I spent 2 nights in Pak Chong and had an amazing 1.5 days to explore Khao Yai National Park. In this travel guide, I will share with you my itinerary for 2-3 days in Khao Yai National Park, top things to do, as well as the brief on how to get to, how to get around, and recommended accommodation.
Khao Yai is the third-largest national park in Thailand and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is known for its diverse range of wildlife, beautiful waterfalls, several hiking trails, and scenic viewpoints. This makes Khao Yai a popular destination for nature lovers and adventure seekers.
It is located about 3 hours northeast of Bangkok and easily accessible by train, bus, and car. The climate in Khao Yai is also cooler than Bangkok, which makes it a popular escape from the heat of the lowlands.
How Many Days in Khao Yai National Park is enough?
In my opinion, 2 to 3 days is usually enough to explore Khao Yai National Park. This will allow you to do some hiking, spot wildlife, checking some waterfalls and viewpoints inside the park. Many people choose to take a full day tour to the park and a half day tour for the natural spring and bat cave outside the park.
If you have a short time, you can consider taking guided day tours from Bangkok to Khao Yai National Park. With this tour, you can see the highlights of the park in a short time efficiently.
Here are my suggestions on things to do and how I spend time on these things:
#1. Bat Cave tour. I took this half day tour to visit attractions such as Ban Tha Chang Spring, Wat Sa Nam Sai, and the Bat Cave at sunset.
#2. Khao Yai National Park. I spent a full day doing to tour to Khao Yai National Park. This tour includes wild animal spotting, hiking to waterfalls (Haew Suwat and Haew Narok Waterfall), and checking out the viewpoints.
#3. Other things to do. You can consider spending another day touring vineyards, taste local wines, and enjoy a meal at the on-site restaurants.
See more: 14 Best Things to Do in Khao Yai National Park
Getting to Khao Yai National Park:
Khao Yai National Park has two entrances: Northern Entrance (Pak Chong) and Southern Entrance (Noen Hom). There is a 50 km long road connecting these two gates. While the southern gate is closer to Bangkok, most visitors come by trains and buses will arrive in Pak Chong near the north’s gate direction.
You can get to Khao Yai National Park from Bangkok by renting a car, taking a guided tour, a bus or a train. The journey is around 3.5 houses. Bus departs from Mo Chit Bus Station in Bangkok, and the train departs from Krung Thep Aphiwat Station to Pak Chong.
From the bus or train station, you can catch a taxi or tuk tuk to your hotels. Many tour agencies and hotels offers pick up from these stations.
Getting Around Khao Yai and Pak Chong:
If you stay in the town center of Pak Chong, you can easily walk to restaurants, convenient stores, and the night markets. The train station and the minibus station is also located in Pak Chong town center.
The most comfortable way to explore Khao Yai is to hire a private driver or take a guided tour with a small group. Popular travel agencies in Khao Yai are Bobby’s Jungle Tours and Greenleaf Guesthouse.
You can rent a motorbike or car to explore at your own pace, but be sure that you have a valid license and experience driving in Thailand.
If you travel on a budget and want to do it yourself, you can take a shared Songthaew bus from Pak Chong to get to the park’s entrance. The bus runs frequently from 6am to 5 pm everyday. From the entrance, you can hitchhike to get to the visitor center or other destinations inside the parks.
See more: How to get to Khao Yai National Park & Get Around
Best Time to Visit Khao Yai National Park:
Khao Yai region has cooler weather compared to Bangkok and other parts of Thailand. The best time to visit Khao Yai is the dry season (November to April). The rainy season, from May to October, is a good time to see waterfalls in full.
Accommodations in Khao Yai National Park:
I stayed in Pak Chong and I highly recommend it. Pak Chong has many hotel options and is the gateway town to Khao Yai National Park. It is home to a bus station and a train station, which is convenient for those who travel on public transport.
Pak Chong is located only 30 km from the National park, and many tour agencies will pick you up in Pak Chong, especially if you join their full day tour.
If you book a tour with popular travel agencies such as Greenleaf Guesthouse, they might have room for you. Each guest had their own opinion about rooms at Greenleaf, but in general, it’s a simple, cheap, and good base for a short visit to Khao Yai.
There are also many accommodations near the entrances of the park on Highway 2090/Thanarat Road or inside the park. If you want to stay inside the park, they have camping sites and cabins for rent.
To book your stay, you need to contact the park. Staying inside the park allows you to go hiking anytime without paying additional entrance fee everytime you come to the park. More detail at Best Places to Stay in Khao Yai National Park.
Here how I spend 2 days in Khao Yai:
How to Spend 2-3 Days In Khao Yai National Park Itinerary
Day 1: Arrive Pak Chong by train + half day tour to bat cave
On my first day in Khao Yai, I arrived in the afternoon, and took the half day tour to the bat cave, natural spring, and underground cave temple.
Arrival
I came to Pak Chong from Ayuthaya. My train departed at Ayutthaya train station at 11.30 am and arrived at Pak Chong train station around 13.30pm.
From the train station, I walked to my hostel, More than Sleep Hostel. It is located on the main road, just a few minutes walk away. There are also several tuk tuk drivers who approach me and offer the ride. You can contact your tour agency or hotel to organise the transport for you.
I checked in the hostel, and the staff gave me information about the area. It is already around 2pm and there is a half day tour to the natural spring and Bat Cave at 3.30pm. The reception called Greenleaf Tour to see if I can still join it. They said yes, then a driver picked me up from the hotel.
Bat Cave Half Day Tour
It is around 15 minutes drive from More than Sleep Hostel in Pak Chong to Greenleaf Guest House. At their restaurant, I ordered Pad Thai and a bottle of water while waiting for the trip to start.
Ban Tha Chang Spring
We first stop at a small natural spring called Ban Tha Chang Spring. It is a nice place to relax with lots of shades. There are small natural pools for swimming. You can also rent a kayak for kayaking.
The weather was quite chill, some people in the group swam, while others just wandered around. We spent around 30 minutes in the spring.
Wat Sa Nam Sai
The 2nd stop is the Wat Sa Nam Sai, located a 15 minute drive from Ban Tha Chang Spring. The tour took us to this temple to mainly explore the underground cave. It is recommended to wear a face mask if you visit this cave under the temple to avoid fungus grown from bat guano.
Since it has bats living inside, I decided to skip this one. I was still dealing with itchy legs and a skin rash, which I believe started after I entered the prangs at the temples in Ayutthaya, where there was bat guano. I saw many other underground cave temples in Thailand anyway.
While other people went down to the cave, one of the drivers took me to the top of the temple. The top has a Big Buddha Statue and stunning views of the surrounding. I told him my itchy leg and he gave me some Thai ointment and entertained me with some fortune teller sticks at the temple.
Bat Cave Khao Yai National Park
The last stop is the Bat Cave Khao Yai National Park, located 10 minutes drive from Wat Sa Nam Sai. We arrived at this location around 5:50pm. This is sun set time and beautiful time to watch millions of bats fly out of their cave to find food.
The tour provided us mats to sit on the ground along with food, snacks, and headlights. We watched until the bats were all gone.
After the tour, we came back to Greenleaf Guest House, and those staying in Pak Chong were transferred to another car to get to their hotel.
Pak Chong Night Market
I spent the rest of the evening walking around the Pak Chong Town center. I visited the night market, and had a meal at a local restaurant near the market.
Day 2: Full day excursion to Khao Yai National Park
This full day inside Khao Yai National Park will mainly be about wild animal spotting, visiting viewpoints, waterfalls, and a short trekking. It also involves lots of time sitting on an open Songthaew though.
Coffee Km 30 Khao Yai & All types of snakes
The driver picked me up around 7.30 am from my hostel in Pak Chong to Greenleaf Office. We first stopped at Coffee Km 30 Khao Yai around 9am. You can grab a coffee at the cafe, and enjoy the views of the surroundings.
The tour guide showed us The Green Pit Viper on the tree near the cafe. There are lots of monkeys roaming around too. On the way, we also saw the silver Oriental Whip Snake and orange-yellow snake on the bush at the side of the road.
Haew Suwat Waterfall, Squirrel, Gibbon, Scorpion, Bird
We arrived at the parking area of Haew Suwat Waterfall around 11 am. The waterfall was made famous by the movie The Beach. At the parking spot, we saw the Black giant squirrel on the top of a big tree.
Haew Suwat Waterfall is a short walk, 20 minutes, from the car park through a forest and a staircase. Swimming is not allowed here. You just walk around and take photos.
The parking area also has a restaurant and convenient store where you can grab something to eat.
Back at the parking area, we spotted a Green-eared Barbet carving a hole in the tree, and then saw a scorpion. 15 minute drive from the waterfall to Pha Kluai Mai Camping ground, we saw a white handed Gibbon on the high tree.
Lunch at Khao Yai Foot Court
We have lunch around 1pm at the food court. Each person can order one dish, and it is included in the tour. I had white rice with minced pork and fried egg. Lots of monkeys there and they are very aggressive. Be sure your belongings are in a safe place.
Haew Narok Waterfall
Around 3pm, we arrived at Nam Tok Haew Narok Natural Trail parking area. From here we hike to Haew Narok Waterfall, the largest waterfall in the park. It is a 1 hour trek involving lots of steep staircases. We spotted several animals along the way like lizards, birds, spiders, and monkeys.
Wild Elephant Cross the road
When we were about to finish exploring the waterfall, our tour guide received information from the park ranger that the wild elephants were out. We all rushed to go to see it. Luckily, we made it on time to see them crossing the road.
We sat in our tuk tuk. The guide gave us some snacks to eat while enjoying watching the elephants. Later, we saw a family of 8 elephants going into the jungle too.
On the way back to Pak Chong, we saw deers walking along the side of the road. Some people in the group got straight back to the train station for the train to Bangkok after the tour. I returned back to my hostel in Pak Chong around 7.30, ending a long full day with many wild animals.
Day 3: Train to Lopburi/ Other things to do in Khao Yai
The 3rd day in Khao Yai was quite relaxing for me. I was just enjoying breakfast at my hostel. I had rice porridge, mixed cut fruit, orange juice, and toast. After that I get to the train station, book my ticket and take the train to Lopburi.
There are many other things that you can consider doing in Khao Yai. These include:
- Night Safari. I highly recommend taking this tour, especially if you are animal lovers. I did this in Khao Sok National Park and loved it.
- Tours to the vineyards and wineries such as PB Valley Winery.
- Primo Piazza, an Italian-inspired village that is home to beautiful buildings, cafés, and restaurants. It is a good spot for photos.
- The Chocolate Factory, where you can watch chocolate and try it.
- Khao Yai Art Museum, to see contemporary Thai art.
- Chokchai Farm, where you can take tours to see how milk and dairy products are made or enjoy horseback riding.
I think taking a full day tour to Khao Yai National park and a half day tour to see attractions outside of the park is generally enough to see Khao Yao. You can do this by staying a night or two in Pak Chong.
Of course, if you have time, and want to see Khao Yai at a slower pace, you can spend as much time as you want.