Ban Wat Chan Pine Forest

Ban Wat Chan Pine Forest sits roughly 150 km from Chiang Mai city in Galyani Vadhana district, high enough — around 1,000 metres above sea level — that it’s one of the few places in Thailand where native two-leaf and three-leaf pines grow naturally rather than as a plantation. The Forest Industry Organization (FIO) manages a working pine forest here, tapping resin traditionally used to treat the strings of the saw, a Thai bowed instrument, and as a drying agent mixed into paint — the same agency runs a similar plantation at Doiboluang elsewhere in Chiang Mai province.

The forest is also a Karen community area. A royal project introduced chicken farming decades ago so villagers wouldn’t need to keep tapping pine sap for income, which has helped the forest stay intact. The Karen families here — locally the Mu Se Khi — hang a newborn’s umbilical cord in a bamboo container on a healthy tree in a set-aside part of the forest; the child’s life is considered bound to that tree, so it’s never felled. It’s a genuine, still-practised custom rather than a staged photo-op, so treat any forest walk here as a visit to someone’s home ground, not a tourist trail.

Cool air and low humidity are the other reason to come — daytime temperatures run noticeably lower than the Chiang Mai valley, especially in the cool season (November-February) when morning mist settles over the pines. Cycling and gentle walking trails run through the forest, and FIO operates simple bungalow accommodation on site for anyone wanting to stay overnight rather than day-trip.

Insider Tip: Book FIO bungalows well ahead for cool-season weekends — rooms fill fast and there’s no casual walk-up option this far from town.

Watch out: The roads in are genuinely remote. Both the Highway 1095 route from Mae Malai and the back route through Samoeng include stretches of rough or unpaved road, even where sections have been resurfaced in recent years — a vehicle with good ground clearance is worth having, and check conditions before setting out in the rainy season.

Getting there by car takes the Mae Malai-Pai highway (Route 1095) with a turn onto the Wat Chan access road, or the longer, more scenic back route via Samoeng. A local songthaew also runs from Chang Phueak Road in Chiang Mai city on a limited schedule, taking around four hours.