Vat Phou Festival, Champasak 2027

Wat Phou, a pre-Angkorian temple complex more than a thousand years old at the foot of Phou Kao mountain, hosts southern Laos's largest festival on the full moon of the third lunar month (Makha Bucha). Pilgrims come from across Laos, Thailand and Cambodia.

For three days the area around the ancient baray (reservoir) below the temple fills with a market, food stalls, mor lam stages and folk games. Elephant races and buffalo fights were part of the festival in the past; today the programme varies from year to year, so check it before you go. Before dawn on the full moon, crowds climb the stone stairway to the sanctuary at the top to give alms and offer flowers, and in the evening there is a candle-lit procession.

Tips:

• Rooms in Champasak town and Pakse sell out — book weeks ahead.
• The Ban Muang – Champasak ferry gets crowded, and charter prices from Pakse (~40 km) rise.
• Climb before sunrise to beat the heat and the crowds; bring water, a hat and a torch.
• Dress modestly and never climb on the ruins.

Dates follow the Lao lunar calendar and are sample data — verify with organisers / the Champasak tourism office.