Doi Phu Kha National Park, Nan Province, Thailand

5BangkokJock 5:00 PM Aug 6, 2013

Highly recommended, spectacular scenery
If you have time, highly recommend a drive out of Nan city to the forested hills of Doi Phu Kha national park, with some of the most beautiful scenic drives in Thailand. Can be done on a day trip. Its about 1 hour drive north from Nan. We took the 1080 highway, passing Tha Wang Pha and Pua towns. Roads are good but not too big, about 2-4 lanes. This route is still in lowland but with lots of trees along the way. Not many restaurants, some in Pua. From Pua town, we did a u-turn and turned into a small side road that led to Highway 1256. There is a sign but very small, if I wasn't using GPS I probably can't find it. From then on its in the park territory. Stop by the "Lan Doo Dao" ("Stargazing Field") for a scenic viewpoint. After a while you will pass the toll gate to the park HQ on the left, but we drove on to the see the living fossil Phu Kha tree, extremely rare with unusual flowers growing upwards that bloom only in Feb. The tree is next to a spirit shrine with hundreds of offerings and a real chariot parked next to it. There was alot of fog drifting down the highway and there was nobody around, making the place feel eerie and mystical. We continued to drive on through the park and down the other side to Bo Klua town, stopping for lunch at Bo Klua View resort. Then back to Nan via Highway 1081, which is even more beautiful than the way we came. Part of the highway snakes long a hilltop ridge with corn plantations along rolling hills on both sides.

4Charn P 5:00 PM Feb 10, 2015

Great Park to See the Champoo Phuka Flower.
Champoo Phuka, the tree and its flower is becoming a rare and extinct tree. Presently, it can only be seen in Doi Phu Khao National Park in Nan Province. In order to see this rare flowers, we trekked through the jungle for about two hours in different elevations before reaching the blossoming flowers. We met at least 20-30 other curious local tourists who made the same trek. By coming to this national park in mid February, we were expecting more blooming flowers. However due to the late winter, the flowers are expected to bloom later. Fortunately we were able to witness few blossoming branches. Overall the Doi Phu Khao National Park is very well managed. The Visitor Center was very well prepared to assist the visitors. They prepared daily local guides to take the visitors around the park. The trial within the jungle was well prepared and kept up. Keep up with the good work.