Four Waterfalls In One Day
Mae Sa, Tad Mok, Mok Fa and the limestone falls at Bua Thong — the four best falls north of the city, driven in one long, wet, excellent day.
Four waterfalls, three of them inside national parks, none more than an hour and a half from the city. They are genuinely different from each other: Mae Sa is ten tiers with food stalls and families; Tad Mok is one twenty-six-metre drop into a quiet pool; Mok Fa throws enough spray to be named after mist; and Bua Thong is limestone you can walk straight up, barefoot, because the mineral crust grips like rough concrete.
Start at eight. The parks close their gates between 4.30 and 5, and the run home from Bua Thong is a solid hour.
The route
Stop by stop, with the drive between each.
- 1
Mae Sa Waterfall
Ten tiers up a shaded hillside with a path linking them and stalls at the bottom. Levels one to three are busy; walk fifteen minutes and you will have a pool to yourself. Open 8.30am to 4.30pm.
Eight tiers in Mae Rim, running all year, with a pool at one of the lower levels that people swim in. Close to the city and busy at weekends.
Tourism Directory →Ministry of Tourism & Sports · Ministry of Tourism & Sports, Thailand 39 min · 23 km - 2
Tad Mok Waterfall
Twenty-six metres into a single pool, with old ngiu trees around it and almost nobody there. The contrast with the last stop is the point. Open 8am to 4.30pm.
A forest waterfall reached by a short walk from the road, with a pool at its foot deep enough to swim in for most of the year. Quiet even at weekends; there is little at the trailhead, so bring water.
Wikimedia Commons →Benny · CC BY-SA 3.0 17 min · 12 km - 3
Mok Fa Waterfall
Thirty metres onto rock, throwing enough spray that the whole clearing stays cool. A short nature trail runs from the car park, and at dusk bats leave the cliff. On the 1095, so it doubles as the first stop on the road to Pai. Open 8.30am to 4.30pm.
A single drop from a cliff into a pool, then away down the stream. Mok Fa cave nearby is a bat roost, and there are marked nature trails; the area is quiet enough for birdwatching.
Tourism Directory →Ministry of Tourism & Sports · Ministry of Tourism & Sports, Thailand 46 min · 35 km - 4
Bua Thong Sticky Waterfalls
Limestone terraces coated in calcium carbonate that grip bare feet well enough to walk straight up the falls, with ropes at the steeper sections. Free, which for a place this good is remarkable. The Chet Si spring at the top is a clear blue pool. Open 8am to 5pm.
Limestone, about 100 metres over two main tiers at roughly fifty degrees. The rock grips underfoot instead of turning slippery, so it is climbed rather than just looked at.
Tourism Directory →Ministry of Tourism & Sports · Ministry of Tourism & Sports, Thailand 53 min · 44 km
Best time to go
July to November, when all four are at full volume — this is one of the few routes that is better in the green season. December to February the flow drops but the water is clear and cold. March to May Tad Mok and Mok Fa can be down to a trickle; check before committing to the drive.
Before you set off
Three of the four charge the national park foreigner rate per person, and it is cash only. Bring a dry bag, a towel per person and a change of clothes; you will be wet from Bua Thong onward. The limestone at Bua Thong is safe barefoot and treacherous in flip-flops — take them off. Do not swim above a drop at any of them, and never at Mok Fa after heavy rain. Get away from Bua Thong by four; the road out is unlit.
Places on this route were suggested by TrueID Travel — waterfalls of Chiang Mai. Distances and drive times are our own, measured stop by stop.
