The hilltop chedi west of Nan, restored by Burmese craftsmen for the last ruler of the principality, with a nine-metre standing Buddha of 1999 on the terrace beside it and the best view over the town.
วัดพระธาตุเขาน้อย · Wat Phra That Khao Noi
| Official name | วัดพระธาตุเขาน้อย — Wat Phra That Khao Noi |
|---|---|
| Where | Du Tai, Mueang Nan, Nan |
| Royal temple class | Not established from an official register. |
| Monastic order | Theravada, Maha Nikaya |
| Ancient monument | Carried in the national monument register; gazette announcement unread Royal Gazette vol. 61, part 65, 24 October B.E. 2487 The temple is carried in the Fine Arts Department's consolidated register of national ancient monuments, which was opened firsthand in this run as an appendix to the department's own monument-care standard, and that table gives two entries: พระธาตุเขาน้อย registered by the notification of 24 October B.E. 2487, and วัดพระธาตุดอยน้อย given a land boundary by the announcement of 14 October B.E. 2523 in vol. 97, part 159 — the same issue whose page 3525 was opened directly in this run for Wat Suan Tan. Neither announcement was read for this temple, so the land area, the list of significant things and the signer are not carried here, and the status is set to unconfirmed rather than registered for that reason. One detail from the table is worth keeping: it records the subdistrict differently between the two instruments, as Nai Wiang in 1944 and Du Tai in 1980, which is either an administrative reassignment or an error in the earlier entry. |
Du Tai, Mueang Nan, Nan
The exact location has not been confirmed yet.
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.
The two accounts are two hundred years apart and both are published by the state: B.E. 2230 in the National Office of Buddhism's administrative register, B.E. 2030 in every tourism-facing state publication. Neither is a documented foundation and this page merges them into nothing. A second and more visible confusion at this site is chronological in a different way — the great standing Buddha on the viewpoint terrace was made for a royal birthday in B.E. 2542 and is about five centuries younger than the chedi behind it.
Wat Phra That Khao Noi sits on the summit of a low hill on the western side of Nan, about 240 metres above sea level, reached by road off Highway 1025 or up a naga staircase of 303 steps. It is an ordinary temple rather than a royal monastery: the National Office of Buddhism's provincial register carries it as temple code 03550108002, Maha Nikaya, in Tambon Du Tai, with visungkhamasima granted on 8 August B.E. 2532.
It is on this list for two reasons that pull in opposite directions, and separating them is the point of the page. The chedi is old — brick and mortar throughout, in a Burmese-Lanna hybrid manner, said to hold a hair relic — and it was substantially restored between B.E. 2449 and B.E. 2454 under Phra Chao Suriyaphong Pharitdet, the last ruler of Nan, by Burmese craftsmen, in a campaign that also built the wihan. The great standing Buddha that everybody photographs is not old at all. It was made for the King's sixth-cycle birthday, the seventy-second, on 5 December B.E. 2542.
That image is called Phra Phuttha Maha Udom Mongkhon Nanthaburi Si Nan. It stands nine metres tall on a lotus base in the attitude of bestowing blessings, and its topknot is gold weighing twenty-seven baht by weight, about 411 grams. It stands on the viewpoint terrace rather than in the chedi precinct, which is why the two read as one monument in photographs taken from below and as two quite different things when you are standing there. Roughly five hundred years separate them.
One caution about the date, because it is the sort of thing that hardens into a fact. The Government Public Relations Department and the tourism authority both say the image was made on the auspicious occasion of the King's seventy-second birthday on 5 December B.E. 2542. That is the occasion commemorated. Neither says it is the day the image was installed or dedicated, and no source read here gives an installation date, a sculptor, a foundry or a commissioning committee.
There is also a real disagreement about where the temple is. The National Office of Buddhism's register, the Government Public Relations Department, the Fine Arts Department's 1980 entry and the tourism authority's own address block all say Tambon Du Tai. The tourism authority's prose and Nan Municipality say Tambon Chaiyasathan. The municipality's page is not an independent voice on this: it ends by crediting a travel blog as its source. This record follows Du Tai.
What most people come for is the view. From the terrace the whole of Nan is laid out below, with the river beyond it, and the temple keeps longer hours than the town's other temples in consequence.
The chedi: brick and mortar throughout, in a Burmese-Lanna hybrid manner, holding a hair relic by tradition, and substantially restored between B.E. 2449 and B.E. 2454 by Burmese craftsmen working for Phra Chao Suriyaphong Pharitdet. The same campaign built the wihan.
Phra Phuttha Maha Udom Mongkhon Nanthaburi Si Nan: a standing image nine metres tall on a lotus base, in the attitude of bestowing blessings, with a gold topknot of twenty-seven baht by weight — about 411 grams — made for the King's sixth-cycle birthday of 5 December B.E. 2542. It stands on the viewpoint terrace, not in the chedi precinct.
The naga staircase: 303 steps, as recorded by the Government Public Relations Department, for anyone who would rather not take the road.
The view. The terrace looks out over the whole of Nan town and the river valley, and it is the reason the temple's published hours run two hours later than Wat Phumin's.
The hill itself, at about 240 metres above sea level on the western side of the town, reached from Highway 1025.
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 | Open daily 08.00–18.00. Stated in the body text of the Tourism Authority of Thailand's attraction page, read in a rendering browser on 7 September 2026; the page's structured opening-hours field carries no times. Times of 06.00–18.00 circulate widely online and are not repeated here, because no official source read in this run gives them. |
|---|---|
| Admission | Not established from an official source. |
| Dress | A working temple as well as a viewpoint: shoulders and knees covered, shoes off before entering the wihan. No official dress notice was found, and the viewpoint terrace draws visitors dressed for a hill rather than for a temple, which is worth planning around. |
| Photography | No official restriction was found, and the viewpoint terrace exists to be photographed from. The usual courtesy applies inside the wihan and around anyone at prayer. |
| Getting there | Off Highway 1025 on the western side of Nan town, in Tambon Du Tai, on a hill about 240 metres above sea level. Vehicles reach the temple and the Tourism Authority of Thailand lists a car park; on foot it is a naga staircase of 303 steps. Telephone, per the tourism authority: 08 5623 3602. |
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.
No, and the gap is roughly five centuries. The chedi is brick and mortar in a Burmese-Lanna hybrid manner, holds a hair relic by tradition, and was substantially restored between B.E. 2449 and B.E. 2454 by Burmese craftsmen working for the last ruler of Nan. The standing image, Phra Phuttha Maha Udom Mongkhon Nanthaburi Si Nan, is nine metres tall on a lotus base and was made for the King's sixth-cycle birthday, the seventy-second, on 5 December B.E. 2542. It also stands somewhere different — on the viewpoint terrace rather than in the chedi precinct.
Du Tai. The National Office of Buddhism's provincial temple register, the Government Public Relations Department, the Fine Arts Department's 1980 boundary entry and the Tourism Authority of Thailand's own address block all give Tambon Du Tai. The tourism authority's prose and Nan Municipality say Tambon Chaiyasathan. The municipality is not an independent voice here, because its page ends by crediting a travel blog as its source, and the tourism authority contradicts itself between its prose and its address field. This record follows Du Tai.
Two ways. There is a road off Highway 1025 that vehicles take all the way to the temple, and the Tourism Authority of Thailand lists a car park at the top. On foot it is a naga staircase of 303 steps, a figure recorded by the Government Public Relations Department. The hill stands about 240 metres above sea level on the western side of the town. The temple is open daily from 08.00 to 18.00, which is two hours later in the evening than Wat Phumin down in the old town.
There is no documented answer and the state's own sources are two hundred years apart. The National Office of Buddhism's provincial register gives the establishment of the wat as B.E. 2230 and records the grant of visungkhamasima on 8 August B.E. 2532. Every tourism-facing state publication — the Government Public Relations Department, the Tourism Authority of Thailand and the municipality — instead carries the tradition that the chedi was built in the time of Chao Pu Khaeng in B.E. 2030. No inscription or excavation report was located that would settle it.
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 Nan’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.