CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
205 km round from Pakse - plan on about 2 h 41 of riding. It goes by way of Tad Fane, Paksong and Tad Lo. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,200 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 13 km this is Bolaven Plateau Loop, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Pakse sits where the Xe Don river meets the Mekong in the far south of Laos, a lazy, low-rise town of fewer than a hundred thousand people that works as the gateway to the Bolaven Plateau. The Mekong here is wide and brown, with sandbanks in the dry season, and a long bridge opened in 2000 with Japanese help carries the road over to the far bank. Streets are quiet, shuttered shops sell motorbike spares and coffee, and the pace is slow in a way that grows on you.
Read the complete Pakse write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Pakse is where the day begins. Next is Tad Fane.
Two rivers run off the Bolaven Plateau side by side and throw themselves into the same gorge, and the result is Tad Fane, one of the tallest waterfalls in Laos, with a drop of well over a hundred metres. The streams, called the Huay Champi and the Huay Bang Lieng, plunge in thin white ribbons from the rim into a deep green abyss, and from a lookout across the gorge you can watch them fall for what seems like a very long time. The sound arrives a moment late, the spray drifts up on the air, and the mist lingers in the trees at the bottom. The best view is in the rainy season, from about June to October, when the flow is at its fullest, though the dry season gives clearer skies.
Read the complete Tad Fane write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Tad Fane comes up about 39 km into the recorded legs. Next is Paksong.
Paksong, which is also spelled Pakxong, is the unofficial coffee capital of Laos, a dusty market town set at the heart of the Bolaven Plateau where the air is cool, the soil is red and the whole economy smells of roasting beans. The plateau rises to over a thousand metres and catches regular rain, which suits both Arabica and Robusta, and the French planters who began growing coffee here in the early twentieth century left a legacy that Lao farmers have turned into a thriving industry. Plantations of shiny dark green bushes cover the hillsides, and in the harvest season, red berries are spread on tarpaulins to dry beside the road.
Read the complete Paksong write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 52 km into the recorded legs you reach Paksong. Next is Tad Lo.
Tad Lo is a place where the Bolaven Plateau puts on its gentlest face. The Xe Set river tumbles over a series of low waterfalls and rapids in a wooded setting, with simple guesthouses on the banks, a few small restaurants and a village atmosphere that is popular with travellers who want to slow down. The falls are not the largest in Laos, but they are among the most pleasant, since you can swim in the pools below them in the dry season, sit on the rocks with a cold drink and listen to the water. The name tad means waterfall in Lao, and the plural is well deserved, since there are a handful in the neighbourhood.
Read the complete Tad Lo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Tad Lo, late in the day. Next is Pakse.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Pakse write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Pakse. That is the ride.
Pakse → Tad Fane is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Tad Fane → Paksong is 13 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Paksong → Tad Lo is 66 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Tad Lo → Pakse is 87 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.