Visiting Erawan Waterfall, Thailand
Summary
If you are planning on taking a trip to Erawan National Park to visit the waterfall, then you are right where you need to be. We visited the waterfall in May 2026, so have all the updated information you need before visiting!
Before you keep reading, erase all your knowledge you have so far from other readings, or TikTok, or wherever you get your information. You can come back to all that later. I am going to tell you which parts YOU need for YOUR visit, not someone else’s!
If you do not want to read the whole blog: Click below to see an overview of the most important things to remember before visiting!
Transport
There are basically only 2 ways to get to Erawan National Park from Kanchanaburi: make your own way or take the public bus. Making your own way would either be by bike or car, but we did not do that, so I will explain how to take the bus.
You can go from Bangkok; however, the only way would be to take a guided tour, and it would be a very long day! But if it is something you really want to do, it is possible.
Getting to the bus station:
Finding the bus terminal on the maps (specifically Apple Maps, which I use) is quite difficult for some reason. I don’t think it translates, so when you type it in English, it doesn’t appear. See below for its pinned location on Apple Maps.
The address is: Soi U Thong 4, Ban North, Mueang Kanchanaburi District
The coordinates are: 14.02080 N, 99.53438 E
ChatGPT or Google AI will insist that this is wrong. Ignore it, it tried to tell me that it was on complete opposite side of the city! I trusted my gut and ignored AI, and I am glad I did.
However, to make everyone’s life easier, it appears on the Grab app when you search for the bus terminal. Again, ChatGPT will tell you the address on Grab is incorrect. It insisted that I shouldn’t book it! Please ignore this if you google it. As this was in the AI overview that now appears with every Google search.
The actual bus station is around 1.2 miles from Kanchanaburi train station. Depending on your starting location, you have the option to walk or take a taxi. There are public buses, but the times do not match up with when you need to be at the terminal, so it involves a lot of waiting around. Honestly, a Grab isn’t expensive; we paid 68 baht from near the McDonalds (the only one in Kanchanaburi) to the bus terminal, and the driver pointed out exactly which bus we needed to get on. If there is more than one of you, a taxi is most likely cheaper than taking the public bus anyway.
The type of bus:
The bus is a slightly above-average public bus with fans on the ceiling, windows down for ventilation, and decent seats that recline if they’re not broken, aligned as 2 – walkway – 2. Be aware that they do not close the bus doors (they did not on the way or on returning for us), so if you are sitting next to them, keep a hold of your belongings, or they will go flying when the driver inevitably doesn’t slow down on bumps and bends. Also, if it is raining, be prepared to get wet. The driver may come round and close all the windows, but they won’t close the doors…
The bus says on the outside, ‘Kanchanaburi – Erawan’. There are quite a few that say this, so if you are struggling, do not hesitate to ask. You can ask at the front desk/info desk at the bus station or any of the drivers. They will most likely tell you which bus you need to board.
Bus prices:
The current price is 80 baht pp for a one-way journey. Pay in cash, preferably as the correct change, but providing a £100 note is acceptable, and they will give you the change in return. However, the price may change, as it was obvious that the price was written in pen over the original amount, so be prepared for it to go up or down. It is possible that it costs more for tourists, as we have seen this in a lot of different situations around Thailand. When you get on, you only pay for your journey there; do not pay for the return at the same time.
Bus times:
The bus times may vary due to weather, traffic, amount of stopping, etc., but it averagely takes 1-2 hours. Online, we read everywhere it was 1 hour, but on our way there it departed at 11am; we got off at 12:40pm. On our way back, it departed at 16:30, and we got off at 18:15.
Kanchanaburi – Erawan
08:00
09:40
11:00
13:00
14:30
16:00
17:40
Erawan – Kanchanaburi
05:20
06:10
08:30
10:00
12:00
14:30
16:30
Because the 16:30 bus is the final bus back to Kanchanaburi, it gets pretty full. It was sitting in the car park for a while, so we got some pizza; this cost 249 baht. The options were cheese or Hawaiian. We decided to get on the bus “early” so that we had a seat, so we got on around 16:15. All seats apart from 2, luckily, were either occupied by someone or reserved with belongings. So if you really don’t want to get a taxi all the way back, make sure you get on even earlier than we did. We were sat at the back, right next to the doors. So yes, when it began chucking it down, the driver pulled over to close all the windows. He did not even think about closing the door, so we got wet! There was a lady next to us who kindly gave us her poncho to lie over us, so that helped.
1 - You cannot take food and drink - True/False?
This is true IF you are planning on going past Level 2.
The waterfall hike has 7 levels. There is a sign at the beginning of the trail with what each looks like. Honestly they all look pretty similar… So if you want just a nice place to sit, have some lunch, or just chill for a bit, then I would recommend you stay at Level 2. There is a little food hut near Level 1 which is about 150m from Level 2.
The staff do not check bags or anything before entering the National Park, so bring whatever you think you will need.
If you are planning on going for the full hike, arrive EARLY, like 7am early, as it is way too hot to do it midday. We were going to go higher than Level 2, but it was just too hot, so we changed our minds.
There is a checkpoint where you cannot take food or drink, only water. And you must pay a small deposit for your water bottle. You will get this back if you return with your bottle. This is just to protect the national park from litter, etc.
2 - Wearing a life jacket/vest - Optional?
This is not optional.
In order to go in the water, or even dip your legs in, you are required to wear a life jacket. Do not think you can get away with it, as there is someone watching at all times and will whistle at you like in a swimming bath if you do not have it on. They also whistle if you are messing about. We were there for 3 hours ish; we heard the whistle on at least 5 separate occasions.
Even though the life jacket is mandatory, you do have to pay! But not in cash/card. There is a small “coupon” desk, where you tell them what you want, pay them the cash, and get a coupon in return. The same goes for getting drinks or food from the hut. You have to go see what you want and the price, then go to the coupons stall, get your coupons and go back. Slightly annoying, but it’s the rules. Anyway, a life jacket costs 20 baht per person. You get it for 2 hours. Anything over, and you have to pay 10 baht pp each hour. So really, it is just 10 baht per hour per person.
Personally, 2 hours was enough, because you can’t really swim about properly wearing it; it’s not the place to be swimming laps, and the little fish are annoying…
3 - The nibbling fish!
This is not a National Park rule, but its definitely something you need to be aware of, if you’re not already. In the waterfalls, especially at Level 2, which is named “Fish Palace”, there are lots of fish. The sizes range from quite big, just bigger than a 30cm ruler i’d say, to very small, about an inch. The big fish won’t bother you at all, even though they look more scary, they will just swim right past like you’re not even there. The little fish however, they make their presence VERY known. They mostly gather around the edges, so where you are getting in and out, so you honestly need to just jump in, or get in really quick. I slowly lowered my feet in and got nibbled like 10 times, flung my foot in the air and screamed, whilst multiple people laughed at me. It doesn’t hurt or anything, it is just weird, and scary because you can’t see them coming!
Whilst you are in the water, just keep moving. If you stay still, they’ll get you. I saw a few people just holding their feet out of the water whilst lying on their backs, that also seemed to work.
I was terrified to get out because you’re just surrounded by them. Fortunately, none of them got me when i was getting out, and a generous Thai man helped pull me out by my hand.
4 - You cannot wear open toe shoes - True/False?
We did not see a single sign saying this, and 9/10 people were wearing open-toed shoes like sliders and flip-flops. I think it is more of a recommendation for higher levels, as the path becomes much more difficult. For Level 2, the path is around 600 metres from the entrance, and it is mostly flat. On the way back, there are golf buggies that you can pay to get in if you might struggle to walk back.
5 - Forbidden items
The signs we did see were more random things, such as no domestic pets and no guitars…
There is a huge sign right after you go through the entrance gate to the path. This has a list of all the restricted items for the National Park. If you have any of these, remove them from your bag and hand them to the little hut just outside the entrance gate. I am sure the staff would be more than happy to look after your belongings until you return! However, it is mostly just common sense. You are allowed to take plastic; just do not litter, etc.
If you do decide to go beyond level 2, you have to pay a small deposit for your water bottle. If you return with your water bottle, i.e., you do not litter, you will get the money back.
6 - Closing time
The park does shut at 16:30, but if you are going to the upper levels, the top 3 close at 15:00. So just make sure you set off early, which you need to anyway because of the heat. If you’re not, then this is irrelevant to you, as you need to be on the bus back before park closing time. If you were going all the way, it is about a 3-4 hour round trip.
7 - Park fees
On arrival, the bus goes through the ticket office section. It drives specifically through the cash-only window. The national park fee for tourists is 300 baht pp. A staff member of the park will come onto the bus, and you pay him. For us, he brought change onto the bus. We paid for 2x people, so 600, with a 1000 note, and it was acceptable. I’m not sure if it would be acceptable for only 1 person, but a 500 would be. Basically, you do not require the exact change as you would in some places.
For Thai citizens, it was only 50 baht pp, so just be aware of that. They did check ID cards to prove citizenship.
Food
There is a food hut at the beginning with indoor seating in the car park area. Here you can get pizza, burgers, cakes, mango sticky rice, and more. You can get a single slice of pizza for 89 baht or a full pizza for 249 baht.
Right next door is where you can get a variety of drinks. We only got 2 bottles of water.
There is another smaller food hut with outdoor seating; this only sells simple finger foods like chicken nuggets and fries. I think prices were around 200 baht. However, you had to purchase the food with coupons, which you buy with money from the coupon stall next to the life jacket rentals.
Review
So we were actually at the National Park for 3-4 hours. It is quite beautiful; it wasn’t overly crowded when we went, and people were coming and going throughout the day. The water at the waterfall was the same as you see online; the water was blue and clean. The bottom part of the waterfall is a bit ‘sticky’, so you can safely walk across it. Some of the rocks are a little mossy – to make sure you test your footing before committing!
There are monkeys that you may or may not see around the waterfalls; we saw 1. I can imagine there are more beyond Level 2, as there would be fewer people.
There are some bathrooms directly opposite the waterfall to get changed or use the toilet. There is also an outdoor shower. These are all free to use.
The food at the shack was quite limited; it was chicken nuggets and chips, etc. So we opted to go back to the main entrance cafe. There, they had pizza, burgers and a few more options. And right next door there was a drinks hut.
It was quite a long journey to see a waterfall; it was absolutely stunning, but it would’ve been better if it was a bit closer.
It was also way too hot at this time of year to do the full hike, especially if you are not used to 35-degree heat and 90% humidity.
I am glad we went, and I would still recommend people to go; prices weren’t too bad, and it was a nice day out. There were a few benches around the waterfall and plenty of spaces along the wall to sit.
They do have campsites at the national park, so maybe it would be nice to spend a night or two. That way, you could do one day hiking the waterfall and another hiking the caves. You can get up early and start immediately, rather than arriving at 10am at the earliest when it starts getting really hot. If you got the 8am train, there would be no option but to be hiking in the midday sun, which is not safe. So if you have got time, look into that as an option, especially if you are coming from Bangkok. Personally, if I were coming from Bangkok, I think I’d be slightly disappointed, as you wouldn’t be able to make a full day of it, as the top tiers shut earlier and it is such a long journey.
Overall, I’d give it a 7/10. Good day out, definitely don’t regret it, just a few minor things, including the fish, that reduce the rating slightly.
Final Tips
A quick overview of the most important things to remember on your visit to Erawan.
- Buses start departing at 8am from Kanchanaburi, and the final bus returning leaves Erawan at 16:30. The journey is 1-2 hours. For us, it was 1 hour and 40 mins.
- If you are not planning on going past Level 2, which for us in May, with April/May being the hottest months of the year, was definitely too hot to go all the way, you ARE able to take food and drink and wear open-toe shoes.
- Wearing a life jacket is 100% mandatory if you want to go in the water.
- Food and drink are not ridiculously priced; they are 150-300 baht per person.
- The national park fee, cash only, costs 300 baht pp for tourists and 50 baht pp for Thai citizens.
- The park closes at 16:30, but the top 3 levels close earlier, at 15:00.
- It would be a nice place to take a picnic, sit by the waterfall, go for a swim when you get too hot, and head home when the park closes. Then you can return around tea/dinner time, before going back to your hotel.
- But most importantly, watch out for the little fish! Do not keep still whilst in the water, or they'll get you!
Thank you so much for reading, happy travels!