21 km

We ended up paying our camping fee with our breakfast at the park restaurant on the beach. Then we went for a swim since the tide was in. It was too shallow to do much, but it felt great and was a nice way to start the day.

The park name means Land of 300 Peaks, and there are many rocky peaks that jut out of the land, some of them with caves. We rode through the park to Sai Cave, near the water at the end of a tiny fishing village. We hiked up a steep 280 meters to the small cave. A man sitting just inside the entrance had flashlights to rent. We had our headlamps, so we went on in and the man went back to his nap. It took a long time to cool down, as it was a really hot day and that climb up got us sweating. But eventually we enjoyed the coolness of the cave.

Then we rode to Ban Bang Pu (or Poo, depending on the sign), a small fishing village with a wat. Behind the wat you’ll find several open air restaurants and longtail boats that can take you the 10-minute ride around the headland to the park’s northern beach, Laem Sala. There is also a trail that goes up and over the headland to the beach and we decided to walk it, as the longtail boats were running quite a racket. They charge 300 baht round trip for the same day, but if you return the next day it is 600 baht. That’s 50% more than our average hotel room cost. They seem to have all coordinated their prices, and even the restaurants were selling boat rides. We wanted to camp on Laem Sala, so when the woman at the restaurant nearest the trail offered to let us keep our bikes inside her building, we agreed. We packed what we needed into just a couple of panniers and left the rest on our bikes, then locked the bikes to a pole. We then got ready for the hike, which everyone–park staff and the locals here–said would be long, steep, and too hot.

It was a breeze! It was less of an effort than we did earlier today to get to the cave, plus once we got around the headland a bit we were in the shade and had a slight wind off the ocean. It took us about 15 minutes, including a couple short photo stops. We saved ourselves 600 baht and enjoyed the hike as well.

We signed in with the armed forest ranger (or guard, or military soldier, who knows) who wanted to get all our information, see our park entrance ticket, and check and double-check that we actually wanted to camp and that we had our own tent. I think he wanted to get us to spend more money for a bungalow, which they rent at all the park locations where you can camp. He noticed the ticket was from yesterday, so we explained that we camped in the park at the other beach last night, and we had been in the park visiting the cave today. Then he wanted our receipt for camping, but we hadn’t been given one. We now realize that if you don’t get a receipt for anything you pay for in a park, they probably pocket the money, as signs had warned us to get a receipt pretty much everywhere. He eventually just had us pay for camping for tonight (60 baht for two) and took our park entrance tickets. We did not get a receipt for camping, but we weren’t going to argue with a guy who had a gruff manner and a handgun on his hip.

We set up camp on the beach and set off to hike up to the biggest and most prized cave in the park: Phraya Nakhon Cave. It is not only a beautiful natural formation, but also a cherished and holy spot for the Thai people. King Rama V liked it so much he had his cipher inscribe his symbol on the wall, and later another king had a monument put up in the middle of the cave. Several of the kings have visited the cave as well, and it’s a popular trek for Thai people as well as foreign tourists. Since we started late in the day and most of the busloads of people had left via the longtail boats, we had the place to ourselves. The cave is huge, and the top of the largest part is partially collapsed, so there is light shining down into it, with the monument built up on a small hill in the middle. There are trees and bushes growing below the hole, on the mound created by the crumbled top, so it is a neat combination of dark stone walls and green foliage stretching up to the light.

Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park Info

Any signs we saw, both on Highway 4 and the smaller coastal road, indicated not the name of the park, but the beaches within the park: Sam Phraya Beach in the south, and Laem Sala Beach in the north. The only time we saw a sign for the park itself was right before the entrance.

The entrance fee is 200 baht per person. Camping is another 30 baht per person, per night, paid in the area you camp, which is on either beach. You can ride to Sam Phraya, but Laem Sala is only accessible by boat or a steep hike up and down stone stairs. You would have a hard time pushing your bike up, so see if you can stash it with a restaurant. There are bungalows and restaurants at each beach, as well as toilets and showers, though the showers on Laem Sala are the kind where you dip water out of a basin. We had a guy offer to rent us a tent at Sam Phraya, and you could probably track down a tent at Laem Sala as well if you’re not carrying one.

You get a brochure with pictures and a map, which explains what our guidebook did not: that there are a couple of villages within the national park. It was originally a marine park, but the boundary was expanded in 1982 to encompass the wetlands and other areas more inland. There are checkpoints at the southern and northern ends which locals travel freely in and out of. You can find restaurants and mini-markets at each town.