Namtok Phlio National Park

Namtok Phlio is the waterfall King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) rated above every other he’d seen in Penang, Koh Chang and Chumphon — reason enough that he commissioned two royal monuments on the site, both still standing in Chanthaburi province today. The national park built around it opened in 1975 as Thailand’s 11th, and the water still runs clear year-round over a sandy-loam bed 14 kilometres from Chanthaburi town.

The main cascade drops over moss-covered rock into pools clear enough to see straight to the bottom, home to protected pla phluang hin (stone-sucking carp) that gather in numbers visible from the bank. On the cliff above sits the Alongkorn Chedi, a stone stupa King Rama V had built in 1876 to mark his visits. A short walk further is the pyramid-shaped Sunantha Monument, raised in 1881 for Queen Sunandha Kumariratana, his consort who drowned in a boat accident the year before — one of the more poignant royal memorials outside Bangkok, and rarely mentioned by name in older write-ups of the park. Beyond the main falls, the Namtok Khlong Narai cascade sits further into the park for anyone extending the walk.

The forest around the falls covers Sa Bap mountain range terrain, part of a 134.5-square-kilometre park spanning 20 to 924 metres in elevation — enough range that wild boar, serow and black bear still turn up in the interior, though visitors mostly encounter tree shrews and mongoose near the trails. The sound of the cascade carries a fair distance into the surrounding forest, and the crowds thin noticeably on weekday mornings. If you want more waterfall without the royal history, Namtok Khao Soi Dao and Khao Khitchakut National Park are both a further drive into Chanthaburi’s interior.

Watch out: The fish in the main pool are protected — resist the temptation to touch or feed them, and don’t wear sunscreen or insect repellent into the water, since both wash off onto the fish.

Getting here from Chanthaburi town takes about 20 minutes: follow Sukhumvit Road on the Chanthaburi-Khlung route to the Km 346 turn-off, then 2 kilometres to the gate, or flag a Chanthaburi-Khlung or Chanthaburi-Laem Sing songthaew and ask for the park entrance. The park runs four guesthouses and a campsite for anyone wanting to stay past closing time.