The Champasak Plain is the site of one of the greatest living cultural landscapes of the world as well as home to major archaeological sites dating to the times of the vast Khmer Empire which at one time ruled much of Southeast Asia. The tranquil rural nature of the area has remained unchanged for a thousand years. As a result, the area not only looks much as it has for centuries, but buried remains from an even earlier time have been left undisturbed.

The area has long been noted for the existence of the Vat Phou Temple Complex, an important example of both early and classical Khmer architecture dating from the 7th to 12th centuries AD. However, archaeological investigations during the past ten years have shown that the temple complex is merely the central focal point of a vast and complex cultural landscape centred on the Champasak Plain.

By the end of the 12th century, the entire area between Phou Kao Mountain and the east bank of the Mekong River was specifically laid out and designed in a symbolic representation of the cosmology of the Hindu gods. Agricultural fields, drainage systems, roads, cities, settlements and temples were all aligned with the Vat Phou Temple Complex and the lingaparvata, the natural linga atop Phou Kao Mountain. This plan is most obvious from overhead and can be seen from the top of the mountain and in aerial photographs.

The evidence for this landscape is well preserved, whether as standing ruins, visible earthworks or buried archaeological sites. One of the most exciting discoveries the site has yielded was the tentative identification of two of the buried settlements as Shrestrapura and Lingapura, cities long known through inscriptions but lost for centuries. Shrestrapura is a walled city believed to be the capital of Chenla, the first Khmer kingdom. The two cities represent the earliest known and studied examples of urban planning in Southeast Asia.

Working with UNESCO, archaeologists, and other experts, the government of the Lao PDR has enacted legislation to protect the site. The most significant portions of the site now comprise the Champasak Heritage and Cultural Landscape Protection Zone, which is the focus of the Champasak Heritage Management Plan.