03 Dec Exploring Waterfalls at Erawan National Park

One of the most tranquil places we’ve visited in Thailand so far is Erawan National Park; the highlight of which is a beautiful seven-tiered waterfall in the middle of the forest. We made several visits to Erawan with family and friends over the summer and it was a firm favourite – here are some of our best snaps of the spectacular Erawan waterfalls.

Visiting Erawan National Park Kanchanaburi

Erawan national park is easily accessed from Kanchanaburi. My parents, my friend Jo and I hired a songtheaw to drive us an hour out through the mountainous countryside to the park and wait while we explored the waterfall.

My parents at Erawan

Vast topaz pools greet you as you approach the foot of the waterfall leading to a second deeper tier perfect for swimming but full of large fish keen to nibble human toes.  Small monkeys move stealthily through the surrounding trees as you climb up the tiers of the waterfall, the paths deteriorating into rock-strewn dirt as you ascend. On the day we visited the skies loomed grey and full above us, finally bursting a quarter of the way up and turning the winding path ahead into a muddy slushy mess.

Jo checking out the fish

While my mum chose to wait out the rain storm under shelter, Jo and I abandoned our flip flops and slipped our way up after my dad, attempting to reach the top-most tier. It was slow going and became quite dangerous as we slid over sharp rocks and fell into deep puddles – eventually we admitted defeat and turned back at the fifth tier.

My muddy legs after trekking around the waterfall

I did, however, get another chance to tackle Erawan when Andrew and I visited a few weeks later with his sisters. This time the weather couldn’t have been any different; hot blazing sun and perfect clear skies which baked the bone-dry paths solid; stretches of land which had taken ages to negotiate when slippery and muddy were now easily passable and in no time we reached the top tier and descended into the cool waters.

Andrew being bitten by fish

Erawan Waterfall Kanchanaburi – in Pictures

Here are some of our best snaps of Erawan waterfall. If you plan to visit it’s best to hire a songtheaw to take you there and back; there are several public buses you can use but they fill up fast. We paid 700B (£14) for a return songtheaw journey from Kanchanaburi and an additional 200B (£4) per person in park fees.