4000 Island (Si Phan Don) ສີ່ພັນດອນ Laos

4000 Islands Video - Si Phan Don

In this flip flop navigator I explore 4000 islands in Southern Laos.

Si Phan Don (The 4,000 Islands) in Laos is a unique area in the Mekong River where the river splits into multiple channels, creating a vast network of islands, rapids, and waterfalls making it unnavigable and one of the most dramatic sections of the Mekong River.

In this 7 km stretch of the river instead of flowing as one large channel, the Mekong spreads out over a wide area breaking into smaller streams with waterfalls and rapids and hundreds of islands.

This natural barrier has helped preserve the islands’ peaceful, rural charm, making them a unique and laid-back destination in Southern Laos.

The most famous fall is Khone Phapheng Falls, which is the largest waterfall in Southeast Asia by volume.

In the 19th century, French explorers wanted to use the Mekong as a trade route to China but were stopped by these waterfalls. To bypass them, they built a short 7 kilometer railway across Don Det and Don Khon islands to transport goods.


🚣‍♂️ Don Det – The backpacker hub has cheap bungalows, bars, tubing, and a chill party vibe.

🌴 Don Khon is Quieter, with waterfalls, old French colonial bridges, and historical sites. This is the island where I did the zip lining.

They prefer foreign currency but give you Lao Kip in return. I haven’t found anywhere that wants Lao Kip outside of Lao so only get what you can use.

After a 2 hour taxi ride from Pakse I took a long tail boat from the Nakasang ferry port fro about 15 minutes to The Old French Port on Don Det island.

From the Old French Port on Don Det Island then walked a couple minutes to Mr Tho’s Bungalows.

Day 1 wasn’t very eventful or should I say it was very relaxing; I arrived, met my friends, we got some food, then enjoyed a beer Lao in our hammocks by the river watching the sunset then the stars until we decided we should get adjusted to island time and called it an early night.

Day 2 we took off on the bikes and crossed the old railroad bridge from Don Det Island where I was staying to Don Khon Island to see the Sompamit waterfall.

After seeing the bridge between Don Set and Don Khon was way more robust than your typical walking bridge we did some research and found it was part of the French-built railway I told about earlier used to transport goods and boats around the unnavigable Khone Phapheng Falls

The waterfalls and surrounding park were beautiful but we saw the suspension bridges then the zip lines running over the waterfalls and we had to do it.

The zipline tour crosses over the Sompamit waterfalls 6 different times offering you spectacular views of the waterfalls and some adrenaline too.

If zip lining isn’t your thing there is a walking tour where you walk across the river a few times on cable suspension bridges.

This map shows the zip lines red, the walking paths green, and the walking suspension bridges are yellow.

At lunch we decided to take a slow 20 kilometer bike ride around the laid back island of Don Khon to take in a waterfall and see where the 7 kilometer railroad meets the Mekong on the southern end.

We crossed the bridge back to Don Det Island, stopped at our hotel for a bit then rode into the main port area of Don Det Island for a snack.

At the port we checked out a map and found another road that goes up the center of Don Det and down the west coast back to the port again so we took off to explore more of the island.

This is the northern terminus railway on Don Det Island near our hotel and the village of Ban Hua Det.

We were pleasantly surprised the West Coast had only a tiny dirt cart path but there were cafes and bungalows everywhere.

If you are looking to get away from the crowds but still want to be able to get to the main ferry port on foot in 10 or 15 minutes this where you want to be.

jDay 3 we woke up to dumping rain and planned on chilling in the hammocks all day.

After a couple hours the sun came so we joined some others for a bike trip around the islands tasting the local food and that is exactly what we did,,,,,, until it turned into a pub crawl.

Day 4 we grabbed breakfast, then I said good bye and jumped on my long tail boat back to Nakasang ferry port where I caught a taxi to pause and a flight to Vientiane.

Riding the long tail back to the mainland I thought about how untouched this place still was and how I need to get back here for more exploring of the surrounding islands at a much slower pace.

The best way to get there is to fly into pakse Laos and take a taxi or the way I did it was to fly in to Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand then took a taxi across the border into Laos, through Pakse and onto 4000 Islands.

If you have the time Pakse is a nice little city off the beaten tourist path with views of the Mekong river, spectacular waterfalls , and centuries old historic sites.