Tad Tayicseua Guide – Overview

This post is a Tad Tayicseua guide.

THERE IS NO WATERFALL CALLED ‘TAD TAYICSEUA‘ !

Now that I have gotten that out of the way let’s cover some other things.

Tad Tayicseua is just an area, a concentration of waterfalls, each waterfall within Tad Tayicseua has its own name and this guide aims to paint a more up to date picture about this place and what is on offer.

Tad Tayicseua is a popular stop for those doing the Pakse loop aka Bolaven Plateau loop. However, it is only visited for those doing the ‘big loop’, not the ‘short loop’.

I myself did the Pakse loop and visited Tad Tayicseua. I had read up about it, but unfortunately when I arrived I realised that the things I had read were all old news. The place has grown and developed since all these posts that I read had been written.

In this Tad Tayicseua guide I’m going to try and make this easier for the next person who is visiting whilst doing the Pakse loop with photos, walk times, maps etc.

You don’t have to be doing the Pakse loop to visit this place, but I will write this up as if you are and only have one full day to visit.

If you like waterfalls – check out this post about Thi Lo Su, Thailand’s tallest waterfall.

Or this post about Erawan falls, a more touristy version of Tad Tayicseua found in Thailand.

In the broader sense of things this is where Tad Tayicseua is in Laos if you wanted to visit it.

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Tad Tayicseua Guide Video

Tad Tayicseua is a very beautiful place, to get a proper sense of the scale and the hiking conditions involved you might prefer to watch this video which covers my time there.

For more detailed information see the video. Any questions then feel free to comment on the video as I don’t really check comments on this website.

What does Tad Tayicseua mean?

The word “Tad” translates to “waterfall” in the Lao language.

“Tayicseua” does not have a direct translation in standard Lao because it is actually the name of the indigenous Yaheun (Jeih) tribe village located in that specific area of the Bolaven Plateau.

The waterfalls carry names with the word “Jarou”, this is the local dialect word for “waterfall”. So you will see a lot of the waterfalls here have essentially a double up such as “Tad Jarou Halang”.

When people say “Tad Tayicseua”, they are essentially saying “The Waterfalls of the Tayicseua Tribal Area”

Where is Tad Tayicseua?

See the south east corner of the map below. The site is located just to the southeast of Houay Kong.

How to get to Tad Tayicseua?

You will visit this on day 3 of the Pakse loop after having stayed in Houay Kong the night before, alternatively there is also accommodation available at Tad Tayicseua itself. 

From Houay Kong the road that you take is south off the main road towards Tad Khoo, then take the turn off heading east. The other portion of the loop road that doesn’t go past Tad Khoo is in poor condition. It is about 20 minutes ride from Houay Kong.

Tad Tayicseua can also be visited for those doing the short loop from Paksong (50-60 minutes), or if you’re really keen from Pakse (about 2 hours) as a trip in its own right or with an overnight at Tad Tayicseua itself.

How Many Waterfalls Are There?

At the time of my visit in 2026 there are 10 named waterfalls and plenty of smaller waterfalls with no name. None of them are called ‘Tad Tayicseua’ as you can see from the map below.

Tad Tayicseua – The Waterfalls

With the brief overview done, this section of the Tad Tayicseua guide will go into the waterfalls themselves, how to try and see them all, how long it takes to hike to some of them and the trail conditions etc.

Recommend it?

Yes.

Yes.

 Maybe.

Yes.

Yes.

Maybe.

Maybe.

Maybe.

Yes.

Maybe.

Waterfall names

As with anywhere in Laos, the english variant of the name of the waterfalls or even the place itself can and will change. I have seen numerous spellings for these, where Google maps says one thing, in person signs say another, which is different to the sign 100m down the track.

To give you some examples:

• Tad Tayicseua = Tad Tayicsua, Tad Tayicseur, Tad Tayicsa etc.
• Yariem Waterfalls = Tad Jarou Yarim, Yarim Falls, Tad Jarou Jariem etc.
• Kiet Oak = Tad Jarou Kiet Oak, Kiet Ork etc.

The list goes on, with MadnDreun/Mandrun/Man druen etc.

Throughout the guide I have mostly tried to use the most common spelling.

How long does it take to walk around Tad Tayicseua?

I visited Tad Tayicseua under the impression that I was going to see all of the waterfall, because I thought there were only 5 to see. I took the road down past Tad Khoo and Tad Diew.

I had already seen Tad Khoo the previous afternoon, but decided to stop in at Tad Diew (don’t bother) on the way through.

Here are my real times from my day at Tad Tayicseua taken from the metadata of the videos I was shooting.

09:25 – Entering Tad Tayicseua after parking.
09:51 – Visit small waterfall (unnamed) which is a sidetrack off the main path to Halang falls.
09:57 – Start stairs down to Halang falls.
10:04 – On main viewing platform at Halang falls.
10:23 – Leaving Halang falls after photos and filming.
10:35 – Arrive at Little Bee Waterfalls.
10:42 – Leave from Little Bee Waterfalls.
10:58 – Arrive at Tad Thalaleui.
11:19 – Leaving Tad Thalaleui.
11:27 – Start the path up the jungle from Tad Thalaleui (had to backtrack as it was hard to find).
11:50 – Arrive back at the top of the hill where the paths meet.
12:00 – Order lunch and coffee since I am back at the main area.
12:40 – Begin descent down stairs towards Kiet Oak.
12:48 – Arrive at Kiet Oak falls.
13:25 – Depart Kiet Oak falls to walk along the river to Mandreun.
13:40 – Arrive at Tad Mandreun.
13:55 – Depart Tad Jarou Mandreun.
14:09  – Start climb back up stairs from near Kiet Oak.
14:23 – Back at the scooter or car park area to ride to Eagle Falls.
14:31 – Entering Eagle falls trail down (it’s short).
15:06 – Leaving Eagle falls to continue Pakse loop.

The Waterfalls That I Visited

Here are the waterfalls that I visited, in the order that I saw them. This is a common path to follow, starting with Halang Falls and walking clockwise, following the water flow downstream.

Tad Jarou Halang

Tad Jarou Halang is one of the two “highlight” falls, the other being Kiet Oak.

These are the two that are often incorrectly labelled as “Tad Tayicseua”.

Halang falls is well known as it will develop a rainbow in the mist of the water spray during the morning hours when the sun is at the right angle.

I visited in the dry season, it was calm enough to walk right down and under the falls as the water flow was not too strong. However given the height of the falls the water would sting if you stood under it.

Tad Jarou Halang.

Shot on the Sony A1 (Amazon/eBay link) using the Tamron 28-200mm f/2.8-5.6 (Amazon/eBay link).

Little Bee Waterfall / Tad Pheung Noi

Little Bee was never on my original 5 to see as I didn’t know of its existence, but it is right along the path now that connects Halang falls with Tad Thalaleui.

It is a small waterfall, the path to it still is very underdeveloped but this could just be due to wet season damage that it needs to be redone each year. I can only guess.

Little Bee.

Tad Thalaleui

When you’re at the Tad Tayicseua site, this waterfall is the one that is where the ‘camping on the rocks’ is shown on the mud map. But the actual signs still point to Tad Thalaleui.

This was more of a wide rapids system, with rock hopping options available. To get out onto the rocks I followed a pretty overgrown trail (th emain trail continues along the riverbank) which gave me a good angle of the falls.

Tad Thalaleui.

Shot on the Sony A1 (Amazon/eBay link) using the Tamron 28-200mm f/2.8-5.6 (Amazon/eBay link).

Path To Three Other Waterfalls Diverges Here

There are three further waterfalls in the top right corner of the mud map – Tad Jarou Yariem, Tad Jarou Marut and Rainy Season Waterfall.

I will discuss in section 3 of this Tad Tayicseua guide the waterfalls that I didn’t visit and why, how you should go about seeing them if you want to make the time etc.

Just know that from Tad Thalaleui is where your hike changes depending on whether you want to see those threee falls or not. For me, it involved heading 20 minutes up a steep hill, dripping in sweat, to return to the main grassed area for lunch.

The other three falls involve carrying on upstream, across the top of Thalaleui and following the river for 30-40 minutes.

Tad Kiet Oak

This is the other “main” waterfall of the area that is often confused as being “Tad Tayicseua” since it can be viewed from the viewing platform as you enter.

I would say that this is the most powerful of the waterfalls that I saw, there is no swimming area, but the forest around it is pure unadulterated magic. Like a fairytale.

I accessed Tad Kiet Oak from the proper stairs leading down from the central area, but there is also a path the goes towards the three waterfalls I skipped, past Tad Mandreun and across the river.

Kiet Oak.

Shot on the Sony A1 (Amazon/eBay link) using the Sony 16-35mm GM II (Amazon/eBay link).

Tad Mandreun

After leaving Kiet Oak there is a path that goes along the river towards Kiet Oak. This was my favourite section of jungle hiking for the entire day!

The path is shaded, involves awesome little bridges, not too much elevation change and even some smaller unnamed waterfalls along the way.

Once you cross the bamboo bridge above Mandreun, there are some pretty dodgy ladders going down about 25-30m to bring you to the waterfall base.

The rocks around Tad Mandreun were like ice, I couldn’t really explore too far as it felt dangerous and I was in a rush. The way the river split over the rock into two at the top of the falls was awesome to see and the path to get here amazing.

Tad Mandreun.

Shot on the Sony A1 (Amazon/eBay link) using the Sony 16-35mm GM II (Amazon/eBay link).

Eagle Waterfalls

After Tad Mandreun I walked back along the river past Kiet Oak, back up the stairs to the main area, back to the carpark and jumped on the scooter to ride to Eagle Waterfalls.

You can walk as well, but it makes sense to ride on the way out rather than double back to get your bike later. This is also your chance to see Above Waterfall as well if you have the time.

Eagle waterfall was possibly my favourite of all the stops. There is a jumping platform, a rope swing, a floating boardwalk, some kayaks and it is by far the best suited to swimming.

Eagle Waterfalls

Shot on the Sony A1 (Amazon/eBay link) using the Sony 16-35mm GM II (Amazon/eBay link).

Breakdown of Tad Tayicseua

So that’s Tad Tayicseua.

You’ve seen the mud map, you’ve seen the waterfalls that I saw, you’ve seen how long it took me to get around to all of them. Now I wan’t to discuss the waterfalls I wasn’t fortunate enough to see and give some other general advice.

What I chose to see at Tad Tayicseua

Before starting the Pakse loop, I had read other Pakse loop guides which really gloss over this place.

It has seen a bit of development, with new waterfalls opened up on the map above that aren’t mentioned in any posts. The original section of Tad Tayicseau was the central portion around the restaurant and included just the following waterfalls:

• Tad Jarou Halang.
• Tad Thalaleui.
• Tad Man Dreun.
• Tad Kiet Oak.

Since then the paths have been growing to include more waterfalls. I had never heard of these other waterfalls until arriving and seeing the map on the grounds, so had never planned to see them.

See this post from 2019 from WideAngleAdventure that shows at that time there were 7 main waterfalls – Marut, Yariem and Eagle Falls appear to be the 3 that were added.

In the end I managed to see 6 out of the 10 named waterfalls.

Why I didn’t see all the waterfalls

The 4 main falls mentioned above were the only falls that I knew about before coming here, with the exception of Eagle Waterfall purely because it’s the only one with a google maps page. So those were the 5 I wanted to see.

I didn’t actually know the others existed until I got there, which was a shame because I would have loved to have seen them all. I would not have wasted time at Tad Diew had I known, I would have come to Tad Tayicseua right on opening minute.

Basically, I didn’t have the time. That’s why I wanted to write this Tad Tayicseua guide so people now know how many falls there are and can get an idea of what’s required to see them all.

On the Tad Tayicseua waterfall map above you can see three waterfalls to the top right:

• Rainy season waterfall.
• Marut waterfall.
• Yariem waterfalls.

There is an indication that this trail is 40 minutes one way – not including stopping time for photos or swimming.

Add the fact that one of the waterfalls was called Rainy Season Waterfall and I was visiting in dry season, I decided that this branch of the hiking trail wouldn’t be worth my time for this trip.

Is it possible to see every waterfall in a day?

Yes, but it is difficult and I wouldn’t recommend it for most people.

The mud map gives you a good idea of the layout, but what you can’t see is track conditions and elevation change, which makes the hiking a bit more challenging than it might appear. For me especially carrying all of my camera gear to document it.

However, even with all the camera gear I do believe I could have made it had I known about them all and planned for it.

Firstly, you need to be reasonably fit. Doing it in dry season is possible, wet season would be difficult. You’d need to come near on opening time and take a lot of water with you.

I did 6 out of 10, which included filming, photographing and carrying a lot of weight. I still could have done the others but it would have been really full on and pushing that 18:00 closing time.

If you did it without setting up tripods, talking to camera, doing long exposures etc you’d go way faster than me.

All you’d have to do is pick and choose which to swim at. I don’t think a lot of the falls require a 30 minute stay either, some you just walk past, some you photograph, some you swim.

It’s doable.

You can see from my times written above that I didn’t arrive until 09:25 which is a lot later than I would have had I known about the other waterfalls.

According to some sources the place is open from 06:00 but I have also seen 08:00 written around as well.

As it is a family run area I do believe there’s some flexibility in it. When I got to the gate there was nobody there, but they saw me and rode down on a scooter to let me in and take the entrance fee.

Say for example I had arrived at 08:00. That hour and a half extra would have been what I needed to do the last track out to the furtherst three waterfalls. Add a brief stop to Above Waterfall and I could have done 08:00-16:00 at not too fast a pace.

Kiet Oak through the trees.

Best Waterfalls at Tad Tayicseua

Keeping in mind that I haven’t seen them all, but my favourite waterfalls at Tad Tayicseua are Kiet Oak and Eagle Waterfall. For different reasons though.

Kiet Oak I found to be the most stunning landscape to walk around just beneath the falls and the falls are probably the most powerful in the area. The forest beneath it, the river, the rapids, pure magic.

Eagle waterfall is the nicest for a swim. It has a jumping platform, a rope swing, a big natural pool that is quite calm with deep water and a floating boardwalk. Although visually not ‘amazing’ it’s one of the best here for fun.

Tad Jarou Halang is another highlight waterfall and is often seen as the posterboy of Tad Tayicseau, with its awesome crescent shaped overhang rock ledge and a mist rainbow at the right time of day.

Ranking All 10 Waterfalls

Haven’t Seen

Tad Marut.

Tad Yariem.

Rainy Season Waterfall.

Above Waterfall. 

How Much Does Tad Tayicseua Entry Cost?

This place is criminally underpriced.

Not often do I go to a place and think ‘These guys need to charge more’ but this is one.

It is only 55,000 ₭ ($3.66 AUD) and you have access to 10 waterfalls – 4 of which are pretty stunning no matter what you compare them to in south east asia. 

What To Pack For Tad Tayicseua

I am not going to list things out one by one but I just want to say that despite being on the Bolaven Plateau, it is still very hot and humid when trekking through the jungle. Carry a lot of water and snacks if hiking to see all of the falls.

Bring something to swim in as well if you’re visiting in the dry season.

It can rain at anytime, but in the dry season generally you’ll be fine.

In the wet season you will need a rain jacket, shoes for mud trekking and expect the tracks to be quite difficult.

Other Online Sources for Tad Tayicseua

This blog post here is one the only one I can find that shows Marut and maybe Yariem.

This is the official site I believe, the photos are great but are not captioned. However I believe I can tell which ones are which and I do wish I got to see Marut falls based on what I believe it to be in these photos.

See this Youtube video from the 16 minute mark to compare Tad Tayicseua in the wet season to the footage from my video in the dry season.

It is absolutely incredible the transformation and you can see how hiking some of these paths would be impossible.

Final Thoughts

I can’t believe this place has been known about for so long and there is so little information online that is up to date.

I think they could charge more for this place, it’s a gem and still has the off-the-beaten-path feel thanks to the track conditions with bamboo bridge river crossings and rock hopping.

Genuinely good fun with stunning waterfalls to cap it off.

Feel free to comment (on the Youtube video if you want me to see it) with any extra information about the falls that I didn’t see.

Cheers.