Pha Daeng National Park is often overlooked, making it a fantastic quiet place to visit (or to stay over, as I did) if you prefer to skip the more popular places. If based in Chiang Mai, Pha Daeng just a short quick and easy ride away, (a mere 100 km’s away if riding there direct).
Table of Contents
Route: Google Map Link
Important Tip
One important thing to note about Pha Daeng national park is that it has two attractions with separate entrances. There is the main national park (which contains Sri Sangwan “sticky” Waterfall ), which also has accommodation available as well as a camping ground. Then there is another entrance 4.5 km from the main headquarters, leading to Pong Arng Hot Spring (where I chose to camp for the night). Both attractions are included in the ticket price.
Pricing
Note – Pha Daeng National Park, as with most all National Parks here, has dual pricing in place. So, foreigners will pay more in general, unless you can provide evidence that you are not a tourist. Usually, this means a work permit or pink ID card. However, some places will grant Thai prices if you can speak Thai and have some form of ID, such as a Thai driving license. I was given the Thai rate at this park when I spoke only Thai and showed my Thai Motorcycle License.
PRICES (which may change in future):
Adult: 50 baht Thai / 100 baht Foreigner.
Child: 20 baht Thai / 50 baht Foreigner
Parking: 20 baht
I paid 70 baht in total and I was permitted to camp for free at the hot springs (I have my own camping gear), but when I made inquiries at the main headquarters I was informed that it would be 30 baht to camp at the waterfall. In both areas, you must provide your own camping gear. They do not supply any.
En Route: Wat Klang Thung
It was a last-minute decision to ride to Pha Daeng. I had been meaning to visit for some time, so I quickly loaded up my pre-packed camp gear and headed north. It was around 2 pm when I set off and I rode directly to Pong Arng Hot Spring.
I made just one small stop at this interesting looking temple, with Naga statue in progress.
Pong Arng Hot Spring
I arrived at Pong Arng Hot Spring at around 4 pm. (The hot spring is a part of Pha Daeng National Park). I paid the entry fee, parked up and began to unload my camp gear. The parking area is a small walk away from the campground, so you need to be able to carry your gear to the camp spot.
Additionally, the hot springs (and the entire national park) has no restaurant or store to buy anything from, so come prepared or buy from a local store. There is a small village area and grocery store just up from the hot springs, where you can buy drinks, snacks, packaged bakery and packets of noodles etc. Nothing of real significance, but a good place if you end up needing some supplies. I bought a few bottles of water and some snacks from the lady owner there.
Camping Set-Up
Initially, I planned to also set up my hammock, as I’m aiming to try pack light one day if I do more camp-out trips. However, the trees in this area really weren’t great for strapping a hammock on to. If I needed to I would have found a solution one way or another, but in the end, I decided to just set up my tent instead.
Facilities
The facilities at the Hot Spring are basic, but tidy and clean. As mentioned previously, there are no shops or restaurants. Toilet and shower facilities are available, but the showers are cold water only. So can be a bit of an endurance test late and night and in the early morning!
There are also cold shower facilities right next to hot spring to shower off after bathing.
As the night fell I tried out some small cheap battery-operated fairy lights that I had bought. Great buy! They gave the perfect warm glow for camping out.
Later on, when I went to bathe and enjoy the hot springs, a local lady was using one of the pools. We ended up chatting for a while about life, which was lovely, although in truth I wanted to enjoy the pools alone. She didn’t stay too long though, and I was able to indulge in the pool by myself.
Back in my tent, I relaxed early, enjoying the quiet. On a few occasions, some locals came to bathe quietly in the pool, but they didn’t stay long. I didn’t realise until later on that although the hot spring officially closes at 6 pm, the access is then free after this time. So for a while, people came to bathe for a short period of time.
In the morning, when the sun began to rise, the steam from the hot spring made the area look really amazing.
Whilst bathing in the hot spring, I was mesmerized by how the steam looked as though it were moving in slow motion.
I half expected a water nymph to come out of the water, haha!..which is what gave me the idea to make a bit of an indulgent short video clip. Just wanted to try capture the magic of the natural light at the right time. Can’t go wrong in perfect light like this. Nothing filtered. Purely just the beauty of nature!
I spent a really lazy morning at the hot springs, just enjoying the quiet calm atmosphere and warm sunlight. Originally I planned to ride an anti-clockwise loop around Wiang Haeng then back to Chiang Mai (I previously rode this loop when the road was unfinished, and again when almost complete), but after soaking in the warm hot spring water and feeling so relaxed, I decided to just chill out. I stayed in the hot spring area until the early afternoon then packed up and headed to Sri Sangwan Waterfall.
Sri Sangwan Waterfall
At the main Pha Daeng National Park ticket office, I produced my ticket from the day before. The lady pointed out that my ticket was for the 13th and not the 14th, and I was prepared to pay again (especially as not a high price). However, when I mentioned that I didn’t get a chance to see the waterfall yesterday due to camping out at the park the night before, she kindly said I can just go in.
The park is really pretty. Not huge but pretty. There is a large spacious parking area, and a national park information centre. One road continues up into the accommodation area and another route leads to the waterfall.
I took the waterfall route and within moments could hear the gushing of water (which was wonderful, considering how dry everywhere currently is!).
The waterfall itself isn’t large, but it looks very pretty with its multiple tiers. Additionally what makes the waterfall special is the mineral deposits on the rock, which means you can easily walk up the waterfall without slipping.
Here is my video of the popular “sticky waterfall” in Chiang Mai (Bua Thong Falls) that I visited not so long ago with my riding buddy Opal (trip report for that ride HERE.) This video gives details on what makes the waterfall sticky/grippy.
The nice thing about Sri Sangwan Waterfall (unlike Bua Tong) though, is how quiet it is.
After enjoying the waterfall and the flora around the area I quickly popped into the visitor information centre and enquired about the accommodation prices.
The cheapest cabin starts from 600 baht (1 room, 2 person cabin) and rises up from there. A typical price range for all the national park cabins really. Camping is 30 baht, but only with your own camping gear (none is provided)
Accommodation Options
After leaving Pha Daeng national park I decided to head to the Chiang Dao Nest 2, and enjoy a great lunch there. My ride so far had been a really low budget and seeing as it was also Valentine’s Day I figured a great lunch would be just perfect. ^^
Something so wonderful about seeing that distinctive Chiang Dao mountain shape!
Chiang Dao Mountain
Food: Chiang Dao Nest 2
At the Chiang Dao Nest 2 I ordered a really great lunch!
After lunch I had a small ride around.
After which I fuelled up ready to head back to Chiang Mai.
Had a funny small world moment though, after fueling up and heading to the red lights at the intersection in Chiang Dao. For there was Duncan from TBB Tours!
He was leading a tour group back to Chiang Mai. Funny when moments like that happen!
When I hit the depressing congested traffic of Chiang Mai around Mae Rim, I took a right turn onto the R1096 then a left onto the army road to avoid some of the congestion, which is when I spotted this stunning azure blue lagoon a little down from a dirt track. This area is normally covered with huge trees, which have been recently cut down. So this lagoon was hidden in there for some time, but I just never noticed before! After the lagoon, I headed straight home.
All in all, this was a really nice short and relaxing ride, although funnily enough, it did really wear me out. I spent pretty much all of January being unwell from a bad flu virus and it’s unreal how weak I still seem to be. This really was as much as I could happily manage on a ride at this time, but have no regrets about the choices I made. Pha Daeng is certainly well worth a visit. I had a lovely time! 🙂
Hope you enjoyed this trip report on Pha Daeng National Park and more.
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