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The Doi Pha Hom Pok National Park in Chiang Mai's Fang District is a gem known only to few tourists visiting Northern Thailand.
At the foot of the second highest mountain in the country (2285 m), Fang hot springs are most similar to Thermal Field in Rotorua, New Zealand or Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, USA.
Geyser
This Thai area even has its own version of the 'Old Faithful Geyser' in Yellowstone. About every hour, the Thai variant blows hot steam 40 to 50 meters into the air, an impressive spectacle. In the cool hours of the morning, the thermal area is shrouded in steam, while several smaller geysers are constantly venting steam. And that in a tropical country…
Fang Hot Springs is a destination that is definitely worth it for lovers of nature (phenomena). The area is easily accessible via Highway 107 from Chiang Mai via Chiang Dao, a 180-kilometre trip that can be covered in four hours. In the national park you can rent bungalows, but there is also a clean and beautiful camping area, right next to the warm / hot springs.
Visitors can take a thermal bath here in private or communal baths. Changing rooms and bath towels are available for a small fee.
mineral water
After a relaxing bath in the mineral water of about 40 degrees - a real pleasure after a long car or bus ride - a traditional Thai massage or a foot massage works wonders.
For the adventurous traveller, equipped with a 20-wheel drive vehicle, another camping area is available at the top of Doi Pha Hom Pok. Visitors must drive XNUMX kilometers on a dirt road, but the reward is nothing less than spectacular: a sunrise with a panoramic view of the jungle-covered mountains of NorthernThailand and Burma.
From Fang it is only an hour and a half drive to Thanon, where we can continue our way by car to Chiang Rai or enjoy a three-hour longtail trip on the Mae Kok River.
Yes it is beautiful visited the hot sprigs in September from Thaton on the back of a motorcycle in the rain. Bought a disposable raincoat on the way. It was very quiet there were two more visitors that came it was out of season
I also made the trip with a longtail boat from Thaton to Chiangrai, which is highly recommended. Personally, I think the north of Chiangmai and Chiangrai are incredibly beautiful. And then in the rainy season (it really doesn't rain all day) everything is beautifully green and there are few tourists.
Hope to go there again at the end of August. And then via Sobpoeng-Meataeng to visit my friend Jan. He also put me in touch with ICC International Childern's Care.
They do a VERY good job there. And give money to support them. From there continue with local bus to Thaton.
And then from DDR to discover the area again.
Gr. Han
along the 118 route from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai there are also hot springs to the left of the road, unfortunately not spectacular but it shows that the entire area is very active and I think there are more hot geysers.
I think it is Sop Pong, next to the 2 sources a fake Khmer temple is being built, Angkor Wat style, made of steel and cast concrete temple parts, an extremely strange whole, and worthy of Disneyland.
A few weeks ago we were at the San Kamphaeng Hot Springs, 20 km east of Chiang mai. was nice to see, but steel pipes also ran to the spewing source there. so little made. nice to rest your feet in a warm water stream and enjoy all the peace there.
These types of articles, which do not concern the well-worn tourist spots, should appear more on the blog. Dear readers, especially those living in Thailand, come on, reveal your secrets and point out those special nice places to us readers. .
From Thaton it is a beautiful drive to Doi Mae Salong. This is a Chinese village in the middle of the tea plantations. These people are descendants of Chang Kai Check's army. There is a Chinese cemetery and a museum. Further into the mountains near Thut Thai you have the museum of Khun Sa, a former Burmese/Thai warlord and notorious drug smuggler.
I travel a lot in Thailand and I think there are at least hundreds of national parks, and - with the possible exception of Khao Yai (near Korat) - they are among the best kept secrets in Thailand, thanks to the great unprofessionalism of the Tourist Authority or Thailand, which invariably only refers people to places where a lot of money can be made from tourists. To a lesser extent, this also applies to publicity (what - where - when) about the hundreds of often very spectacular festivals that take place throughout Thailand.
Maybe it's better this way Martin, do you want mass tourism to erupt in all the beautiful places in Thailand with all the negative consequences that entails.
Near me there is a beautiful temple complex at the top and bottom of the mountain, it looks a bit like Doi Suthep in CM, even the stairs to the top with a long dragon on both sides is longer than the one in Suthep and of course no cable car lift, but luckily you won't encounter a foreign tourist there yet.
Hold like that.
Jan Beute.
From Fang it is only an hour and a half drive to Thanon
"Thanon" doesn't exist should probably be "Thaton"?
And by car from Fang to Thaton is only 30 minutes. With sonteaw it is under spring 45 minutes.
In Thaton you should definitely visit the temple on the mountain with a very nice modern stupa
The environment of fang is in one word great.
We discovered it last year on our way back from Mea Salong, so we were way too short, but it's on the wish list for this year if the Gods will......
I have been here at the end of November 2014 with my wife. We had our own transport and with a regional map this national park is easy to find. The whole environment in the far North is fantastic. In the large open area in front of the geyser are about 80 hot springs. When walking around you have to walk over streams with almost boiling water. There are also options to boil eggs and quail eggs in a pool of boiling water. There are also 2 male-only hot spring baths and 2 female-only baths. I found the setting of these baths a bit less.
If you really want to enjoy a thermal hot spring bath in a quiet location, I recommend the hot springs at Chiang Dao Camp on the edge of Chiang Dao NP, about 5 km. south of the Chiang Dao cave. These are 2 Japanese style masonry baths. This means that you reserve a bath and a spacious picnic table per hour for just your own group. It is necessary to book in time. From Fang it is about a 30 minute drive to Thaton by car. The temple on the mountain is truly breathtaking! We were there early in the morning. Also don't forget to visit the round temple at the very top of the mountain. It contains beautiful Buddha images from all countries in the region as well as various images of previous kings.