Kaeng Krachan National Park — Attraction in Phetchaburi Province

Kaeng Krachan National Park, a huge disappointment. After reading information online and in my travel guide, I was really looking forward to explore this beautiful national park. After a one hour ride from Phetchaburi, I reached the entry point to the park. Being a foreigner, my ticket was 300 baht, a reasonable price, at least that's what I thought at that moment in time. I reached the Ban Krang camping site, parked the car and started looking for trails into the forest, hoping to encounter interesting animals. I found one 'trail', which immediately required me to cross 2 streams and afterwards it was pretty much guessing where to go next. The only animals I came across, were annoying insects, no tropical birds, no monkeys, nothing worth my blood, sweat and tears in the humidity and heat of the forest. I got back at the camping site to discover there was nothing else to see or explore. Since the next camping site was only accessible by a 4 wheel drive, my adventure ended prematurely at the camping site. I truly wonder how on earth people are supposed to encounter elephants, leopards and other animals in this park (as stated online), there are hardly any trails or viewpoints and you won't find them on a campsite. Unless you enjoy camping in nature, avoid this national park, paying 300 baht for wandering around a campsite is not worth your time, Thailand has so much...

Great to be with nature! First-time visit should read this first!

This park is very large and has many gates (check points), each gate being very far from each other.

Google map's navigation system took me to the unit KBR.2 checkpoint (Khao Phanoen Thung and Ban Krang Campground) instead of the main site (Kaeng Krachan National park Headquarters) nearby Kaeng Krachan Dam.

Tourists may be confused.

Please make sure you come to the right destination. If you want to study nature, trail and bird view, you should go to Ban Krang & Khao Phanoen Thung (Gate unit KBR.2). But if you want to take beautiful photos in the wide waterfront area and the iconic bridge. You should set destination right place with Kaeng Krachan dam, it will be more fit.

The best way is to set it as “Kaeng Krachan National Park camping Ground” or “Kaeng Krachan Rope Bridge, Phetchaburi” so you’ll meet Park Headquarters there.

Feel free to ask staff, where will you visit before passing through the checkpoint to make sure you are going to the right destination.

Enjoy your trips. This photo I took from Ban Krang Campsite.There is Butterfly season once in a years. FYI: from here Panoen Thung campsite is higher, further and only...

An awesome national park which is not far from Bangkok. There are many kinds of wild animals here including black panthers, leopards, elephants, ant eaters, etc. Of course, we haven’t seen those animals why we did hiking on the natural trail here. However we saw some foot prints though.

We love the trail here because we have to walk across the stream several times. It is really fresh and nice. I wear a pair of water hiking shoes which is very practical for a trail like this.

This trail is only 2.5 kilometers. We start from the tourist center at Baan krang (บ้านกร่าง) and finish at stream 1 (ลำธาร1). Our driver will drive there and wait for us. The minivan could not go further because the car will need to run across the stream. Only SUVs or trucks could go.

There is no phone signal here, not from True. Dtac or even AIS. So it is not possible to call our driver at all. We just have to finish the trail.

There are many beautiful butterflies here. Many signs tell all drivers to drive slowly and please avoid killing these butterflies. We visit here around the end of July.

We enjoy our hike very much. It is not difficult at all. No steep path ,...