How to Visit Erawan Waterfall on a Day Trip in 2024

If you ever find yourself in Kanchanaburi (or Bangkok for that matter), then do yourself a favor and hop on a bus to Thailand’s incredible Erawan Waterfall.

It’s considered to be one of Thailand’s best natural landmarks, and it’s an absolute must-visit for anyone in the area. Erawan Waterfall has gained popularity because of its 7 different tiers, which you can visit one by one if you go on a sweaty hike through the lush jungle of Thailand.

Even though the falls are hidden within the jungle of Erawan National Park, it’s actually fairly easy to get there on a day trip either by yourself or with a tour group from either Kanchanaburi or Bangkok.

In this guide, we want to tell you everything we know about visiting Erawan Waterfall on a day trip from Kanchanaburi. We’re going to share information about the opening hours and entrance fees, how to get there from Kanchanaburi/Bangkok with bus, with motorbike or with a tour group, and we’ll share our own experience hiking and swimming in Erawan Waterfall.

So once you’re done reading this travel guide, you’re hopefully prepared to visit this beautiful waterfall.

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About Erawan Waterfall in Thailand

Erawan Waterfall is located in Erawan National Park, which is about an hour Northwest of Kanchanaburi in Thailand. It’s a beautiful waterfall that consists of 7 different tiers (or levels) of falls. Each tier has a clear, blue emerald pool and is located within the green, lush jungle of Thailand.

When referring to Erawan falls, you refer to all 7 tiers at once, yet each tier actually has its own name.

The name “Erawan” refers to a 3-headed elephant in the Hindu mythology. Since we’re not experts on this particular subject, we can’t really tell you more about the name and history of Erawan.

But what we can tell you about Erawan Waterfall is all the practical information that you need to know in order to visit yourself such as how to get there, opening hours, entrance fee, and what to bring.

How to get to Erawan National Park

There are several ways to get to Erawan Waterfall, you can either hop on the local bus, rent a motorbike and drive yourself, or pay for a group tour to the Park. Let’s dive into the different options.

Kanchanaburi to Erawan Waterfall by bus

Going with bus from Kanchanaburi is the cheapest way to get to Erawan Falls.

The bus costs 60 Baht for a one-way ticket per person, although the prices may have gone slightly up since we took this bus. You of course want to get back home, so expect to pay at least 120+ Baht to take the local bus from Kanchanaburi to and from Erawan Waterfall.

Just head to Kanchanaburi bus station 10 minutes before the bus is supposed to leave. Once you get to the bus station, then ask around for the bus from Kanchanaburi to Erawan Waterfall. When you find the bus, you can buy your ticket at the little counter next to the bus.

The bus only leaves once an hour, so make sure to be there on time. Ask your accommodation in Kanchanaburi – maybe they will know the updated times for the public bus.

The bus takes around 1-1,5 hour and once the bus reaches Erawan National Park, you pay the entrance fee. Super easy and pretty affordable.

The only downside to taking the public bus from Kanchanaburi to Erawan falls is that it gets very crammed, and I got motion sickness on the way. But I always do, so it doesn’t mean you will get motion sickness too. If you’re prone to motion sickness, then come to the bus station a bit earlier and get yourself a window seat.

Kanchanaburi to Erawan Waterfall by motorbike

This option is for the more adventurous traveler!

You can easily visit Erawan Falls by driving yourself on a motorbike or scooter.

The road is pretty straightforward, so you really can’t get lost. There are about 68 kilometers from Kanchanaburi to Erawan National Park, so it’s definitely a doable day trip on a motorbike.

We always love to rent motorbikes and go explore because it allows us to stop whenever we want.

The only downside to going by motorbike to Erawan Waterfall is that renting a motorbike is more expensive than taking the bus, and you have to pay for parking as well. But if you feel confident on a motorbike, and you plan to do some stops on the way, then we definitely encourage you to rent two wheels and get going!

Day tour to Erawan Falls from Kanchanaburi or Bangkok

The easiest, quickest, and least hassle-free way to get to Erawan Waterfall is to pay for a tour from either Kanchanaburi or Bangkok. Upon doing some research, we found that these tour operators are reliable and have the best ratings:

The only downside to doing a tour is that it’s often the most expensive option, and you have to follow a time table, which equals less freedom to do as you please.

But if you find yourself in Bangkok, and you’re limited on time, then a day tour might be the right option for you. But we do recommend you to stay a few nights in Kanchanaburi if your itinerary in Thailand allows it. We thinks it’s hard not to fall in love with Kanchanaburi.

Erawan Waterfall opening hours 2024

The official opening hours to Erawan Waterfall states that it’s open every day from 8 AM – 4:30 PM. Yet, the forest rangers start to close down the area before 4:30 PM, so you might want to come earlier in the afternoon.

Erawan Waterfall entrance fee 2024

The entrance fee to Erawan National Park, and therefore the waterfall, depends on whether you’re a foreign visitor, a local Thai or a child.

Check out the Erawan National Park entrance fees of 2024 in the table below:

Entrance Fee & Parking Fee	Prices 2024
Foreign adult	300 Baht
Foreign child	200 Baht
Thai adult	100 Baht
Thai child	50 Baht
Motorbike parking	20 Baht
Car parking	30 Baht

What to bring to Erawan Falls

Here is a list of important things to bring before you can enjoy your day trip to Erawan:

• Bring mosquito repellent: Or else those bloodsuckers will eat you alive. Remember you are in a jungle.
• Wear appropriate shoes: Great idea if you intend to do the hike to the top tier of Erawan Waterfall. It’s doable in flip-flops but it does get muddy along the way. Even with hiking shoes, Glenn managed to slip and step right into one of the pools. Yes, I laughed, and yes he started cursing.
• Don’t bring plastic bottles: You’re simply not allowed to bring plastic bottles into Erawan National Park or else you have to put down a deposit for it. We actually love this initiative because it means that people won’t leave plastic behind in the jungle. So just fill a personal reusable water bottle with water before the trip.
• Don’t bring food: We didn’t see any monkeys, but apparently they are vicious and steal your food. So you’re not allowed to bring food into the jungle. There are places to eat in the first part of Erawan falls if you should get hungry. Read my this post which includes monkey safety tips: Walking the Monkey trail in Ao Nang Krabi.

Hiking to the top of Erawan Waterfall

There is always something exciting about visiting a waterfall. Why do we love falling water so much?! Maybe it’s the mesmerizing sound of the water that makes us feel calm or maybe it’s the beautiful sight of it?

The great thing about Erawan Waterfall is that you can get to see 7 falls in just one day, which means that you get to be mesmerized by falling water 7 times. How great is that?! All it requires is a short hike.

In this section, you’ll find the distance, hike time, and difficulty of the Erawan Waterfall hike in case you want to do the hike yourself. We’ll also share a few comments about our own hiking experience, so you know what to expect.

Erawan Falls Trail: Hike time, distance & difficulty

If you want to hike to the top of Erawan Waterfall, then expect to spend around 1,5 hours on the trail. The distance from the visitor centre to the last tier is about 2,5 km, which means that the total hike has a distance of 5 km.

It’s an easy day hike that most people can do, yet towards the end, you have to climb past some big boulders. So you need a good fitness level in order to get past the rocks and reach the top.

What to expect on the Erawan Waterfall hike

Hiking to all 7 tiers can be quite the challenge, but it’s definitely doable. We were struggling a bit during the hike, but we saw small children who also made it to the last tier, so maybe we’re just in a bad shape from drinking too many Chang beers? Just a theory.

From the beginning, we were determined to make it all the way to the last tier at the top. We don’t call ourselves Worldwide Walkers for nothing, so we simply had to do the hike before we could really appreciate the blue pools.

And in all honesty, the hike was both amazing and awful at once.

So which part should we explain first?

Let’s go with the amazing part of the hike.

What we loved most about the hike was the obvious beauty of the jungle that you’re immersed in. Following the stream and finding waterfall after waterfall while venturing deeper into Erawan’s jungle was just incredible. It’s without a doubt one of the best jungle hikes we’ve ever done.

The only reason why it’s also an awful hike is because at this point, we had only been in Southeast Asia for a couple of days, so we hadn’t acclimatized to the humidity yet. As you can imagine, it’s very hot and humid to hike in the jungle.

We were literally dripping sweat during the whole hike.

Also, we were determined to make it all the way to the last tier because somehow we imagined it would be the best one.

But we actually found that the last tier was the most disappointing one, and it was full of people. We still wonder how small kids could be up there when there was literally a part of the hike where you had to climb over big boulders.

Our best advice is that if you want the Erawan Waterfall Trail, then you should do the hike early in the morning. That way, it will be less sweaty, less crowded, and you get to experience the jungle waking up.

What to expect swimming in Erawan Falls

On the way back from the last tier, we decided to finally take a well-deserved dip after the sweaty jungle hike.

I happily jumped in. But it only took me 2 seconds to jump out again. Something was off.

If you were a fly on the wall, you would have seen me scream and kick the water. Basically, I was acting like a complete lunatic while swimming in the waterfall.

I’m normally the quiet type. I absolutely hate it when people are screaming and acting out – especially in a beautiful and quiet nature setting… But right now it was my time to be loud. And this is what happened.

Some small little fishies were nipping at my toes!

Actually, some of them were quite large between 20-30 cm long. Yikes!

So apparently you can find the eat-dead-skin-fish, also called Garra Rufa, in Erawan Waterfall. It’s the same fish they use in the dreaded fish spas, only these fish were at least 10 times bigger.

I’ve personally never wanted to visit a fish spa, I just find the whole ordeal super bizarre and weird. Plus, I’m so ticklish when it comes to my feet, and I just wouldn’t be able to sit still while being eaten alive.

Anyways, I was quickly out of the water, whereas Glenn actually seemed to enjoy it. He got himself a free pedicure from nature, who would have thought?!

Sometimes I really wish I was more like him. But I draw the line when fish are eating off of me.

So prepare yourself for the spa fish in the Erawan Waterfall. They are not present in all of the falls, so don’t worry if you’re like me. However, if you’re more like Glenn, then you can look forward to a free pedicure on your day trip to Erawan Falls.

Last comments on our day trip to Erawan Waterfall

We definitely recommend you to visit Erawan waterfall – it’s like the perfect day trip from Kanchanaburi. If you have never heard of Kanchanaburi before, then please look it up. It’s a laid-back town, which is only a few hours west of Bangkok.

It only takes you about an hour to get to Erawan Waterfall from Kanchanaburi. It’s fairly easy to get there, and the entrance fee is not too expensive compared to what you get out of the day.

You should really visit Erawan Falls if you’re ever in the region. It’s truly one of mother nature’s incredible wonders.

We hope to be back someday. Maybe then I’ll be brave enough to dip my toes into one of the fish-falls.

Next time, I will definitely focus more on relaxing next to the waterfalls and not be hiking, sweating and screaming my way through the jungle. Nobody wants to see or listen to that anyways.

But that’s what’s so great about this day trip!

You can hike, swim, relax, enjoy the jungle, look for wildlife – you name it! There is something for every kind of traveler by Erawan Waterfall, it’s honestly an amazing place in Thailand.

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We hope you enjoyed this blog post about Erawan Waterfall in Thailand. As you can see, it’s a pretty cool nature place, and to this day it still remains one of our favorite falls in the world.

If you have any questions, then don’t hesitate to leave a comment below, and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.

Thanks for reading and happy travels!

Crazy about Thailand? Check out:

• The best beaches in Koh Tao
• Sunset at Wat Saket in Bangkok
• The Monkey Trail in Ao Nang