Pa Hin Ngam National Park

Pa Hin Ngam, a national park of about a hundred square kilometres since 1994, has two features and they operate on completely different schedules. The rock field, which gives the park its name - beautiful stone forest - is a set of weathered sandstone formations on the plateau, standing year-round, with named shapes and a cliff viewpoint at Sut Phaendin, end of the land, 846 metres up on the watershed between the Chao Phraya and the Mekong, looking west over the plain. The other is Thung Dok Krachiao, a meadow where dok krachiao, the Siam tulip - actually a Curcuma, a ginger relative rather than a tulip - flowers pink across the open grassland after the rains begin, from around late June into mid-August. That bloom is the reason the park has a season at all, and the crowds and shuttle system exist for it. Outside those weeks the meadow is plain grass. Rain is likely during the flowering, since the flowers depend on it, and the trails are muddy.

What's there

• The Siam tulip meadow - pink flowering across the grassland, late June to mid-August.
• The stone field - weathered sandstone formations standing year-round.
• Sut Phaendin - the cliff viewpoint west over the plain.
• The shuttle system - run to manage the flowering-season crowds.

When to go

Late June to mid-August for the flowers, which is the whole point and coincides with the rains. Outside that the meadow is empty grass and only the rock field remains.

Good to know

The flowering window is short and wet - expect rain and mud. Crowded in season with a shuttle and queues. Outside the bloom there is comparatively little. The plant is a Curcuma, not a tulip.

Nearby

Mo Hin Khao is north in the same province; Nakhon Ratchasima is south-east.

Key facts