenth-century temple of That Ing Hang. In Savannakhet, birthplace of Kaysone Phomvihane, founder of the Lao People's Democratic Republic, take a short tour past the town's French colonial villas and St. Teresa Catholic Church. Continue to the Dinosaur Museum, a modest building holding a surprising collection of genuine dinosaur fossils uncovered nearby, dating back up to 250 million years, with the chance to chat with a local paleontologist if one is on hand. After lunch at a local restaurant, continue south to Pakse, checking in with the rest of the day free at leisure. Overnight in Pakse.

Travel by road to Vat Phou, a UNESCO World Heritage-listed pre-Angkorian temple set among the rice fields and waterways of southern Laos. Built across three levels, from a water reservoir and promenade at the base to carved galleries and a hilltop sanctuary, the temple was once the region's most important economic and political centre and remains among its most revered. Pass through Champasak, its streets lined with French colonial buildings, for lunch at a local restaurant, before continuing south with a stop at the wood-carving village of Ban Nong Bune. Continue on to Si Phan Don, the 4,000 Islands, where the Mekong stretches fourteen kilometres wide, crossing by boat to your accommodation in the late afternoon. Overnight in the 4,000 Islands.

Spend the morning exploring the peaceful islands of Don Det and Don Khong, home to simple villages and plantations, best explored by bicycle or tuk tuk. Visit the impressive Liphi Falls on the western edge of Don Khong, close to the Cambodian border, known locally as Tad Somphamit, a name meaning trap spirit, for the local belief that the falls trap bad spirits on their way downstream. After lunch at a local restaurant, finish at the immense Khone Phapheng Falls, the widest waterfall in Southeast Asia and the one stretch of the Mekong that cannot be navigated by boat. Enjoy the rest of the day at leisure. Overnight in the 4,000 Islands.

Begin the journey back to Pakse, taking between two and a half and three and a half hours depending on the island of departure, before transferring to the airport for your onward flight.