Thailand 2022 · 13 January 2022

Day 5: Erawan National Park

A day at Erawan National Park, climbing the seven-tier waterfall and swimming in its clear blue pools, surrounded by jungle.

Next was Erawan National Park, green jungle all round and home to a seven-tier waterfall. The park was set up in 1975, and the falls are named after Erawan, the three-headed white elephant of Hindu mythology. The top tier is said to look like an elephant’s head.

Rocky paths link one tier to the next, and each level has its own pool. Swimming in those clear blue pools was one of the best bits of the whole Thailand trip, and a lovely calm spot in the middle of the forest.

Good to know

  • Erawan National Park: foreign adults pay 300 baht. It’s open from 8am, with no entry after 3.30pm, and there’s a 20-baht refundable deposit on each plastic bottle you take in. At the end of September 2026 the falls were closed for a while after storms, so check before you go. Thai National Parks
  • What to bring: swimming things and shoes you can walk in wet, as the paths between the tiers are rocky.

We checked these details in October 2026. Times, prices and rules do change, so it’s worth a quick look at the official sites before you go.

See it on film

Most of our trips have a film on YouTube, from puffins on Skomer to the Drake Passage.

Watch our films on YouTube