Thailands National Parks – A Detailed Guide For Visitors

I have a goal of visiting all of Thailand National Parks. 😄

Thai National Parks

Thailand is a country with so much to offer for tourists. There are 157 National Parks which cover a whopping 30% of Thailand’s entire land mass! Sadly most tourists miss out on visiting the parks in favor of following the country’s ‘standard tourist trail’. Thailand’s National Parks are split into two divisions, the Department for National Forest Parks and the Department for National Marine Parks. The first National Park to open was Khao Yai in the 1960’s and is still probably the most famous National Park in Thailand. The Kingdom is now the process of establishing 22 new national parks which will cover an additional 15% of the total area of Thailand.

These 157 National Parks are located:

Northern Thailand: 66

Northeastern Thailand: 26

Central Thailand: 20

Southern Thailand: 45

Thailand National Parks Passport

This scheme is not widely advertised by The Department for National Park and I’m not sure why.

At every National Park in Thailand there is a visitors center or headquarters building. If you head into this building you’ll be able to buy a ‘Passport to Thailand National Parks’. The book is the same size as a passport and lists all of the National Parks.

Every National Park in Thailand has a unique stamp, or pump in Thai (lol). If you take your passport to the visitors center you can collect a stamp at each National Park.

The passport costs 100 Baht to buy the book. The is no cost to get the passport stamped at each National Park.

Thai National Parks Maps

The online presence of Thailand National Parks is still stuck in the 90’s finding these maps was not an easy task. However You can download the official PDF files showing all the National Park locations, in Thailand, here.

The Best National Park in Thailand

I set myself a goal at the beginning of 2023. I plan to visit all of the National Park in Thailand and I’ll be writing a new post after each visit to a National Park.

So far I consider the Best National Park in Thailand to be Phu Kradung. This park is set on the top of a mountain in Loei Province, has overnight camping stunning view, hiking trails and we even saw elephants there too.

Read the Full Post About the Phu Kradung National Park Here

Here are the Best National Parks in Thailand according to the DNP: Here.

Thai National Parks Dual Pricing

Here is what I hate about the National Parks in Thailand. The admission cost.

The admission cost is different for Thai Citizens and foreigners.

And it’s not a price reduction for locals. It’s a price increase for foreigners.

The pricing system based on your race is discriminating.

And it’s a big different in price too.

Thai Price is 40 Baht, and the foreigner price is 400 Baht.

It’s TEN times as much.

To put in into perspective it will cost me 62,800 THB in admission fees to visit every National Park in Thailand, that’s almost 2,000 USD. Whereas a Thai Citizen would be charged 6,280 Baht, closer to 200 USD. Here are the current National Park Admission Costs.

List of all the Thai National Parks

Ok, so this is not a full list of the National Parks in Thailand, yet. Its a list of all the National Parks which I have personally visited. I’ll write up a post for each National Park and the links will be included here. I’ll update this section regularly as I add new content. If you’re looking to see the full list of established National Parks you can find it here.

• National Park #16 – Phu Kradung
  Thailand’s 16th National Park opened on 25th October 1978
  Type: National Forest Park
  Location: North Eastern Thailand, Loei Province.
  Visited in December 2020 – 3 Nights Camping.
  (Read Phu Kradung National Park Guide)