For a change from all the beach-going we’d been doing in Phuket, we decided to check out water in a different form – while falling! There are four accessible waterfalls on Phuket Island – Bang Pae, Ton Sai, Kathu, and Ton Ao Yon. Both the Bang Pae and Ton Sai Waterfalls are located within the Khao Phra Thaeo National Park. This park covers 23 square kilometers (over 5,600 acres) of evergreen rainforest on the island of Phuket. It is home to a variety of wildlife, including slow loris, gibbons, and civets plus a multitude of snakes and lizards. You are unlikely to see many of these creatures, though, as they prefer to stay deep in the forest away from trails and people.
How to get to Khao Phra Thaeo National Park
To reach the Bang Pae Waterfall, you will need to drive to the park headquarters on the east side of Khao Phra Thaeo. From Route 402 (the main north-south highway), look for a roundabout with signs for the Bang Rong pier. This is Route 4027, the highway that loops around the northeast corner of Phuket Island. Head east on Route 4027 for about 10 minutes and you will see a small sign on the left indicating the turn for Bang Pae Waterfall. It is a white sign with black lettering that looks handwritten – easy to miss. Drive to the end of this road and you will see the entry hut on the left, a parking lot, and restroom facilities on the right.
On the west side of Khao Phra Thaeo National Park is a second entrance – as well as the second waterfall, Ton Sai Waterfall. To reach the Ton Sai Waterfall, take Route 402 to Thalang Town. There are no signs, so you’ll need to look for a 4-way stoplight in the middle of the town. Head east on this road for about ten minutes and you will reach the trailhead for the Ton Sai Waterfall.
Exploring the Bang Pae Waterfall
From the parking lot, a main trail winds along the stream heading towards the Bang Pae Waterfall. It passes a small restaurant, another restroom building, and the Gibbon Rehabilitation Center. If the Center is open, you can take a tour, listen to naturalists talk about their work, and see some gibbons for 2500 baht ($73) per family. It is not possible to see much from the trail as they have camouflage netting surrounding the Center. Unfortunately, the Gibbon Rehabilitation Center wasn’t open when we visited.
Continuing on, the trail begins to climb gently as it winds its way up to the waterfall. There are several pools where water gathers and it is possible to splash around. We went during the dry season, in April. The water wasn’t deep enough to swim but it was refreshing to put your feet in. We saw a lot of Thai families with young children playing in the pools. As the trail becomes steeper, it is made more of rocks and less of packed earth. There are occasional steps of rocks to navigate. Once you are within sight of the waterfall, there is a rock staircase that takes you up to about half the height of the top of the waterfall. At that point, there was a rope across the trail with a sign saying “No entry without permission”. We had walked about 600 meters (0.4 miles) from the parking lot. If you hire a guide, you can continue your hike along this trail 4 km (2.5 miles) to reach the Ton Sai Waterfall on the east side of the park.
Here at the end of the Bang Pae Waterfall trail, there were a few rock pools that were deep enough for an adult to immerse themselves. They weren’t really big enough to swim, but we saw 5-6 people sitting in one at the same time. One pool is the plunge pool of the waterfall. We watched as a group of Thai boys took turns scaling the rock walls and jumping into the pool by the waterfall. They were having a blast. (But I think I heard my dad say, “It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt.”)
Our Experience at the Bang Pae Waterfall
We wish that the Bang Pae Waterfall trail was longer – a half mile was too short of a jungle experience. We were amazed by all the new plants we saw. There were clumps of bamboo with canes thicker than my leg that must have been over 30 feet tall. There were large banana “trees” growing in the deep forest and a smaller dwarf variety growing in rocky pockets along the stream bed. We saw thickets of trees with aerial roots hanging down to look like netting – and a great place for a snake to hide. We saw tall Tualang trees with smooth bark and a trunk shape that looked like folds of fabric.
We had the impression that there were lots of critters lurking in the forest, just waiting for the noisy humans to leave before they came out. We did manage to spot a few lizards. We got a close look at two, different species of sun skinks. We also saw several egrets hunting for fish in the shallow pond at the entry to the park.
The Restaurant at Bang Pae Waterfall
After exploring the trail and maybe taking a dip in the water, you might want a snack or something cold to drink before heading home. There is a nice restaurant at the entrance to the park serving the usual smoothies, snacks, and basic Thai food. We each got a smoothie, which was made of whole fresh fruit peeled and blended on the spot. The price was fair at 70 bahts ($2) each. The restaurant wasn’t very busy and we were able to enjoy a few quiet minutes watching the scenery.
The Entrance Fee at Khao Phra Thaeo National Park
Like all national parks in Thailand, foreigners are charged a different, and much higher, entry fee than Thai citizens. The official rate for the Khao Phra Thaeo National Park is 400 bahts ($11.75) for adults and 200 bahts for children ($5.85). This price was recently increased; prior to 2023, entry fees were half that. However, when we went, the entry guard only charged us a total of 400 baht for two adults. I’m not sure if this was a mistake or if he was being nice and giving us the old price. I also had read that the entry stations are not always manned, in which case you’d get in for free. While I don’t mind financially supporting these beautiful places, a family of four would be looking at 1200 baht ($35) for a trip to the Bang Pae Waterfall. This seems a hefty price for at most a 2-hour long self-guided excursion.
Technically, the entry fee allows you to go anywhere in the Khao Phra Thaeo National Park for one day. So if you’d like, you could drive to the west side and check out the Ton Sai Waterfall. Be sure to ask for a receipt from the entry guard if you plan to do this. Also know that it is a 30 minute drive between the two entrances. There are no paved trails through the park so you need to detour around on Routes 4027 and 402.
