Attractions in Khao Yai
Established in 1962, Khao Yai is the first National Park of Thailand, covering 2,000 square kilometers of forest lying largely in Nakorn Ratchasima province. It is one of the most outstanding tourist destinations in Thailand since Khao Yai embodies a number of interesting attractions such as nature destinations and farms. Inside the National Park, you are allowed to go camping, take a trek, have a picnic, etc. Furthermore, it is located near Bangkok about 145 kilometers or 2 hours and 45 minutes drive. Khao Yai is regarded as Thailand’s little Europe, where several rich Thai people’s holiday houses are located. Due to its fine weather, Khao Yai is a great place to visit all year round. Particularly, the best time to take a trip to there is from November to February. Even it comes to a rainy season, it is not a bad idea to visit Khao Yai since you can enjoy cold weather after rain. See other things to do in the National Park here
How to get to and travel around Khao Yai
As Khao Yai lies in central Thailand, it takes about 2-3 hours to go from Bangkok to Khao Yai. For public transportation method, you can take a Bangkok to Pakchong at Mo Chit Bus Station. Then, you need to take a local public transportation to get to the destination. Thus, using local public transportation is not recommended as the transport connection is quite complicated for tourist. To make your trip even more comfortable, we suggest you to hire a private car. In addition to comfort you will enjoy, a driver who takes you to destinations speaks good English and is familiar with all routes in Khao Yai. There are also a few Khao Yai tour packages, such as Khao Yai 2D1N 3D2N and Khao Yai 4D3N, which you can customize a tour program based on your interests.
Map of Khao Yai
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Recommendation for Khao Yai Attractions
If you’re searching for perfect getaway, where you can pay a visit in any seasons, Khao Yai is there for you! Khao Yai’s famous tourist attractions can be divided into 4 groups: nature attraction, farm, kid and teen attraction, and little European town.
Tired of big city bustle, right? Let Khao Yai’s nature attractions heal you! But first, let’s get started with sunflower gardens along the route to Khao Yai. Saraburi, Khao Yai’s neighboring province, is full of sunflower fields where you can enjoy snapping pictures with the golden sunflowers and take a deep breathe in the pure, refreshing air. The blooming season is from November to February. After reaching Khao Yai, a must-visit destination is definitely Khao Yai National Park, the first national park and the third largest one in Thailand. Let’s take a ride into beautiful nature of the National Park, where you can explore various wildlife animals, go soft trekking to magnificent waterfall, go camping in the midst of lush forest, sight-see elephants, monkeys, and deer along the way, and go bird watching. Next, Secret Art Garden – artistic, extraordinary garden with graceful flowers and trees, restaurant, coffee shop, and floating market – is there for people of all genders and ages. Then let’s see beautiful floral scenery at The Bloom by TV Pool – large flower garden with over 30 species of winter blooming flower. It is where you can truly enjoy taking photos with a big bunch of flashy flowers in the backdrop of panoramic mountain views.
Khao Yai is not only famous for its magnificence of nature, but it is so-called Thailand’s European town. This is due to its pleasant weather along with an abundance of attractions built in European style. The Italian style is applied for many types of attraction, including Palio, Primo Piazza and Toscana Valley. Featuring Italian-style buildings, the first two are shopping malls featuring café, restaurant, and souvenir shop, making you feel as if you were doing shopping in Italy! Equipped with complete facilities, Toscana Valley is an Italian-style accommodation where you could wake up with breathtaking Italian-like views. Another fascinating resort is Thames Valley Hotel. Designed as a small village along the Thames River in suburb England, the hotel is encircled by placid atmosphere and scenic views of mountains. Beside Italian and English-style attractions, there is also a French one, Provence Khao Yai, coming in a gorgeous accommodation with different styles of room. Now let’s have a meal in Midwinter Green Restaurant, spectacular white castle, serving both Thai and international food in a laid-back atmosphere. Get relaxed with graceful live music that will turn your normal meal into a special one. Lastly, your trip to this small European town will never be completed if you miss out PB Valley. Situated in the panoramic view of majestic mountain, PB Valley will take you into a 2,500-rai vineyard. Within this winery tour, you will have a good chance to take an excellent taste of wine and luscious fusion dishes served in a country-style restaurant. Let’s taste good wine in Thailand once at PB Valley Khaoyai.
There are also a few farm attractions in Khao Yai. Chokchai Farm, South East Asia’s largest dairy farm, is one of the most famous attractions in Khao Yai. The Farm allows visitors to do several enjoyable farm-related activities, including feeding animals, milking cows, farm camping, ice-cream workshop, etc. Apart from these, a restaurant is there to serve you flavorsome dishes. For all family members, especially horse lovers, Farm Mor Por is worth your visit, offering wide-ranging fun activities, including feeding animals, ridding horse or pony, collecting eggs, hayride, and bathing horse. Let’s experience horse lives in this fun-filled horse farm with green surroundings that will surely freshen up your day. Another farm attraction is Wang Nam Khiao Farm or Mister Mushroom, modern mushroom farm equipped with air-conditioned mushroom greenhouses. Here you are enabled to see various mushroom species all around, learn the cultivation, and have a bite of fresh or processed mushroom products.
Let’s get relaxed and have some fun with kid and teen destinations in Khao Yai. The most recommended one is Scenical World – largest water park in Northeastern region. Surrounded by the big mountains of Khao Yai, Scenical World lets you scream your lungs out with rides and attractions in 2 main zones: Scenical World Excite, which features up to 20 rides, and Scenical World Splash, which contains 15 world-class slides and amusing wave pools coming from thrilling to moderate ones. Let’s make your trip even more fun and extreme with Khao Yai Speedkart. This place provides you all, especially wild teenagers, with amusement through extreme activities, including go-kart and ATV ride. In spite of its extreme, there is no problem for children to take part in those activities since there are kid karts and kid ATV available. Furthermore, the place also features a farm, where little children can have fun with feeding and playing with farm animals consisting of sheep, bunnies, ponies, ducks, pigs, horses and cows.
Flourished with wonderful nature, European-style destinations, country-style farms, and extreme activities, Khao Yai is highly worth-visiting once you are in Thailand. This amazing place will certainly be one of your good reasons to come back for a visit to Thailand over and over again.
Updated: 1st November 2018