Best time to visit Pakse

Laos · Southeast Asia

All twelve months scored on daily temperature, rainfall, humidity and holiday crowding.

The year in Pakse

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Sweet spot
Good
OK
Avoid
Busy

Go in Jan or Dec — 30C max, 0 rainy days. Nov is the next best.

Dry season: Nov–Apr, 6 or fewer rainy days a month.

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Month by month

Month	Max °C	Rain days	Humidity	Sun h/day	Verdict	Why
Jan	30°	0d	64%	10.6h	sweet spot busy	busier than usual
Feb	33°	1d	60%	10.9h	okbusy	busier than usual
Mar	34°	2d	62%	11.3h	okbusy	busier than usual
Apr	35°	3d	65%	11.2h	avoid	extreme heat: 14 days over 35C
May	33°	13d	76%	10.0h	avoid	33C max, 13 rainy days
Jun	31°	16d*	84%	9.9h	avoid	monsoon: 16 rainy days, 267mm
Jul	30°	24d	88%	7.9h	avoid	monsoon: 24 rainy days, 560mm
Aug	30°	23d	88%	8.3h	avoid	monsoon: 23 rainy days, 446mm
Sep	30°	21d	89%	8.3h	avoid	monsoon: 21 rainy days, 438mm
Oct	30°	10d	84%	9.0h	ok	30C max, 10 rainy days
Nov	30°	3d	77%	10.1h	okbusy	busier than usual
Dec	30°	0d	69%	10.4h	sweet spot busy	busier than usual

Rain days are the days with at least 1 mm of rain, as a weather station counts them.

Weather read at the centre, by the Mekong: ten years of ERA5 and ERA5-Land reanalysis, through Open-Meteo's open data.* Rainy days in June are as the weather station at Pakse (2 km away) counts them, where it and the model disagree on a wet month (WMO 48955, 2017–2026).

A busy month is a crowded one, not a bad one — usually it is crowded because the weather is good. It is flagged rather than scored down, and crowds alone never make a month “avoid”: that is reserved for weather worth skipping.

How busy it gets

Busiest from November to March; quietest from May to October.

Then and now

Pakse's June days now average 30.9°C, 1.5°C warmer than in 1981–1990. 7 of 12 months are clearly warmer.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
1981–90	30.2°	32.5°	33.9°	33.9°	31.7°	29.5°	29.4°	29.0°	28.9°	28.7°	29.0°	28.7°
2017–26	30.4°	32.5°	34.0°	34.6°	33.0°	30.9°	29.8°	29.8°	29.6°	29.7°	30.1°	29.9°
Change	+0.2°	+0.0°	+0.1°	+0.7°	+1.3°	+1.5°	+0.4°	+0.8°	+0.7°	+0.9°	+1.2°	+1.3°

The average daily high, month by month, for the nearest ERA5 grid cell. Bold is a clear change; grey is within the ordinary spread between years. Every destination, ranked.

Getting there

How far Pakse is depends on where you set off from — the months above do not.

Before you go

Type A and B and C and E and F plugs at 230 V. Drives on the right. The currency is the Lao kip. UK Foreign Office: avoid all but essential travel to parts. Everything for Laos: cost of living, languages, emergency numbers and health.

Being there

On arrival

Paying — The currency is the kip, which is hard to get or change outside Laos; US dollars and Thai baht are commonly accepted. ATMs are widely available, but card and ATM fraud is frequent: use machines inside a bank or business or in public areas, and get kip from a bank or ATM rather than an exchange kiosk, where counting scams happen. Major cards are taken only at some international hotels and tourist businesses.
UPI, for visitors from India — Not accepted for paying here; bring a card that works abroad.

Getting around Pakse

Apps — Maps: Google Maps. Use a known taxi service, booked by your accommodation or through a local taxi app; check that the driver and number plate match when it arrives, and be wary of drivers in the street who claim to work for an app company.

If you plan to do the Bolaven Plateau Loop, rent a motorbike or buy a bus ticket beware of the company Lao Adventure(r) Travel. The Lao woman in the office will try to scam you by selling tickets for non-existent buses. More on Wikivoyage

From the Wikivoyage article on Pakse, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Open in Google MapsPakse on the map

Help

Emergency — police 1191 · ambulance 1195 · fire 1190. An ambulance can also be called on 030 525 7239.
TravelCharika is not an emergency service: we cannot call for help or send anyone. Numbers can change; if one fails, ask someone local or your hotel.

Put together by hand from the sources listed, checked 8 October 2026. Apps, cards and rules change, so check before you rely on one.

Sources (7)

Pakse in pictures

Golden Buddha seen from behind at sunset at Wat Phou Salao temple in Pakse Laos — i

Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Water reflection of sunset with gray and orange clouds and a boat moored to the bank in Pakse Laos — i

Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Pakse from Le Panorama — i

Christophe95, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

What Pakse is like

Pakse (ປາກເຊ) is the relatively modern and friendly capital (pop. 116,200 in 2020) of Champasak province. The transport hub of Southern Laos, Pakse is not a tourist destination in itself, but a necessary and useful stop on the tourist trail to Si Phan Don and the Bolaven Plateau, and the nearest big town to Wat Phou. More on Wikivoyage

Worth seeing: Ban Keosamphanh. The most beautiful green rice fields of Pakse, a former French army camp, and is home to the oldest market of Pakse. More on Wikivoyage
Worth doing: There's not much to do in Pakse. However, it is a good base for travel to the Bolaven Plateau and Si Phan Don. More on Wikivoyage
Getting in: Pakse International Airport (PKZ IATA) (5km north-west of town). The only international airport in southern Laos. More on Wikivoyage

From the Wikivoyage article on Pakse, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the full article has far more. The numbers above are measured; this is experience.

Around Pakse

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Pakse is in Laos, Southeast Asia. Distances are great-circle, so a short one can still be a long way round.

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