Salavan Province
Laos · Asia
About Salavan Province
Saravan (alternative spellings Saravane, Salavan) is a province in Southern Laos. It's best known for its wild and mountainous terrain, waterfalls and diversity of ethnic minority communities.
Salavan Province travel guide
Understand
Colonised by both the Thai and the French, Saravan became a key battleground during the civil war, with battles between the Lao government and the Pathet Lao destroying most of the old buildings in the province. As of 2022, Saravan had the lowest Human Development Index of any province in Laos. The province is heavily forested however vast swathes have been intensively logged and sent to Vietnam on the sly.
Getting there
Saravan has an airport but as of Dec 2024 there are no scheduled flights. The nearest airport is in Pakse, 140km away, which has flights to Vientiane and Luang Prabang and very limited international routes. Regarding getting to Saravan town, as of 2020 there were 9 daily buses from Pakse, 3 from Vientiane and one bus from Attapeu. The bus station is 2km west of town. The sleeper bus from Vientiane departs at 20:30 and arrives in Saravan town the next morning at about 10:00, passing through Pakse on the way. Buses from Pakse take about 3 hours to get to Saravan town or 2 hours to Tad Lo.
Getting around
Saravan city is very much the nerve centre of the province. It is an emerging tourist destination and has a "frontier town" feel owing to the lack of major settlements elsewhere in the province. Transport to these outlying settlements can be difficult owing to the poor condition of the roads, especially during the monsoon (May-October).
See
The province is home to a number of beautiful waterfalls, including Tad Lo, Tad Suong, Tad Hang, Tad Fan, Tad Nyeuang, Tad Champee & Tad E-Tu. The central part of this province is part of the Bolaven Plateau. Salavan town has a market where tribal women from neighbouring areas come to sell things they have foraged like mushrooms, bamboo, eggs and lizards. Less than a kilometre to the north-east of the market is Wat Kang Salavan, a Buddhist temple inside a pond housing religious texts. It is beautiful, but the original was destroyed by war in 1972.
Do
A popular activity is renting a motorcycle or joining a tour of the Bolaven Plateau, the route being commonly referred to as the Bolaven Loop.
Go next
About 6 buses depart Saravan headed to Pakse per day. These pass Tad Lo and Lao Ngam on the way.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia, travel guide fromWikivoyage (CC BY-SA)。Photography via Wikimedia Commons.