Khao Kho National Park

Khao Kho National Park is a real gazetted national park — Thailand’s 125th, established in 2012 — spanning 483 sq km across Khao Kho, Lom Sak, Lom Kao and Mueang Phetchabun districts. It’s easy to confuse with “Khao Kho” the tourist area: the hilltop resorts, cafes and viewpoints that draw weekend crowds from Bangkok sit on the same highland plateau, and several sit inside or right against the park boundary. Entry to the park costs 100 THB for foreign adults, 50 THB for children, and 20/10 THB for Thai nationals.

The terrain climbs from around 155 metres up to Khao Kha, the park’s highest peak at roughly 1,305 metres — noticeably higher than Khao Kho’s own summit at about 1,143 metres, the hill the park and district are named after. That elevation is what makes the area cold enough for a genuine highland climate: temperatures drop into single digits Celsius on winter nights, unusual for Thailand outside its far north. Pine stands and montane forest cover much of the park, with the sea-of-mist views that fill valleys at dawn being the main draw for the cool season.

Watch out: Don’t come expecting untouched wilderness. This is one of the more commercialised national park areas in the country — resorts, strawberry farms, coffee shops and a 24-turbine wind farm share the hills with the protected forest. It’s a highland scenery trip, not a backcountry one.

Within the park’s wider area, Namtok Than Thip Forest Park gives a multi-tiered waterfall near Lom Sak, while the Khao Kho Sacrificial Monument marks the site’s history as a Communist insurgency battleground in the 1970s-80s — a big part of why the area was later developed rather than left as pure wilderness. The Khao Kho Upland Agricultural Experiment Station grows temperate fruit and flowers that don’t survive lowland Thailand’s heat.

Insider Tip: Aim for a weekday visit if you want the sea-of-mist viewpoints without a crowd — this is one of Phetchabun’s most-visited weekend spots for Bangkok day-trippers and can jam up on Saturday mornings.

Bring warm layers regardless of season — even the hot months turn cold after dark at this elevation — and expect a highland resort-town atmosphere alongside the natural scenery, not an isolated escape.