During the third lunar month (February), celebrations at Angkor precede Champasack's traditional Wat Phou Festival at the site of ruins. The festival is noted for elephant racing, cockfighting, and cultural performances of traditional Lao music and dance.

Champasak has some 20 wats (temples). The Khmer ruins of Wat Phou are in the capital of the Champasak District. They are on the Phu Kao mountain slopes, about 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) from Champasak District and about 45 kilometres (28 mi) to the south of Pakse along the Mekong River. Wat Phou was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site on 14 December 2001. It is the second such site in Laos. The temple complex, built in the Khmer style, overlooks the Mekong River and was an important Hindu temple in the Khmer Empire. At the same location are the ruins of other pre-Angkor monuments. Wat Phou Asa is an ancient Hindu-Khmer pagoda, built on flat rock on Phou Kao Klat Ngong Mount in Pathoumphone District. It can be reached via Route 13, south of Pakse, and then by foot from Ban Klat Ngong. The pagoda was built by the Khmers and is in a ruined state, but is an important archaeological site. It is now under renovation. Wat Luang and Wat Tham Fai were built in 1935. There is a monastic school and a small Buddha foot imprint shrine in Wat Pha Bhat and Wat Tham Fai; religious festivals are held within a large open area.

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  View from near the top of Wat Phou
• 
  A lintel showing Krishna killing Kaliya, on the south wall of the Wat Phou sanctuary
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  Wat Luang in Pakse
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  Wat Tham Fai in Pakse

When someday comes you'll need to get in.

When someday comes you'll need to be able to get around.