All activities / Rock Climbing / Thakhek
Rock Climbing in Thakhek
A quiet riverside town on the Mekong in Khammouane province, gateway to the limestone karst, caves and the Thakhek Loop, and home to Southeast Asia's deepest concentration of sport-climbing routes.
Why here
Thakhek is Southeast Asia's best sport-climbing area, a forest of grey limestone karst towers rising straight out of the paddies about twelve kilometres east of town. Climbing here only started in 2010 when a German team bolted the first lines, and the walls have since been developed into more than six hundred routes across a dozen crags, from friendly vertical slabs to overhanging tufa caves that stay dry and shaded through the season. The Pha Tam Kammon walls around Green Climbers Home hold the densest clusters, with routes graded from a gentle 4 to a stiff 8c, so a first-timer and a projecting climber can share the same base. What makes it a destination rather than a day out is the setup: one camp at the foot of the cliffs handles guiding, courses, gear and beds, so you can climb straight from breakfast.
Best months
The climbing season runs through the cool, dry months from about November to March, when the tufa walls stay shaded and the humidity drops. April and May are punishingly hot and the June to September wet season brings heavy rain and slick rock. Mornings and late afternoons are best even in season; the steep, caved sectors give shade when the sun is high.
Getting there & around
Thakhek sits on the Mekong opposite Nakhon Phanom in Thailand, reachable by bus from Vientiane in five to six hours or by air-and-road via Savannakhet. The climbing and the main camp are about twelve kilometres out of town on the road toward the karst, so most climbers base themselves at the cliffs rather than in Thakhek itself. Bring or rent a scooter for flexibility, or arrange transfers through the camp.
Skill levels: beginner, intermediate, advanced
Schools & guides (1)
Green Climbers Home
OutfitterGreen Climbers Home was founded in 2011 by Tanja and Uli Weidner, a German climbing family, as the first climbers' camp among the limestone karst towers twelve kilometres from Thakhek. It sits below more than six hundred bolted sport routes graded 4 to 8c, and the team publishes the official Laos climbing guidebook that maps them. Courses run from first-timer to lead climbing, gear rental is on site, and climbers stay in bungalows, dorms and tents at the foot of the cliffs.