Ban Nam Rat Headwaters

Ban Nam Rat Headwaters is a spring-fed swimming hole in the forest outside Khiri Rat Nikhom, Surat Thani, where a natural “spring eye” pushes crystal-clear water up through a sandy limestone bottom. Entry is 30 THB, open daily 09:00-17:00, with kayaking available on the pool for an extra 50-70 THB per person.

The pool itself is small — about a metre deep — and sits a short walk from the car park through forest, so this isn’t a hiking destination so much as a single, striking swimming spot. The water’s clarity comes from the sandy limestone bed beneath it, which keeps sediment from clouding the spring even with a steady flow of visitors. Locals and Thai social media users started calling it an “unseen” natural attraction a few years back, and the photos of glass-clear blue-green water pushed daily visitor numbers into four figures during peak weekends. Kayaks and rowers are available for hire on site if you’d rather paddle than swim.

Because the pool is genuinely small, the atmosphere shifts hard with the crowd size. Arrive at opening on a weekday and you may have the water close to yourself, with only birdsong and the sound of the spring itself; arrive on a Saturday afternoon in high season and it can feel more like a public pool than a forest spring. The surrounding tree cover keeps the immediate area shaded and noticeably cooler than the open road in.

Insider Tip: Visit between February and April, first thing in the morning. The dry-season months keep the spring water at its clearest, and an early start beats both the heat and the day-trip crowds that build through late morning.

Watch out: The pool’s popularity means parking and crowd control at the village lot can get tight on weekends and holidays — go on a weekday if your schedule allows it, and don’t expect a quiet, undiscovered spot at midday in high season.

Getting there requires your own transport: from Surat Thani city, follow Highway 401 toward Khiri Rat Nikhom district (about 70 km), then a further 14 km to Ban Thamniap and Ban Nam Rat village, followed by a roughly 300-metre walk from the car park to the pool. Bring a change of clothes, water shoes for the limestone bed, and cash for the entry, parking, and kayak fees — card payment isn’t a given this far out. If you want more water-based stops nearby, Namtok Vibhavadi and Nam Sai Canal are both within the same corner of inland Surat Thani.