Tham Pha Fa

In 2004 a villager hunting bats climbed into an opening in a limestone cliff outside Thakhek and found a chamber holding well over two hundred bronze Buddha images, along with palm-leaf manuscripts, apparently placed there several centuries earlier and forgotten. The find turned Tham Pha Fa into a pilgrimage site almost overnight. The images are now displayed inside the cave where they were found, the entrance has a stair and a gate, and the local name for it translates roughly as the Buddha cave.

What you actually see

• The bronzes - more than two hundred images of varying size and age, set out in the chamber.
• The chamber - a single high-roofed cave with a natural window out over the plain.
• The stair - a covered climb up the cliff face to the entrance.
• The setting - karst towers and rice fields spread out below the opening.

When to go

November to April is dry and comfortable for the climb. Lao New Year in April and Buddhist holidays bring large numbers of pilgrims, which is either the reason to come or the reason to avoid it. Mornings are cooler on the stair.

Honest expectations

This is an active place of worship first and a sight second: shoes off, shoulders and knees covered, and no clambering. The chamber is not large and a visit is short. The stair is steep and there is no shade on it.

Nearby

Thakhek is twenty minutes away and the loop road starts from there.