Description:  200 km round-trip to the summit of Thailand’s highest mountain.

There are regular buses to Chom Thong. Yellow minibuses from Chom Thong go to Mae Chaem and the summit.

You must start early if you want to visit Wat Phrathat Sri Chom Thong (60 kms.) and go to the summit of Doi Inthanon (47 kms. From Chom Thong) in one day. The road to the top passes several famous waterfalls and goes through some dramatic mountain scenery. Alternatively you can just visit a waterfall in the park and then continue south on H 108 to see a cotton-weaving village before returning.

A longer scenic circular (overnight recommended) route goes via Doi Inthanon, Mae Chaem, Ob Luang National Park (44 kms from Chon Thong) and Hot. The Mae Chaem valley west of Doi Inthanon offers beautiful scenery and relatively undeveloped rural villages.

This camp is less developed than those north of Chiang Mai and a Thai speaker would be helpful for communications)

The current viharn was built in 1817 and is extensively decorated with woodcarvings. The building contains a mondop,  a chedi-like reliquary which houses the Buddha relic, decorated with golden stucco. The revered Buddha images and finely carved elephant tusks around the mondop give the viharn the feeling of a museum.

On the main Buddhist holidays, the relic, which is reputed to be from the cranium of the Buddha, is brought out of the mondop for display. At the back of the mondop, past cages containing valuable Buddha images, a small room contains a “Buddha bed” donated by King Muang Kaew, (r. 1495-1526) who probably sponsored development of the temple.

Several cotton weaving villages lie a short distance south of Chom Thong. Mon Duang Duan (KM. 65 east side) has a workshop with looms as well as a riverside restaurant.

The Nang Ap Chang women’s weaving group (KM. 68 east side just after the cement elephant) is a little further. Ban Rai Pai Ngam (Thai sign)  Pa Saeng Da textile museum (English sign) offers an excellent textile weaving display. (KM. 68 east turn 400 m) Hrs. 08.30  17.00.

At 2,505 metres, the granite mass of Di Inthanon is over 200 metres higher than anything else in Thailand and has true upper mountain forest. R 1009 passes waterfalls (sign-posted as nam tok) and viewpoints on the route to a radar station on the summit. Facilities inside the park are limited. Food stalls may be found at the main waterfalls and there is a canteen-style restaurant at the royal chedis. The park entrance on R 1009 is at KM. 8. Drop into the centre at KM. 9 for an English brochure.

To visit these falls you must buy or show a park entry ticket at the gate located just after the road begins to climb. The falls which drop 100 metres in a stepped cascade, are best seen  in the early part of the morning. It is possible to get to R 1009 up Doi Inthanon by taking a concrete road north from the Mae Ya approach road just before it begins to climb up to the park gate. The road becomes a dirt track that skirts the hills.

These falls are very popular, especially at weekends and there are numerous food stalls at the car park. Thais typically like to eat raw papaya salad or “som tham”  (this is a tasty dish, but it can be very spicy indeed; try it with peanuts before tasting one with crab). grilled chicken and sticky rice. Cross over the bridge to enter the tidy gardens of the Kamphaeng San Buddhist college. You need a park ticket to take the footpath (a vehicle ticket will let you pass) to the falls. The path continues up to the visitor centre and pools and the open rock beyond.

Mr. Daeng serves basic food (a limited English menu is written on the wall) and has information to help “birders” to see some of the more sighted species on the mountain (bird watching is best between February and April).

A small chedi above the visitor centre contains the remains of Chao Inthawichayanon who died in 1897, the last independent ruler of Chiang Mai before Lan Na was incorporated into Siam.

One of the best views is obtained from the Giw Mae Pan trail (approx. 3 kms.) which starts opposite kilometre stone 42 and ends at the north-west corner of the park surrounding the Queen’s Chedi. The trail leads through hill evergreen forest before coming out onto the grassy range at the top of the cliffs on the west face of the mountain. From there the trail follows the ridge line south before cutting into the forest  and coming out at the Queen’s chedi. Good walking and camping are possible around the Mae Pan Falls on the road to Mae Chaem. (R 1192 KM. 6)