Phu Kradueng is a band 2 park: 200 baht for a foreign adult, 100 for a foreign child, 40 and 20 for Thai visitors, plus 30 for a car. The summit closes 1 June to 30 September every year — and the Si Than visitor centre at the foot stays open, which is the half of the rule everybody drops. Government accommodation exists in three zones, one of them on the summit, from 900 to 3,600 baht a night, all of it priced by name in the Royal Gazette. The porters are a permit class written into that same regulation.
What it costs, and who pays nothing
Schedule 1 of the Department of National Parks regulation B.E. 2564 — Royal Gazette, 9 December 2021, in force 7 June 2022 — puts Phu Kradueng in band 2, the 55-park middle tier: 200 baht for a foreign adult, 100 for a foreign child, 40 and 20 for Thai visitors. That is the same rate as Khao Yai and Khao Sok, twice what a band 1 park like Doi Suthep-Pui charges, and two thirds of Doi Inthanon. Vehicles are charged nationally: 20 baht for a motorcycle, 30 for a car, 100 for a six-wheeler, 200 up to ten wheels.
Clause 16(1) of the regulation exempts, from the service fee altogether: monks, novices and clergy of other religions residing in Thailand; Thai people aged sixty complete years and over; disabled people; and children under three. Note the wording on the third of those — the sixty-and-over exemption is written for Thai nationals specifically, and there is no equivalent for foreign residents of any age or length of stay. Clause 16(2) also lets the Director-General waive fees for Thai visitors on named national days.
Four months shut on top, open at the bottom
Phu Kradueng closes for the rainy season from 1 June to 30 September and reopens on 1 October, running its season through to 31 May. The Government Public Relations Department, quoting the head of the park, states the reason as managing the mountain in line with seasonal weather and the environment’s carrying capacity, giving nature the chance to recover, and keeping visitors safe.
The detail that matters, and that almost every summary drops: the closure is of the summit. The same statement says the Si Than visitor centre at the foot of the mountain continues to operate as normal through those four months. So “Phu Kradueng is closed in June” is half true — the mountain top and its accommodation are shut, the base area is not. If you are in Loei in the wet season, the park is not simply off the table.
Each year’s closure is announced separately even though the same window has been used repeatedly, so a trip in the last days of May or the first days of October wants a phone call first: 0-4281-0833 or 0-4281-0834. Reservations for the season open alongside the 1 October reopening.
Where you can sleep, priced by name
The annex to Schedule 4 of the fee regulation divides Phu Kradueng’s government accommodation into three named zones — and the first of them is, in the regulation’s own words, the zone on the summit of Phu Kradueng. Sixteen numbered units sit up there.
| Unit | Zone | Sleeps | Baht / night |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phu Kradueng 102 (Kradum Ngoen) | Zone 1 - on the summit | 8 | 3,200 |
| Phu Kradueng 112, 113, 115, 116 (Waew Mayura, Samphao Ngoen, Son Sai, Nakkharat) | Zone 1 - on the summit | 9 | 3,600 |
| Phu Kradueng 104-109 (Salaeam Dong, Amphawa, Suphannika, Song Badan, Sai Namphueng, Lamduan Dong) | Zone 1 - on the summit | 5 | 2,400 |
| Phu Kradueng 111/1-4 (Yat Namkhang) | Zone 1 - on the summit | 10 | 2,000 |
| Phu Kradueng 103 (Kulap Khao) | Zone 1 - on the summit | 6 | 1,800 |
| Phu Kradueng 117, 118 (April 1, April 2) | Zone 1 - on the summit | 4 | 1,600 |
| Phu Kradueng 110/1-5 (Thian Nam), shared bathrooms | Zone 1 - on the summit | 5 | 900 |
| Phu Kradueng 201/1-4 (Phaka Krong), 202-204 (Si Than 1-3) | Zone 2 - park headquarters | 4 | 1,200 |
| Phu Kradueng 205 (Si Than 4) | Zone 2 - park headquarters | 2 | 1,200 |
| Phu Kradueng 931, 932 (youth camps), shared bathrooms | Zone 3 - Si Than camp | 30 | 3,000 |
Your own tent on park ground is 30 baht per person per night on the mainland; a park dome tent for three without bedding is 225, with a pillow at 10, a sleeping bag at 30 and a mat at 20. On a flat-topped mountain in the Isan cool season those three lines are not optional extras. A field lantern is 30 baht a night and a picnic table with four chairs is 100.
The porters are in the regulation
Phu Kradueng is the mountain people associate with porters — the carriers who take luggage up the trail while the visitor walks with a day pack. It is easy to assume that is an informal trade tolerated at the gate. It is not.
Clause 16(4) of the fee regulation lists the classes of permitted tourism business inside a national park, and the third of them is providing tour services to visitors in a national park, specifically the business of porters, carriers and local guides. Permission-holders in that class are exempted from the entry service fee. In other words the Royal Gazette recognises porterage on Thailand’s mountains as a permitted occupation of the park economy, alongside food and drink concessions and, further down the same clause, the swiftlet-nest concession.
What the regulation does not do is set what a porter charges. That is agreed at the foot of the mountain, usually by weight, and we are not printing a rate we could not source from the department. Ask at Si Than and agree the weight before anything is lifted.
What we could not confirm
- The climb itself. Distance, ascent, summit elevation, the names of the steep sections and the walking time are stated everywhere and we could not source any of them from a government page today, so none of them are on this page.
- The porter rate per kilogram. Widely quoted, not published by the department.
- The B.E. 2569 closure announcement itself. The department’s annual closure announcement is circulated as a scanned PDF with no readable text layer; the dates here come from the Government Public Relations Department reporting the park’s own statement of the rule, and the same 1 June to 30 September window has been announced repeatedly.
- Everything on the department’s own park pages. On 7 September 2026 nps.dnp.go.th timed out at the network level, and dnp.go.th and portal.dnp.go.th returned an automated challenge page rather than content, from two separate networks and for the second run in a row. Park area, gazetting date and opening hours are therefore absent rather than guessed.
Frequently asked questions
200 baht for a foreign adult and 100 for a foreign child, against 40 and 20 for Thai visitors, plus 30 baht for a car or 20 for a motorcycle. That is band 2 of 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 - the same band as Khao Yai, Khao Sok and Tarutao. A child is three to fourteen complete, or not more than 140 cm tall; a foreigner is anyone without Thai nationality, and there is no residency rate. Under clause 16(1) entry is free for monks, novices and clergy of other religions residing in Thailand, Thai people aged sixty complete years and over, disabled people, and children under three.
The summit closes from 1 June to 30 September, and the foot of the mountain does not. That distinction is the thing most write-ups lose. The Government Public Relations Department, quoting the head of the park, states the closure of tourism and overnight stays on the summit for those four months while the Si Than visitor centre at the base continues to operate normally, with reservations taken for the 1 October to 31 May season. The reason given is managing the mountain in line with seasonal weather and the environment's carrying capacity, letting nature recover, and visitor safety on a wet trail. Each year is announced separately, so confirm before travelling in late May or early October.
Yes, and the Royal Gazette prices it. The annex to Schedule 4 of the fee regulation splits Phu Kradueng's government accommodation into three named zones, and the first of them is literally 'the zone on the summit of Phu Kradueng'. Sixteen numbered units sit up there, from Thian Nam at 900 baht a night for five with shared bathrooms, through the 2,400-baht five-berth houses, to Kradum Ngoen at 3,200 for eight and the four 3,600-baht nine-berth houses. Zone 2 at the park headquarters runs at 1,200 a night, and Zone 3 is the Si Than youth camps at 3,000 for thirty with shared bathrooms. Your own tent on park ground is 30 baht per person per night; a park dome tent for three without bedding is 225.
They are a category the law names. Clause 16(4) of the fee regulation lists, among the permitted classes of tourism business inside a national park, 'the third type: providing tour services to visitors in a national park, specifically the business of porters, carriers and local guides' - and exempts holders of that permission from the entry service fee. So the porters who carry loads up Phu Kradueng are not an informal arrangement tolerated at the gate; they are a permit class written into a Royal Gazette regulation. What that regulation does not do is set their rates, which are agreed at the foot of the mountain, and we are not going to print a price we could not source from the department.
We could not confirm the distance, the ascent or the timings from a government source today, so we are not printing the numbers you will see everywhere else. What can be said from the department's own fee schedule is the shape of it: there is accommodation at the bottom, in a separate zone, and accommodation on top, in another - which is the fee schedule telling you that getting up there is a day's undertaking with a definite before and after, not a walk from a car park. Plan on carrying little and hiring a porter, plan on the summit being cold at night in the cool season, and get the current trail advice from the park itself on 0-4281-0833.
It is one of the quietest and cheapest provinces in Thailand for a foreign resident, and that cuts both ways. The cost of living is a fraction of Bangkok's and the landscape is the best in Isan - Phu Kradueng, Phu Ruea and Phu Suan Sai are all in the province, and the fee regulation puts Phu Suan Sai in band 1 at 100 baht for a foreign adult, half of what Phu Kradueng and Phu Ruea charge in band 2. Against that: the nearest large hospitals and the nearest international airport are in Udon Thani or Khon Kaen, the cool season that makes Loei famous is short, and the burning months are real here as they are across the north. It suits someone who wants space and does not need a city.
Related guides
- National parks in Thailand — the four bands, the booking system and the rules that carry a fine.
- Loei — the province the mountain is in, and what living there costs.
- Udon Thani — the nearest airport and hospitals for most of upper Isan.
- Khon Kaen — the other Isan base people weigh against it.
- Trekking in Thailand — the protected areas, the guide rule and the seasons.
- Doi Inthanon National Park — the other mountain with a long annual closure.
- Thailand’s seasons — why so many parks shut between June and October.
- Explore Thailand — the section this guide sits in.
Isan is the cheapest place in Thailand to hold land
And Loei has three national parks in one province. Worth weighing against the drive to a large hospital.
Sources & References
- Royal Gazette, vol. 138 special part 301 Ngor, 9 December 2021, pages 57-58 - Department of National Parks Regulation B.E. 2564 on service fees. Schedule 1 places Phu Kradueng in band 2 at Thai adult 40 / child 20 and foreign adult 200 / child 100; clause 16(1) sets the exemptions; clause 16(4) recognises porters, carriers and local guides as a permitted class of national park business; Schedule 4 and its annex price every Phu Kradueng bungalow by name, and place them in three named zones, one of which is on the summit
- Government Public Relations Department - Phu Kradueng National Park closes tourism and overnight stays. The head of the park, Mr Adisorn Hemtanan, states the closure runs 1 June to 30 September, that it covers the summit, that the Si Than visitor centre at the foot of the mountain stays open as normal, and that reservations are taken for 1 October to 31 May; park telephone 0-4281-0833 and 0-4281-0834
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.
