Doi Inthanon

 Mountains and waterfalls...

Doi Inthanon (Thai: ดอยอินทนนท์) is the highest peak in Thailand at 2,565 metres. 

It is located in the northern province of Chiang Mai. The former name, Doi Luang, meaning "royal mountain" in Thai, was changed to Doi Inthanon in honour of Prince Intha Witchayanon, the last king of Chiang Mai, whose ashes were transferred in 1897 near its summit.

The summit of Doi Inthanon is an international tourist destination, with a peak of 12,000 foreign and Thai visitors visiting the summit on New Year's Day. 

As well as a tourist site, the summit also has a Royal Thai Air Force weather radar station and the National Thai Observatory (TNO), the main cosmic observation facility of the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (NARIT).

The country's climate is typically tropical but quite cool at the top of Doi Inthanon. In January, the average temperature is 6°C and temperatures can sometimes drop below 0°C. From March to June, temperatures are pleasant, especially at higher altitudes. The rainy season is from April to November. It often rains for more than 2 hours a day.

A very pleasant ride

doi inthanon

Here is our walk of the day... 

From Chiang Mai, the distance to reach the highest peak in Thailand, Doi Inthanon, is about 110km (about 2 hours if you drive there directly).

This ride makes for a very nice day, and as far as this trip is concerned I will show you step by step what we discovered.

 Mae Klang Waterfall

We stop on the road to Doi Inthanon to have a look at this first waterfall...
A small restaurant on the water where locals are sitting cross-legged and quenching their thirst in the shade..
We are in the Doi Inthanon National Park, and this waterfall that we discover is really in the heart of the forest 

 Wachirathan Waterfall

This waterfall is not very far from the main road, and moreover, we can park our car only a few steps away which is not negligible... very often, when we visit this kind of site, we often have to walk a more or less important distance and in these humid and hot forests it can sometimes be quite exhausting... this time, it's all good, we can save our strength because the day is long...
Wachirathan Waterfall is a waterfall of the Mae Klang stream. It originates from the top of Doi Inthanon. The height of the waterfall is 70 metres.

En approche du Mont Doi Inthanon

We buy the tickets... as always, two very different prices of about 6 times the price between locals and foreigners.
We arrived at the end, at the place where there are many installations equipping the national observatory... the wind blows a little, the temperature is about 11°C... fortunately the day before in Decathlon Chiang Mai we had bought jackets to resist to the coolness of the place...


It must be said that the summit itself is quite ugly to visit. I have retrieved here a picture from Google Map showing a small part of the facilities.

I understand that the place is conducive to obtaining a lot of weather information and other very useful given the location of the place ...

We spend here a quarter of an hour, the time to breathe this good fresh air, but the landscape not really enchanting me, I leave in search of places a little more "welcoming".

 The Pagoda viewpoint

We left the not very aesthetic summit because of its specific buildings...

We are now on the site of the Pagodas, and as you can see on this picture on the left, an escalator brings you easily to the top of this much more welcoming place.

We discover a magnificent botanical garden, very flowery, it must be said that nature at this altitude suffers less than in the valley... it is cool, a little less cold than at the previous summit... about 15°C but it is also later, almost midday...
Splendid panoramic views with this sky that is incredibly blue...

 Arrival at the summit...

If you have to visit this place, you should know that at the end of the road (alt.2560m) is the observatory of Thailand... 

These army buildings with a lot of parabolic antennas, very technical, are not very nice to see, you don't really want to stay there.
Well, being at this altitude in Thailand is good, but it's better to go back almost 5 km to get to the big Pagodas...

The altitude is a little lower (2100m) but there, the environment, the structures, the pagodas, the botanical garden are very beautiful to discover at the same time as the absolutely splendid panoramic views.
It is really the tourist place.

We were also lucky to be in the area with beautiful weather and deep blue skies.
Everything has been built quite recently. You will even find escaltors to save you the trouble of climbing stairs... 

  Mae Ya Waterfall

Spotted on the map... Mae Ya Waterfall is a bit out of the way... we leave the road that should take us to Chiang Mai and make a small diversions of about 10km to discover this superb waterfall...
This is our last visit of the day... we walk for a few minutes in the forest to reach a beautiful waterfall

 The Pagoda Viewpoint