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ThailandDescription and is it worth a visit
About 100 caves of the Tham Chiang Dao cave complex stretch 12 kilometers deep into the Chang Dao Mountain (Doi Chiang Dao), and five of them are open to tourists. This is, in fact, the most important (but not the only) attraction of the small town of Chiang Dao in the north of Thailand in the province of Chiang Mai, which attracts tourists here. Looking ahead, let's say that you don't have to go and settle in Chiang Dao in order to visit the caves, but you can go here during the day from Chiang Mai, but more on that at the end of the article.
Chiang Dao Caves are not only a natural attraction, they also have great religious significance for the locals. There are countless Buddha statues in almost all the passages of the caves, and some caves are whole cave temples. One of the caves is illuminated with multicolored electric lamps.
The entrance to the caves costs 40 baht (electricity fee, because the cave is illuminated). For this money you will get access to one lighted, more or less equipped and quite long cave. Here you will see a variety of cave formations (stalactites, stalagmites), as well as hundreds of Buddha statues.
From the main cave, many more caves depart in different directions, access to which is prohibited without a guide for security reasons. There are many more interesting things hidden in them, such as streams and a lake with catfish, hot springs. You can hire a guide for a walk through the closed caves right here in the cave, from 200 baht. These are mostly elderly local women who are on duty at the entrances to additional caves. These caves are not illuminated, and the guides will illuminate your way with a lamp. Theoretically, it is possible to go through them on your own, no one prevents this, but still we do not recommend doing this.
The entrance to the caves is located on the territory of Wat Tham Chiang Dao Temple, which is also interesting and definitely worth a walk. You can read the review of the trip to the caves of Chiang Dao and the trip to Chiang Mai here. Read here.
🕐 Working hours
Around the clock.
💵Entrance fee / ticket price
The entrance to the caves is 40 baht (approximately 1.2 USD, see Thailand's currency and exchange rate). Accompanying the guide to the far deeper caves is an additional 200 baht per group (6 USD).
🚶 How to get there
The caves of Chiang Dao are located 6 kilometers from the center of Chiang Dao and 75 kilometers from the city of Chiang Mai (Chiang Dao Caves on the map). Songthaew minibuses go here from the center of Chiang Dao from the main street where the bus station is located, the cost is 200 baht, but irregularly, so it's better to count on renting a transport or taxi right away. You can rent a motorbike in Chiang Dao without any problems in hotels and state-owned houses from 300 baht, there are also bicycles for rent.
From Chiang Mai here it is quite realistic to go here in one day, at the same time along the way you can see many other interesting places. For example, you can visit the toll villages of long-necked tribes, visit waterfalls, Doi Suthep temple, underground temple and much more. See attractions of Chiang Mai province and a map with them here. You can also see interesting places in Chiang Dao itself, we told you about them here.
Friends, we remind you that it is much more interesting to get acquainted with the sights of Thailand with the help of excursions, and therefore we advise you to look at options with online booking and reviews on these excursion aggregators: