Erawan National Park

Kanchanaburi, Thailand

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Erawan National Park is a stunning 550-square-kilometer protected area in the Tenasserim Hills of Kanchanaburi Province, western Thailand, best known for its world-famous Erawan Falls—a seven-tiered cascade where visitors swim in crystal-clear, emerald-green pools surrounded by lush forest. Named after Erawan, the three-headed elephant from Hindu mythology (which the top tier is said to resemble), the park offers a 2-kilometer hiking trail that leads from the visitor center through mixed deciduous, dry evergreen, and bamboo forests to the waterfall’s fifth tier, with the upper tiers requiring more effort but rewarding hikers with quieter swimming spots and better views. While the first three tiers are easily accessible and popular for swimming (despite mandatory life jackets and occasional fish nibbling), tiers 4 and 6 have little swimming space, making tiers 3, 5, and 7 the best for a refreshing dip. Beyond the falls, the park is home to diverse wildlife including gibbons, sambar deer, wild boar, hornbills, king cobras, and even tigers and elephants deeper in the forest, plus rare caves like Tham Phra That with shimmering limestone formations. Located about 65 kilometers (roughly 1.5 hours) north of Kanchanaburi town, the park is open daily from 8:00 am to 3:30 pm, charges 300 baht for foreign visitors, and is best visited between November and February when the dry season offers clear water and pleasant hiking weather, though the rainy season (June–October) brings fuller waterfalls but riskier trails and possible landslides.