Champassak is a small town in southern Laos, on the west bank of the Mekong River. The town was once the seat of the Kingdom of Champassak, an independent Lao state which was abolished by the French in 1945 when they created the Kingdom of Laos. Today the town is very small, consisting mostly of guesthouses along the riverbank, catering to travellers visiting the Wat Phu temple ruins some 10km away.

Wat Phu, a ruined Khmer temple complex and World Heritage Site, is located at the base of mount Phu Kaoa and there was a temple on the site as early as the 5th century. The mountain gained spiritual importance from the linga-shaped protuberance on its summit; the mountain itself was therefore considered the home of Shiva, and the river was seen to represent the ocean or the Ganges River. The temple was naturally dedicated to Shiva, while the water from the spring which emerges directly behind the temple was considered sacred. Most of the surviving structures however date from the 11th to the 13th centuries and the site later became a centre of Theravada Buddhist worship, which it remains today.