Royal Park Rajapruek — Attraction in Chiang Mai Province

Chiang Mai Royal Park, also known as Royal Flora Ratchaphruek, is a stunning botanical garden located in Chiang Mai, Thailand. This park is renowned for its breathtaking floral displays and captivating landscape design, making it a popular destination for both locals and tourists.

Originally created to celebrate the 60th anniversary of King Bhumibol Adulyadej's accession to the throne in 2006, the park has since become a permanent fixture for visitors to explore and admire. It covers an extensive area of around 200 acres, offering a diverse array of flora from different regions of Thailand.

One of the main highlights of the Chiang Mai Royal Park is the international garden zone, which showcases plants from various countries, allowing visitors to experience the beauty and diversity of global horticulture. The garden's layout is meticulously planned, incorporating traditional Thai elements, water features, and stunning architectural structures that add to the overall charm of the place.

Beyond the mesmerizing gardens, the park hosts various exhibitions, cultural performances, and events throughout the year, offering a glimpse into Thai culture and traditions. It is not only a place for leisurely strolls but also an educational and cultural hub.

The best time to visit Chiang Mai Royal Park is during the annual flower festival when the park is in full bloom, bursting with colors and scents. Visitors can immerse themselves in the vibrant atmosphere and capture unforgettable memories with the picturesque landscapes as a backdrop.

Whether you're a nature enthusiast, a photography lover, or simply seeking tranquility, Chiang Mai Royal Park is a captivating destination that promises a memorable experience amid Thailand's natural beauty and cultural...

Royal Park Rajapruek is for the most part a botanic garden with a number of country-themed areas of architectural features (India, Bhutan, Cambodia, Spain and etc.).

Viewed as a botanic garden, RPR has a lot to offer. The orchid pavilion is impressive, showing quite a few exotic species that l have not seen before elsewhere. The air-conditioned flora glasshouse is exceptional, with so many different species of flowers from around the world exhibited. I began by reading the names of the plants, but gave up soon, not only because it’s not easy to convert the Latin names to what we call them in daily life but also because there are simply too many varieties of plants to remember. My takeaway is that all of them are beautiful.

The park built a tunnel; when you walk through it, you look out on green plants and flowers through windows — perfect for bloggers to take pictures.

There are numerous quiet, shaded, exotic plant-surrounded corners where you could sit down to rest your feet — I’m grateful to the park administration for their being so considerate; they deserve a thumb-up for this.

I must say, their bonsai collection left something to be desired, especially considering many visitors including us paid 200 baht per person to see things in the park. The country-themed gardens are sparsely decorated and devoid of plants characteristic of those countries, and some of them are half-finished. Hopefully, we could see improvements in these areas.

The rose paradise is located in a remote corner of the park. Unfortunately, we had to skip it this time but I know we will visit it if we do come...

While this park has clearly seen better days and is suffering from a lack of maintenance, there's enough to keep you busy a few hours. Fundamentally it seems to have been conceived from a non botanical perspective which would go a long way toward explaining its current situation.

Regular folks will enjoy the orchid pavilion and can pretty much skip the rest of the park.

For botanically interested visitors, you might be disappointed that most specimens are unlabelled, and there are also instances of broken, illegible, untranslated, and incorrect labels. However, there are nice stands of some regional species dotted about with labels and the shade house area has some labeled and impressive specimens.

Some of the highlights from a botanical perspective are the density of the orchid displays, specific co-plantings, and large feature palms in the shade house. Your day would be better spent at the Queen Sirikit Botanic Garden in Mae Rim, or in the accessible jungle west of Mon Tha Than waterfall half way up Doi Suthep, however.

Issues for the management: rubbish, bright blue PVC pipes and hoses needlessly left in your display gardens, missing signage and botanic labels, missing exhibits that exist on map only, significant earthworks left incomplete, rusting infrastructure, leaking pipes, broken fountains in the Moroccan garden and elsewhere, complete lack of any native species in the gift shop, generally lethargic and...