What's on in Pakse, Laos through the year

Busy — school holidays in 6 of the markets that fill it, one of its best months for weather

Nothing new starts in January.

Still on: Dry season (1 Nov – 31 Mar (usually)), Bolaven coffee harvest (1 Nov – 28 Feb (usually))

Busy — Wat Phou Festival, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

• Festival

  Wat Phou Festival

  1–28 Feb · usuallyMajor festivalCrowded

  Three days of pilgrimage, elephant racing and music at the Khmer temple below the mountain south of town, timed to the February full moon. The site is a fairground for it. Source ↗

• Hazard

  Burning season haze

  15 Feb – 30 Apr · usuallySmoke season

  Field clearing across southern Laos and over the Thai border fills the Mekong valley with smoke for weeks, and the view from the plateau edge disappears with it. Source ↗

Still on: Dry season (1 Nov – 31 Mar (usually)), Bolaven coffee harvest (1 Nov – 28 Feb (usually))

Shoulder season — school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in March.

Still on: Burning season haze (15 Feb – 30 Apr (usually)), Dry season (1 Nov – 31 Mar (usually))

Busy — Pi Mai, Lao New Year, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

• Festival

  Pi Mai, Lao New Year

  13–17 AprWater-festival New YearClosuresCrowded

  Water in the streets at the hottest point of the year and a week when buses, banks and most kitchens stop. The temple crowds along the riverfront are the good part. Source ↗

Still on: Burning season haze (15 Feb – 30 Apr (usually))

Shoulder season — school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in May.

Shoulder season — school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in June.

Quiet — school holidays in 5 of the markets that fill it, one of its worst months for weather

Nothing new starts in July.

Quiet — school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it, one of its worst months for weather

• Nature

  Falls at full flow

  1 Aug – 31 Oct · usuallyHigh water

  Tad Fane, Tad Yuang and the Khone Phapheng cataract downstream run hardest at the end of the rains — loud, drenched in spray and worth the wet feet.

Quiet — school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it, one of its worst months for weather

Nothing new starts in September.

Still on: Falls at full flow (1 Aug – 31 Oct (usually))

Shoulder season — school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in October.

Still on: Falls at full flow (1 Aug – 31 Oct (usually))

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

• Season

  Dry season

  1 Nov – 31 Mar · usually

  The window for the plateau loop and the road south to the islands, when the red dirt tracks between the coffee villages are firm and the mornings up at Paksong are cold.

• Nature

  Bolaven coffee harvest

  1 Nov – 28 Feb · usually

  Picking on the plateau above town, with cherries drying on tarps outside every village and the roadside places selling this year's crop before it leaves the country.

Busy — school holidays in 5 of the markets that fill it, one of its best months for weather

Nothing new starts in December.

Still on: Dry season (1 Nov – 31 Mar (usually)), Bolaven coffee harvest (1 Nov – 28 Feb (usually))