cars over few days in early January 2015, vehicles are limited to enter the park 6 am to 6 pm only. Vehicles already in the park are still allowed to leave until late hours which mean tour operators will still be able to continue with nigh safaris after their day tours.
The park offers many trail options from 500m up to 8km long, all together over 50km making it a great destination for hikers. There are also some longer routes that require guides for up to 3 days hiking. Although the park is very popular among the local tourists, overwhelming majority of the local tourists prefer a picnic style stay at camping grounds and only visits the waterfalls and viewpoints, means most of the trails are quite unbusy.
There are number of waterfalls in the park, most of them easily accessible by vehicles combined with a short walk. Haew Narok Waterfall in Khao Yai is one of the highest and most impressive waterfalls in the country. The jump scene from The Beach movie starred by Leonardo Dicaprio is from Haew Suat Waterfall located 8km east from the visitor center.
Most touristic attractions are located on the west side of the park accessible through paved roads. Vehicles and motorcycles/scooters are allowed for 30 THB. Khao Yai is one of most popular destination for bikers in Thailand. Bikers are seen on the roads frequently, quite often in groups.
There are two camping grounds and several restaurants as well as shower/toilet facilities within the park. Plenty of hotel and guesthouses can be found right outside the national park boundaries. There are few BUNGALOWS in two different spots inside the national park, these have to be booked well in advance, the bookings must be done through Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation website.
Attractions of Khao Yai
Visitor Center
There are several interesting trails to few directions around the visitor center area as well as restaurants and a kiosk. The loop trail behind the visitor center is a short one, around 800m long, there is no guide requirement for this trail. Half way through this loop trail, there is a trail-head for a 8km trail that will lead east all the way to the Haew Suwat Waterfall. This trail strictly requires a guide as people has lost their way in the past, spent few nights in the jungle until found.
Although the area around the visitor center is known to be very busy it is one of the best places to spot birds in the park, kingfishers and hornbills are quite common.
Camp sites
There are two camp sites within the park boundaries, both with toilets, showers, parking spaces. Tents are available for rent from 150B, accessories such as sleeping bags, pillows, blanket, canvas etc for 15-50B each. The area around both campsites are ideal for hiking.
When leaving the tents, macaques will visit them soon or later. If the door is closed, monkeys may tear it apart. It is advised to leave the doors and any bags inside open. Any smaller bags or anything a monkey may mistake for a food package should be left open.
The first campsite has a minor restaurant which is not always open. It is relatively easy to get to the restaurants around HQ by hitchhiking.
During the cold season November-February the night temperatures may fall down to 9-10 degrees. Warm cloths are recommended for convinient sleep in the tents but also for early morning/late evening hiking or when using motorbikes.
Lam Takong Camp Site
This first campsite 6km from the visitor center is quite central to most other attractions around the national park.
There is a trail over the bridge north from the campsite which leads to some open grassland areas, very ideal for searcing wildlife activity, elephants do show up on the roads around campsite from time to time.
Malayan porcupines visits this campsite every night, so if you have a torch you can easily spot them. If you approach them gently, you can get as close as few meters and observe their beauty.
For visitors with motorbikes more fuel can be bought from the house at the entry if needed. The elder couple in the house also cooks some basic food when the restaurant closes around 5-6pm, often only instant noodles or sticky rice that can be mixed with fish in can.