Star and Moon Cave

Tham Duean Tham Dao — sold to English-speaking visitors as Star and Moon Cave — is a roughly 1.4 km resurgence cave with an underground river, tucked into the western edge of Thung Salaeng Luang National Park near Ban Mung in Noen Maprang district, Phitsanulok province. It’s free to enter and reachable only in the dry season, when the water level drops enough to make the passage safe.

The Thai name pairs two words for cave with duean (moon) and dao (star) — a naming style used across linked Thai cave systems, not a literal claim about star- or moon-shaped chambers. What’s actually inside is a limestone passage carved by the river that still runs through it, decorated with stalactites and stalagmites built up over a long stretch of geological time. A small ranger station sits east of Ban Mung and marks the practical starting point for a visit.

Insider Tip: bring your own torch and don’t attempt the interior without a local guide — the ranger station area has limited signage, and river crossings inside the cave aren’t something to navigate blind. The approach road off Highway 1115 turns unpaved for the final stretch, so a car with decent clearance (or a local driver who knows the route) beats trying it in a low-slung rental. At roughly 85 km from Phitsanulok town via Highways 12, 11, and 1115, this is a half-day trip in its own right rather than a stop you tack onto a temple circuit — pair it with the wider Thung Salaeng Luang National Park if you’re already out that way for the park’s grasslands and pine forest.