Erawan is a band 3 park: 300 baht for a foreign adult, 150 for a foreign child, 60 and 30 for Thai visitors, plus 30 baht for a car. There is no surcharge zone here — Erawan is not one of the five parks on the September 2022 special-rate list. The falls run about 1,500 m in seven tiers, and the first tier is roughly 700 m from the car park. Government bungalows are 800 to 5,000 baht a night. Erawan closed for a day in April 2026 on a PM2.5 reading — that, not a fixed season, is the closure risk.
What it costs, and why Erawan is in the expensive band
Schedule 1 of the Department of National Parks regulation B.E. 2564 — Royal Gazette, 9 December 2021, in force 7 June 2022 — sorts every Thai national park into four fee bands. Band 3 has just nine members, and Erawan is one of them, alongside Kaeng Krachan, Khuean Srinagarindra, Doi Pha Hom Pok, Doi Inthanon, Sai Yok, Than Bok Khorani, Huai Nam Dang and Ao Phang Nga. The rate is 300 baht for a foreign adult and 150 for a foreign child, against 60 and 30 for Thai visitors. Only Mu Ko Similan and Mu Ko Surin cost more.
A child, in the regulation’s own definition, is a person aged three to fourteen complete or not more than 140 cm tall. A foreigner is a person without Thai nationality — there is no residency test and no resident rate. Free entry goes to monks, novices and clergy of other religions residing in Thailand, Thai persons aged sixty and over, disabled persons, and children under three. Thai students and Thai study groups pay the child rate.
Kanchanaburi is the most park-dense province in the country, and it spreads across two bands. That matters if you are planning a run of days rather than a single trip:
| Kanchanaburi national park | Fee band | Foreign adult / child (baht) |
|---|---|---|
| Erawan | Band 3 | 300 / 150 |
| Sai Yok | Band 3 | 300 / 150 |
| Khuean Srinagarindra | Band 3 | 300 / 150 |
| Khao Laem | Band 2 | 200 / 100 |
| Chaloem Rattanakosin | Band 2 | 200 / 100 |
| Thong Pha Phum | Band 2 | 200 / 100 |
| Lam Khlong Ngu | Band 2 | 200 / 100 |
One warning about published fees. The Tourism Authority of Thailand’s own Erawan page prints 100 / 50 for Thai visitors and 300 / 200 for foreigners. Three of those four numbers do not match the Royal Gazette. We are flagging it rather than quietly picking the nicer figure: the regulation is the instrument that sets the price, and it says 60 / 30 and 300 / 150.
The seven tiers, and the walk nobody warns you about
The waterfall arises on the Huai Mong Lai stream and runs about 1,500 metres in length, divided into seven tiers, each forming a pool. The park was gazetted as Khao Salop National Park and later renamed: the uppermost tier was thought to resemble the head of Erawan, the three-headed elephant of Hindu and Thai iconography.
The detail that changes a day here is the approach. It is roughly 700 metres from the car park to the first tier, before the climb between tiers even begins — which is why the park runs a golf cart for elderly and disabled visitors over that stretch. Anyone planning to reach the seventh tier is looking at a genuine uphill scramble in tropical humidity, not a stroll. There is also a separate Erawan nature trail of 1,060 metres, about 30 minutes, through hill evergreen forest to a viewpoint and out through deciduous forest.
The park’s own gazetted extent is about 549.98 square kilometres across the Mueang, Si Sawat and Sai Yok districts of Kanchanaburi, under a Royal Decree of 19 June 1975. The waterfall is a small part of it.
Sleeping inside: the government's own rates
Thailand publishes park accommodation prices in the Royal Gazette, unit by unit. These are Erawan’s, from the annex to Schedule 4.
| Unit | Zone | Sleeps | Baht / night |
|---|---|---|---|
| Erawan 101 (Mangtan) | Headquarters zone | 4 | 1,600 |
| Erawan 102 (Lang Faet) | Headquarters zone | 8 | 3,200 |
| Erawan 103 (Erawan) | Headquarters zone | 8 | 3,200 |
| Erawan 104 (Khwae Yai) | Headquarters zone | 8 | 3,500 |
| Erawan 105 (Rim Khwae) / 106 (Sakae Dong) | Headquarters zone | 2 | 800 |
| Erawan 107 (Hiranyika) | Headquarters zone | 6 | 2,400 |
| Erawan 108 (Mong Lai) | Headquarters zone | 10 | 2,400 |
| Erawan 201-203 (Rim Phrai, Rim Than, Kan Nathi) | Beside the Erawan falls stream | 2 or 3 per room | 800 or 1,200 |
| Erawan 931 / 932 (youth camps) | Khwae Yai river zone, shared bathrooms | 50 | 5,000 |
Camping is 30 baht per person per night on your own tent, or 225 for a park dome tent for three without bedding; bedding is charged separately at 10 baht for a pillow, 30 for a sleeping bag and 20 for a mat. A campervan pitch is 300 a night, 600 if towed. Accommodation is discounted 30 per cent Monday to Thursday outside public holidays. Book through the department’s own reservation system, not at the gate.
When it closes, and why
Erawan has no announced annual rest closure that we could find. What it has instead is the newer risk: air quality. On 21 April 2026 the department closed the park to tourism and to overnight stays after wildfire smoke pushed the 24-hour PM2.5 average to 42.9 micrograms per cubic metre, and reopened it the next day.
That is a one-day closure, but it is the shape of the hot-season problem across western and northern Thailand generally, and it arrives with about as much notice as this one did. If you are driving three hours for a waterfall in March or April, check the day before. See Thailand’s seasons for when the burning season actually falls.
What we could not confirm
- The park’s opening hours. Widely posted as 08:00 to 16:30 with the upper tiers shutting earlier — tier seven at 15:00 is the figure that circulates — but the only government page we could read lists 08:30 to 18:00 Monday to Friday and 09:00 to 15:30 on Saturday, which reads like office hours rather than gate hours. We are not printing a gate-closing time we cannot stand behind. Assume the upper tiers close well before the park does and start early.
- The 20-baht plastic bottle deposit. Reported everywhere, and posted by the park’s own social account, that bottles carried above tier two are charged a refundable 20-baht deposit reclaimed on the way down. No departmental page we could reach states it. Carry a 20-baht note and a hard bottle and you are covered either way.
- A daily visitor cap. A limit of 500 visitors a day appears on the state tourism page, but inside a list of pandemic-era hygiene measures, which makes it very likely stale.
- The height of the falls. The same page describes a cliff of about 2,100 metres, which is not consistent with Kanchanaburi’s terrain. We have left the number out entirely rather than repeat it or invent a replacement.
- Everything on the department’s park pages. On 7 September 2026, nps.dnp.go.th and portal.dnp.go.th were unreachable from two networks — the first timing out at the TCP level. Fees, camping rates and the exemptions here therefore come from the Royal Gazette text of the regulation itself, which is the better source anyway.
Frequently asked questions
300 baht for a foreign adult and 150 for a foreign child, against 60 and 30 for Thai visitors. That comes from Schedule 1 of the Department of National Parks regulation B.E. 2564, published in the Royal Gazette on 9 December 2021 and in force from 7 June 2022, which places Erawan in band 3 - the second most expensive of four bands, shared with eight other parks. Vehicles are charged separately at the same rate everywhere: 20 baht for a motorcycle, 30 for a car, 100 for a six-wheeler and 200 for anything larger up to ten wheels. Erawan is not on the list of five parks carrying a special surcharge under the September 2022 announcement, so unlike Khao Yai there is no second, higher figure to worry about. Be aware that the Tourism Authority of Thailand's own attraction page publishes 100 / 50 for Thai visitors and 300 / 200 for foreigners, which does not match the Gazette. The Gazette is the instrument.
Seven. The Tourism Authority of Thailand describes the falls as arising on the Huai Mong Lai stream and running about 1,500 m in total length, divided into seven tiers, each of which forms a pool. The name came later than the park: it was gazetted as Khao Salop National Park and renamed Erawan because the top tier was thought to resemble the head of Erawan, the three-headed elephant. Separately from the falls path there is the Erawan nature trail, 1,060 m and about 30 minutes, which passes hill evergreen forest, a viewpoint and deciduous forest. The park operates a golf cart for elderly and disabled visitors over the roughly 700 m between the car park and the first tier, which is the section that catches people out - the falls start further from the car than the photographs suggest.
The Department of National Parks' own account puts the Royal Decree at 19 June 1975 and the area at about 549.98 square kilometres, spread across the Mueang, Si Sawat and Sai Yok districts of Kanchanaburi. It is usually described as Thailand's twelfth national park. The park headquarters is at Tha Kradan, Si Sawat, Kanchanaburi 71250. One figure we are deliberately not repeating: the state tourism page describes the falls as dropping from a cliff around 2,100 metres high, which is not consistent with the terrain of Kanchanaburi and which no departmental source we could reach supports.
Yes, and the prices are published in the Royal Gazette by unit name. In the headquarters zone, Erawan 105 (Rim Khwae) and 106 (Sakae Dong) take two people at 800 baht a night; Erawan 101 (Mangtan) takes four at 1,600; Erawan 107 (Hiranyika) takes six at 2,400; Erawan 102 and 103 take eight at 3,200 and Erawan 104 (Khwae Yai) eight at 3,500; Erawan 108 (Mong Lai) takes ten at 2,400. A second cluster - Rim Phrai, Rim Than and Kan Nathi - sits beside the waterfall stream in two- and three-person rooms at 800 and 1,200. Two youth camps on the Khwae Yai river take 50 people each at 5,000. Bringing your own tent is 30 baht per person per night; a park dome tent for three, without bedding, is 225. Monday to Thursday, outside public holidays, accommodation is discounted 30 per cent under clause 14 of the regulation.
It has, at a day's notice and for a reason most visitors never think about. On 21 April 2026 the department closed the park to tourism and overnight stays after wildfire smoke pushed the 24-hour PM2.5 average to 42.9 micrograms per cubic metre; it reopened the following day. That is the pattern to plan around in the hot season: not a fixed annual closure, but short air-quality and fire closures that appear and lift within days. We could not find any announcement of a scheduled annual rest closure at Erawan, unlike the marine parks or Doi Inthanon's Kew Mae Pan trail. Individual upper tiers are also reported to shut earlier in the afternoon than the park as a whole, which is worth checking on the day rather than assuming.
Kanchanaburi is unusual in having seven national parks in one province, and three of them - Erawan, Sai Yok and Khuean Srinagarindra - sit in the expensive band 3 precisely because of what is in them. That density is the argument for a base rather than a trip: from Kanchanaburi town you can reach a different park most weekends without repeating yourself, and the province is close enough to Bangkok that a two-base life is realistic. The counterweight is honest too - the town is small, international schooling and specialist healthcare mean travelling, and the hot season brings the same smoke that closed Erawan in April 2026. As a weekend from Bangkok it needs no argument at all.
Related guides
- National parks in Thailand — the bands, the booking system and the rules that carry a fine.
- Kanchanaburi — the province with seven national parks, as a place to live.
- Khao Yai National Park — the other weekend from Bangkok, and its double fee.
- Doi Inthanon National Park — the other band 3 park people actually plan trips around.
- Trekking in Thailand — the protected areas and the guide rule.
- Thailand’s seasons — when the water runs and when the smoke arrives.
- Explore Thailand — the section this guide sits in.
Seven parks in one province
Kanchanaburi is close enough to Bangkok to be a second base and wild enough to be worth one. The question is which side of the river you want to wake up on.
Sources & References
- Royal Gazette, vol. 138 special part 301 Ngor, 9 December 2021 - DNP Regulation B.E. 2564 on service fees. Schedule 1 places Erawan in band 3 with eight other parks at Thai adult 60 / child 30 and foreign adult 300 / child 150; Schedule 2 sets the vehicle rates; Schedule 4 and its annex set camping and bungalow rates including every Erawan unit by name; clause 16 sets the exemptions
- Department of National Parks news service, 2 June 2022 - the four bands park by park with the province of each. Band 3 is nine parks: Kaeng Krachan, Khuean Srinagarindra, Doi Pha Hom Pok, Doi Inthanon, Sai Yok, Than Bok Khorani, Huai Nam Dang, Ao Phang Nga and Erawan
- Department of National Parks news service - 'The most of the national parks' EP.12 on Erawan: gazetted by Royal Decree on 19 June 1975, about 549.98 sq km across Mueang, Si Sawat and Sai Yok districts of Kanchanaburi
- Tourism Authority of Thailand - Erawan National Park: formerly Khao Salop National Park, renamed for the top tier's resemblance to the head of the three-headed elephant Erawan; the waterfall arises on the Huai Mong Lai stream, runs about 1,500 m and is divided into seven tiers, each with a pool; the Erawan nature trail is 1,060 m and takes about 30 minutes; a golf cart is available for elderly and disabled visitors over the roughly 700 m from the car park to the first tier; park telephone numbers and the Tha Kradan, Si Sawat, Kanchanaburi 71250 address
- Tourism Authority of Thailand, reproducing the DNP announcement of 19 September 2022 on sites carrying a special service charge - it names five parks and Erawan is not among them, so the band 3 rate is the whole story here
- Department of National Parks news service - Erawan National Park closed to tourism and overnight stays on 21 April 2026 after a 24-hour PM2.5 average of 42.9 micrograms per cubic metre from wildfire smoke, reopening the following day
Primary and official sources are cited above. Government rules, fees and procedures in Thailand change over time and vary by office; always confirm current requirements with the relevant authority before relying on them. BAANLYY never takes paid placement in editorial content.
