Kui Buri National Park — Attraction in Prachuap Khiri Khan Province

Visited October 23, 2025:

Wow. This was an INCREDIBLE National park! We booked a private tour through Viator with Ken Diamond Tour Hua Hin (about $140/person for park entry, private 4x4, dinner, English speaking guide, and transportation to and from Hua Hin). Our guide accompanied us on the drive through the park so we could ask questions in English. Because it was just us, we were able to take our time at every stop we made. I would have not enjoyed this experience as much in a shared group 4x4.

Because we booked a tour with transport, I can’t speak for the process of getting your tickets at the park, getting assigned a 4x4, or the English proficiency of the drivers and park staff who accompany you as our guide took care of everything and made it seamless. (I would recommend a guide).

But the experience was incredible. The park scenery is absolutely stunning. We saw so many gaur and their babies and 3 male elephants from afar! We were grateful to see any at all as we knew the possibility of seeing none.

We stopped at 4 or 5 different spots. The drive was 7km into the park, and 7km back out the same way so you have the chance to check out viewpoints again to see if more elephants have come about.

The staff are always talking to each other on radio to alert elephant sightings to make sure you see them (if there are any).

Binoculars are 100baht in the visitor center where the tickets are purchased. Get the big ones, we used them a lot!

This is a big park with a lot of thick trees and greenery for them to hide in. It was fun seeing the elephants little trails through the brush off the sides of the roads, and knocked over trees and branches. Signs they are around!

The weather was perfect on the day we visited. Sunny and very windy so it was almost chilly by sunset! Not too hot at all, even when we started at around 3pm. But I recommend good sun protection since the 4x4’s are open to the elements. We had UV protection jackets and hats, plus a lot of sunscreen. The vehicle we were in had 3 umbrellas so if it were raining we would have had protection too. I can’t speak for that in all national park trucks though.

There are toilets in decent condition by the visitor center. They have toilet paper!

I also want to add - I’m surprised and saddened by a lot of negative people in the reviews here who can’t appreciate a place for what it is. The entire point of visiting a national park, to MAYBE see elephants, is that these beautiful animals are WILD and untouched by humans (as they should be) vs the unfortunate alternative of abuse and tourism cash grabs that is rampant in this part of the world (riding, bathing, unethical practices).

If in the event you don’t see any, but you can’t find beauty in the other animals, birds, insects flying around, plants, and scenic beauty, that’s a YOU problem.

If you do see some but at a very long distance and complain that there aren’t roads to get you selfishly closer to them or you can’t appreciate the fact that your own two eyes, even with binoculars, have seen these endangered animals live their lives safely from afar, that’s a YOU problem.

Everyone should know the risk of price vs not seeing any elephants here, or seeing them from several hundred meters away. It’s luck! Enjoy the...

It’s promoted as the best place in Thailand to see groups of elephants in their natural habitats and having visited a number of locations throughout the country, I’d say that would be an accurate assessment. According to the park guides, there are approximately 250 – 300 wild elephants in the vicinity of the national park. It’s well worth making the effort to go here but there’s a couple of things to be aware of as this is not such an easy place to find due to confusion created by having two locations advertised as “wildlife viewing.” If you go on an arranged outing with a tour company then that isn’t an issue but if you are doing it yourself all you need to remember is to take the turn to the right off route # 3217. That will be the first sign you see, take it. If you continue on to the other location, at the southern side of the dam, you will end up wasting at least an hour or more of your time. This location is the site of the national park headquarters and even though you will see signage saying “wildlife viewing,” IT IS NOT THE CORRECT LOCATION. The staffs there are very friendly. They speak some English and they will give you a poorly drawn map directing you back to the correct location. This map is hopelessly inaccurate in terms of distances and road directions and you will end up driving around in circles on dirt roads on the western side of the dam. I was fortunate that I can speak some Thai so I eventually managed to get on the correct road to the correct “wildlife viewing” place. Once there a guide will approach you telling you the costs etc. The price per person for the tour is 850 THB. If you are coming independently in a vehicle you will be charged an additional 200 THB to park your vehicle in the parking area. The tour through the wildlife viewing area is done safari style from the back of a pick-up truck with bench seats. There are three wildlife viewing areas along a 7 km dirt road. The guides are very helpful as there are some positioned at each location and they keep in touch with 2 way radios so they know exactly at each moment if there are elephants in the areas. Please note, the wildlife viewing tours are only done between 2 pm – 6 pm, so if you arrive in the morning you’ll have a long wait. According to the guides, 4 pm – 6 pm is the best times as the heat is least intense and the elephants will come out of the forest. For more info on Kui Buri National Park and other attractions in the area check my travel blog:...

La chance nous a largement souri.

Nous nous y sommes rendus le 3 mars 2018 à partir de Prachuap Khiri Khan avec un scooter loué au coût de 200 baht pour la journée soit environ $8.00 canadiens. La distance est d’environ 70 km par la route 4 et autres routes de campagne. Nous n’avions pas apporté suffisamment d’argent mais la chance nous a largement souri car nous avons pu embarquer dans le même camion qu’une famille française avec qui nous avons fraternisée et nous avons bien sûr accepté leur offre généreuse de ne pas partager le coût de location du camion avec eux qui était de 850 baht. Nous n’avons eu qu’à payer le tarif d’entrée individuelle qui était de 200 baht et nous avons pu vivre cette aventure fabuleuse avec eux. Le prix demandé au départ pour nous deux était de 1250 baht si nous étions deux ou attendre que d’autres personnes arrivent pour amoindrir les coûts. Dame Nature fut bonne avec nous car nous nous apprêtions à rebrousser chemin quand soudain une pluie tropicale donna son spectacle et elle dura longtemps de surcroit ce qui fut une bénédiction. Quand cet orage intense cessa enfin, nous fîmes la rencontre de cette famille et tout se déroula bien par la suite comme décrit précédemment. Nous avons pu voir plusieurs éléphants dans leur environnement naturel et à divers endroits en plus. Nous avons même pu être témoins d’une querelle et début de conflit entre une femelle et un mâle et qui aurait pu dégénérer et nous causer quelques problèmes car les gardes forestiers étaient un peu nerveux mais en contrôle de leurs émotions de par leur professionnalisme. Il n’a suffit que de s’arrêter et de reculer au besoin, le temps de laisser la nature faire son travail et que le tout se termine sans éclatements. Madame et Monsieur sont repartis chacun de leur côté dans la jungle et nous avons pu poursuivre la route en camion sur ce petit sentier où la chicane avait eu lieu. Nous avons vu une vingtaine d’éléphants au minimum et même sûrement plus. La visite a certainement duré un peu moins de deux heures. Nous savons malheureusement que parfois, les visiteurs ne voient aucun éléphant et nous sommes désolés pour eux mais ce ne fut pas notre cas. Voir des éléphants est un coup de dé comme nous le disait la sympathique garde forestier avec nous dans le camion. Les visiteurs sont assis derrière le camion dans un espace ouvert sans fenêtres et ni toit non plus donc tout pour optimiser les prises de vues avec nos caméras. Nous sommes revenus en fin d’après-midi alors que la noirceur annonçait clairement son arrivée imminente. Nous avons pu rejoindre la route 4 à temps et revenir à Prachuap à la noirceur sans problème. S’y rendre comme nous par vos propres moyens peut s’avérer assez ardu mais tout est possible avec les moyens informatiques de notre époque comme avec les téléphones à quotient et autres bidules. Nous sommes des dinosaures entêtés et ne sommes pas encore munis de ces gadgets qui nous auraient grandement facilité la tâche. Nous avons connu map.me par la suite en cours de voyage car nous n’avons qu’un simple téléphone Motorola dont on se sert comme mini PC quand il y a un réseau gratuit de disponible. Nous avons des photos à vous partager. Suite à notre expérience mémorable, nous recommandons bien sûr cette visite.

Avis rédigé le 6 mai 2018 à Salaberry de Valleyfield,...