Rope Bridge, Heart-Shaped Mountain and Ban Thepphithak Community

A 120-metre steel-cable suspension bridge crosses a forest stream behind Wat Khao Phang in Ban Ta Khun district, Surat Thani, framing a view of Khao Thepphithak — a peak whose silhouette reads unmistakably as a heart shape from the bridge’s midpoint. Crossing is free daily from around 06:00 to 18:00; the temple charges 20 THB to park a car on its grounds.

The bridge itself is simple engineering: wooden planks on a steel frame, hung from large cables anchored to concrete posts, rated for 20 to 30 people at once. It sways gently underfoot in the way any pedestrian suspension bridge does, which is part of the appeal rather than a real hazard — the drop below is a shallow, tree-lined stream, not a gorge. Locals visit as much for the photo op as the crossing itself: stand at the centre of the span, face toward Khao Thepphithak, and the mountain’s twin-peaked profile lines up into the heart shape that gives the site its name and its steady stream of couples and social-media visitors.

Beyond the far end of the bridge, the Ban Khao Thepphithak community enterprise runs a durian orchard that opens to visitors mainly in season, typically June through August, when you can walk the grounds and sample fruit straight from the trees. Outside those months the orchard side is quieter, and most visitors simply cross the bridge, take photographs, and move on. The whole site sits close to the entrance road for Rajjaprabha Dam (also called Chiao Lan Dam), so it works well as a short stop on the way to or from the dam and its floating bungalow tours on the reservoir behind it.

Insider Tip: Arrive soon after the 06:00 opening — the light is softer for photographing the mountain, the temperature is bearable for the walk in from the car park, and you’ll likely have the bridge to yourself before day-trip groups heading to Rajjaprabha Dam start arriving.

Watch out: This is a simple community-run bridge, not a theme-park attraction — there’s no staffed safety monitor limiting how many people cross at once, so use your own judgment about crowding on the span, and keep a hand on the rail if the boards feel slick after rain.

The bridge sits within the wider Khao Sok area alongside Khao Sok National Park and Rajjaprabha Dam and the Chiao Lan Reservoir, both worth combining with a stop here since they share the same access road out of Ban Ta Khun.