Erawan national park entrance fee, tickets and hours

The Erawan national park entrance fee is set by the Department of National Parks, not by the park or by a tour company. Since 7 June 2022 Erawan has been in fee group 3 of 4, with THB 300 for a foreign adult and THB 150 for a foreign child.¹ The rate follows the traveller, not the tour you booked, and a tour company has no say in it.

The notice that announced the new rates sorts the parks into groups, and Erawan is one of just 9 parks in group 3, above the groups of 67 and 55 parks that charge less.^1,3,4 The fee is quoted in baht, and this guide keeps it that way: any conversion into dollars would be our guess, and the gate takes baht.

The fee is per person and covers entry to the park. This guide found no official page it could read that lists extra charges for the individual tiers, so assume none and ask at the gate if you want to be sure. Keep the receipt or ticket with you inside the park in case a ranger asks to see it, a habit worth having in any national park.

The Thailand Tourism Directory, run by the national tourism authority, lists Erawan Waterfall as open every day from 7.30 to 16.00.² Treat the closing time as the moment you want to be leaving, since the climb to the upper tiers and the walk back out both take time. Arrive early and the pools are quieter, and a late start can leave you with little time in the water.

Opening hours are a published guide, not a promise, and a ranger on the day has the last word. The park authority can shorten the day or close a section for safety, and the directory itself changes. This guide read the hours on the directory page and found no second official page it could open to cross-check them. If the exact minute matters for your plan, ask the park or your tour operator before you set out, and look at the notice board when you arrive.

Tour days build their own clock around these hours. On the small-group tour sold here the park follows lunch in Kanchanaburi, with the stay set out as a visit of 1 hour and, after it, 1 hour of hiking and swimming. The operator handles the timing, but on a self-made day you hold the clock yourself, so work backwards from the closing time and the last transport you need, and add a margin for a slow walk down in wet shoes.

Thai national parks close some attractions every year. The Tourism Authority of Thailand explains this as normal practice: the system closes several attractions for a certain period, with varied dates, often because of extreme weather in the rainy months.⁵ A closure may cover a trail, a viewpoint or a campground rather than the whole park, so a closure notice needs reading, not skimming.

The authority also asks visitors to learn the rules and regulations of each park before visiting.¹⁰ For Erawan, a July 2023 status list showed the park as open, which is a dated snapshot and not a forecast.¹¹ The Department of National Parks publishes a regional list of what is open, closed or partly open, and the Tourism Authority points to it, so look there on the morning you travel.

Rainy days change the picture at a waterfall. High water can close the upper tiers or the pools, even when the gate is open, and the colour of the water changes with the season. The page on the best time to visit covers the months, and the page on swimming and rules covers what to expect at the pools. Treat a closed tier as a day to enjoy the lower ones.