A limestone hill on the Phahonyothin highway registered as an ancient monument in its own right, with a reclining Buddha in a cave, a queen's cypher cut above its mouth in B.E. 2455 and 700 steps to the summit.
วัดเขาหน่อ · Wat Khao No
| Official name | วัดเขาหน่อ — Wat Khao No |
|---|---|
| Where | Ban Daen, Banphot Phisai, Nakhon Sawan |
| Royal temple class | Not established from an official register. |
| Monastic order | Not recorded in any register we could read. |
| Ancient monument | Registered national ancient monument Royal Gazette vol. 111, part 20 ง, 10 March B.E. 2537 — ประกาศกรมศิลปากร เรื่อง ขึ้นทะเบียนโบราณสถาน, item 2: โบราณสถานวัดเขาหน่อ ตำบลบ้านแดน อำเภอบรรพตพิสัย จังหวัดนครสวรรค์, an area of approximately 1,503 rai 2 ngan 50 square wa, with two named principal features — 2.1 เขาหน่อ and 2.2 ถ้ำพระพุทธไสยาสน์. Signed by Director-General Somkid Chotikawanit in February B.E. 2537. This instrument is worth reading closely because of what it protects. The registration is not of a building but of a hill and a cave: the two สิ่งสำคัญ it names are เขาหน่อ itself and the cave of the reclining Buddha inside it, and the area it gives runs to something over 1,500 rai. That is a landscape registration rather than a monument one, and it explains why the Department of National Parks is now moving to declare the same ground a forest park. The instrument was downloaded from the Fine Arts Department's own scan server and read with Thai optical character recognition; the day of the February signing was not legible in two passes at different resolutions and is therefore not stated. The register separately carries ถ้ำพระนอน as its own site, number 0006845, at a point about twelve metres from the one it gives for the monastery. |
| Coordinates | 15.952297, 99.878813 Fine Arts Department national ancient monument register, monument 0003911 วัดเขาหน่อ, ตำบลบ้านแดน อำเภอบรรพตพิสัย |
Thai temple histories mix two different kinds of statement, and this guide keeps them apart. What a register, a gazette entry, an inscription or a dated royal act shows is one thing. What the chronicles and the temple itself hold is another, and it is worth telling as what it is.
So this is a place with an exact modern record and no ancient one. Two royal visits eight days and six years apart are documented to the day, a Cabinet resolution and a gazette registration fix its protected status, and a physical royal cypher is cut in the rock above the cave — and nothing read here dates the reclining Buddha, the chedi or the monastery itself.
Khao No and Khao Kaeo stand out of flat farmland beside the Phahonyothin highway between Nakhon Sawan and Kamphaeng Phet, about forty-five kilometres from the provincial town and eighteen from the Banphot Phisai district office. They are limestone, they run north to south, and a local road separates the two. The Department of National Parks, which is preparing to declare the whole group a forest park, divides Khao No into two: เขานางพันธุรัต, the smaller hill to the north, at 137 metres above sea level, and เขาพระพุทธบาท, the larger to the south, at 238 metres. Khao Kaeo, on the other side of Highway 3491, reaches 314 metres.
The monastery sits at the foot of the smaller hill, and what the Fine Arts Department registered in 1994 was not the monastery but the hill and a cave in it. The instrument names two principal features and only two: เขาหน่อ, and ถ้ำพระพุทธไสยาสน์, the cave of the reclining Buddha. The area it puts under protection runs to something over 1,500 rai. It is a registration of a landscape, and the national parks department's move to turn the same ground into a forest park is the natural next step rather than a competing claim.
The dated history here is entirely modern and entirely royal. The royal account of the second Ton journey puts King Chulalongkorn on this hill on 18 August B.E. 2449, with the procession forming at Wat Ban Daen and the party climbing up; the soldiers travelling with him photographed the route, the villagers' houses, the chedi base on the summit of the smaller hill, the path to the cave and the cave mouth with its reclining Buddha and its smaller images. Six years later, in B.E. 2455, Queen Saovabha Phongsri came, and had her cypher ส.ผ. cut into the rock above the cave mouth, where it still is. The province later put up a royal statue at the site, and a pool called สระเสด็จ is shown as the one the king bathed in.
For a visitor the hill works on three levels. The smaller hill is a fifteen-minute climb on a shaded stair to a viewpoint, passing the cave with its large reclining Buddha at the front and a dark, damp passage behind that comes out at the upper stair — a torch is needed. The larger hill is 700 steps and about forty minutes, steep enough in places to feel like scrambling, with a replica Buddha footprint and an old chedi at the top and a view in every direction. And at dusk the bats come out of the caves in Khao Kaeo in a black line across the sky, which is why there is a row of food stalls at the foot of the hill at six in the evening.
ถ้ำพระพุทธไสยาสน์, named in the 1994 registration instrument as one of the two protected features: a cave on the smaller hill with a large reclining Buddha at its front and smaller images beside it, and a dark passage behind that leads through to the upper stair.
The royal cypher ส.ผ. of Queen Saovabha Phongsri, cut into the rock above the mouth of that cave on her visit in B.E. 2455 and still there.
เขานางพันธุรัต, the smaller hill, 137 metres above sea level, reached by a shaded stair in about fifteen minutes, with the base of a chedi on top that the royal party photographed in B.E. 2449.
เขาพระพุทธบาท, the larger hill, 238 metres, up 700 steps in about forty minutes, with a replica Buddha footprint and an old chedi at the summit and a view all round.
The macaques at the foot of the hill, which are the reason the monastery's car park is behind a gate and a grille, and the bats that stream out of the caves in Khao Kaeo across the road at about six in the evening.
สระเสด็จ, the pool shown as the one King Chulalongkorn bathed in, and the royal statue the province later put up, both part of the marked route following the second Ton journey.
This is a working place of worship for millions of people rather than an attraction, and it is treated as one at the gate. Where a figure below is blank, no source we are prepared to cite states it.
| Hours | Not established from an official source. |
|---|---|
| Admission | Not established from an official source. |
| Dress | A working monastery. Shoulders and knees covered, and shoes off in the cave shrine. |
| Photography | No source we found states a rule, so we print none. |
| Getting there | Beside the Phahonyothin highway between Nakhon Sawan and Kamphaeng Phet, about forty-five kilometres from the provincial town and eighteen from the Banphot Phisai district office. The address on the tourism ministry's record is 233 Ban Khao No, Moo 2, Tambon Ban Daen. Park inside the monastery's gated and grilled car park, which exists because of the monkeys. The smaller hill is about fifteen minutes on a stair; the larger is 700 steps and about forty minutes, steep in places and not suited to anyone uneasy with heights. |
Every temple reference repeats claims nobody has checked. These are the ones we went looking for and could not stand up, listed so you know exactly where this page stops.
The hill and the cave, not a building. The 1994 registration instrument names two principal features — เขาหน่อ itself and ถ้ำพระพุทธไสยาสน์, the cave of the reclining Buddha — and puts an area of something over 1,500 rai under protection. That is why the national parks department is separately preparing to declare the same ground a forest park.
They are the royal cypher ส.ผ. of Queen Saovabha Phongsri, cut into the rock above the mouth of the reclining Buddha cave when she visited in B.E. 2455. The Department of National Parks records the visit and the carving in its own account of the hill.
It depends which hill. The smaller hill, Khao Nang Phanthurat, is a shaded stair of about fifteen minutes. The larger hill, Khao Phra Phutthabat, is 700 steps and roughly forty minutes, steep enough in places to feel like climbing rather than walking.
No official source establishes one. The Ministry of Tourism and Sports directory says there is no charge, but that same record flags itself as not official data, so this page reports it as what the record states rather than as a confirmed figure.
At about six in the evening, from the caves in Khao Kaeo across the road from Khao No, in a long black line. The Department of National Parks describes it as the main draw at that hour, and there are stalls at the foot of the hill for people waiting.
Before you go, read the guide to Buddhism and temple etiquette in Thailand — dress, footwear, where photography is not welcome and how to behave around monks. The rest of Nakhon Sawan’s temples are covered here too.
Every temple here sits in a place worth reading about on its own terms. The nationwide temple guide covers the other provinces to the same documentary standard as this page, and says on each one what the record establishes and what it does not.
If you are thinking about more than a visit: work out which Thai visa route fits your situation, and see what is available to rent and buy in residences across Thailand.
Every fact on this page is drawn from the sources above. Where they disagree, this page says so rather than choosing silently. Registrations, fees, hours and access change; confirm anything you are relying on with the authority concerned. BAANLYY LLC is a Nevada company and a listing portal, does not represent any temple, and offers no legal or religious advice.