Bu · TH

Khao Yai National Park

Khao Yai is Thailand's original national park, and it still feels like it earned the title. Established in 1962 and now part of the Dong Phayayen–Khao Yai Forest Complex, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and an ASEAN Heritage Park, it sprawls across roughly 2,206 square kilometres of rainforest, grassland and montane woodland spanning four provinces. Wild elephants cross the roads, gibbons call through the canopy at dawn, and great hornbills boom overhead—yet all of this raw wilderness sits only about 200 kilometres from Bangkok. A big chunk of the park's appeal is that you don't have to be a hard-core trekker to enjoy it. A well-kept road threads past thundering waterfalls, cliff-top viewpoints and a grassland hide, with short paved walks linking many of the stops. Come for a single day of waterfalls and lookouts, or stay a night to join a spotlight safari after dark and hear the forest wake up around you.