Holding the title as Thailand's oldest and most popular national park, Khao Yai National Park is an amazing destination that is home to an abundance of nature and wildlife. Spanning 2158 sq km, the Khao Yai National Park is located approximately 3 hours driving from Bangkok and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The mountainous terrain and picturesque natural landscapes are among some of the best places in Thailand to see native wildlife.
Holding the title as Thailand's oldest and most popular national park, Khao Yai National Park is an amazing destination that is home to an abundance of nature and wildlife. Spanning 2158 sq km, the Khao Yai National Park is located approximately 3 hours driving from Bangkok and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The mountainous terrain and picturesque natural landscapes are among some of the best places in Thailand to see native wildlife.
Khao Yai is the perfect destinations for nature lovers with its rich flora and fauna. The dense forest of Khao Yai National Park has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2005.
There are many animals inhabiting the national park including elephants, tigers, monkeys, bears, deer and squirrels. There are also various types of snakes like pythons, spiders, rodents and insects, so it is best advised to wear long sleeved clothing. In addition, the park has more than 400 species of birds.
We take one of the trekking trails in the park for a hike through the nature while enjoying the beautiful mountainous landscape. During this jungle hike you learn more about the flora and fauna of this beautiful wilderness. Even if you're not lucky with wildlife encounters, the massive strangler fig trees make it all worthwhile.
There are several waterfalls throughout the national park offering incredible scenery and photo opportunities. The most well-known waterfall in Khao Yai National Park is Haew Suwat. It is famous for being the location for Leonardo DiCaprio's waterfall dive in the movie ‘The Beach’ back in 2000.Â
Haew Narok is the highest falls in Khao Yai National Park, and the park’s star attraction, cascading over three tiers with the final level gushing 80 metres below into a deep pool. However, only the first level is open to the public, as the other levels are steep and dangerous. There’s a hillside viewpoint where you can clearly watch and take photos of the waterfall. Especially at the height of the rainy season, the Haew Narok Waterfall is a truly breathtaking sight.
Khao Yai National Park is one of the best places in Thailand to see Asian elephants in the wild and many visitors come to catch a glimpse of the park's wild elephant population, grazing in their natural habitat. Keep in mind, however, that it cannot be guaranteed that you will see wild elephants in the park during your day trip.
Highlights
- Spend a day in nature with a visit to one of Thailand’s largest and oldest national parks.
- See the majestic Haew Suwat Waterfall and Haew Narok Waterfall.
- Hike along one of the many nature trails and admire the flora and fauna.
- Enjoy the intimacy of a small group.
Additional information
- Last-minute booking is available for the meeting point option.
- Please be aware that during the dry season there might be less water flow at Haew Suwat and Haew Narok waterfalls.
- We recommend wearing hiking-appropriate clothing, including comfortable clothing that covers your arms and legs and can protect you from insects and leeches, and comfortable walking shoes.
- There are many wild animals, reptiles, insects and birds in the national park, but participants should always remember they’re visiting a huge National Park, not a zoo looking at animals in captivity.
The animals are free to roam where they like, and with the dense vegetation it’s definitely not always easy to find them.
- This tour includes some hiking. Kindly ensure you are fit for physical activity at this level before booking this tour.
- Hotel pick up only from hotels in our service area. If your hotel is not in our service area, departure is from our office in Chinatown.
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155 Comments
4.5
Nice, but little time at waterfall
Waterfalls are amazing. The planning and time management skills of the organisers is better to be developed, since instead of promised 4 hours at the waterfalls we were there only for 1.5 hour, which is definitely not enough to enjoy that fantastic place.
5
Good hike through a national park.
The tour was a good opportunity to see this far flung national park, if you are like me and do not want to attempt driving in Thailand (I am not familiar with their road suggestions/etiquette and my spatial awareness is not advanced enough to tetris a car through traffic). Our guide was very enthusiastic and affable. This is a good tour for ablebodied people who like to hike and attempt nature watching.
First things to note is that this is a national park, not a game reserve with trackers or a zoo. Animals are wild so there is no guarantee you will see them. Unfortunately we were not luck to see elephants when we went, they showed themselves 30 mins after we left, as our guide’s friend confirmed.
The trails are not accessible by any means. They are marked but not paved and there are sections of steep stair or tree roots/rocks to discend. We went during a particularly dry warm season but it is a tropical forest so it is an all weather activity. Prepare accordingly. Only 2 of 6 brought an umbrella which helped with not getting completely soaked. Guide was used to the rain but as he said, you will have to be 200% careful. In some sections 500% careful or you could fall (sometimes into elephant poop). All of us slipped at least once but only 1 badly. If you have camera gear, have a waterproof bag.
Recommend long sturdy pants unless you are ok with some scratches from thorned plants and some potential ant bites. Pants count: 2 cotton pants split at seams, 1 shorts a bit muddy from sitting to navigate downwards, 1 yoga mants with tear in the leg from spiky plant.
Spotted : monkeys, deer, scorpion, monitor and lots of butterflies.
5
Nice excursion with experienced guide
It was a really nice trip out in nature. The trip by car was comfortable. Surina was a very good guide, she knows the park very well and shared with us as much as she could. She and Frank took good care of us during the whole trip.
We were not lucky to see any elephants but saw many monkeys, an iguana, etc. The two waterfalls didn’t have a lot of water since it was dry season but still really cool to see.
5
A lovely day trip to get away from the smog of Bangkok, best to go in (or end of) wet season to see the waterfalls
This was a lovely day trip, although as it is the dry season, the waterfalls weren’t flowing at the national park. We saw some interesting bird species and a crocodile too. Surina was a lovely and knowledgable tour guide and was vigilant and made sure we are safe walking through the jungle. The lunch at the park was really good too. The trip got cut slightly short as it started pouring down, but our driver Mai, proved to be and excellent driver and got us home safe in the heavy rain.
5
A fun and thrilling trip through the national park – worth being very sweaty at the end of it!
We had a great experience hiking through the jungle with Surina!
She was very nice and knowledgable guiding us to waterfalls, along small rivers and over sticks & stones. Thanks to her trained eye, we saw footprints of elephants (&their poop of course), marks of bears on trees, a snake as well as a few other animals during our trip. And at the end, we were even able to watch a big elephant eat calmly on one side of the road!
The driver Jerawat was also really nice to us and tried his best slowing down at bumps in the road, so that we had a smooth 3-hour drive to the park (& back).
We can fully recommend the trip for a great and thrilling experience during holidays 🙂