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A green meadow ringed by dense forest under a cloudy sky in Khao Yai National Park

Sample journey · 9–11 days

Isan: hornbill forest, Khmer stone and the banks of the Mekong

Khao Yai, Phimai, Phanom Rung & Khong Chiam

Photo: Nopparuj Lamaikul / Unsplash

Illustrative journey ideas — not bookable packages. No prices, dates or accommodation are implied.

Isan is the great north-eastern plateau, home to roughly a third of the country's people and yet a region most travellers fly straight over. There are few beaches and fewer crowds, but a great deal of what ties Thailand to its neighbours: Khmer temples built in the same centuries as Angkor and once linked to it by an ancient road, Lao language and music, sticky rice, fiery papaya salad and the grilled chicken the whole country calls Isan-style.

The journey begins in Khao Yai, Thailand's first national park and only a few hours from Bangkok, where deer often graze along the forest roads and gibbons and great hornbills move through the canopy. Then come the temples of Phimai and Phanom Rung, unhurried Ubon Ratchathani and a few days on the Mekong, where the river divides Thailand from Laos. It suits curious, well-travelled people: the stays are simpler than on the coast, the drives run two to four hours, and the reward is a country living at its own pace.

The route

The journey

  1. Bangkok
  2. Khao Yai National Park
  3. Phimai
  4. Phanom Rung & Muang Tam
  5. Ubon Ratchathani
  6. Khong Chiam & Pha Taem
  7. Ubon Ratchathani (fly out)
  1. A great hornbill with its yellow bill and casque perched in a tree in Khao Yai National Park

    01Days 1–4 · Bangkok & Khao Yai

    A forest where hornbills call

    After the flight, one quieter night in Bangkok, then about three hours north-east to Khao Yai the next morning. Two nights on the edge of the park let you see the forest when it is most alive: early in the morning we walk with a guide on trails where gibbon song drifts down from the canopy and great hornbills often feed in fruiting trees. Deer wander along the roads and wild elephants sometimes appear; we wait for them in the vehicle, at a respectful distance. In the afternoon, the Haew Suwat waterfall and viewpoints over a sea of forest; in the evening, the vineyards and farm kitchens of the Pak Chong valley, where Bangkok families come at weekends. In the wet season the forest has plenty of leeches, so leech socks are essential.

  2. 02Days 4–5 · Phimai

    A temple that faces Angkor

    From Khao Yai it's about two hours onto the Korat plateau and the small town of Phimai on the Mun River. Here stands one of the largest Khmer temples in Thailand, built around the turn of the 12th century and, unlike most, facing not east but south-east, towards where the ancient road from Angkor ended. It's best in the late afternoon, when the pale sandstone warms and the visitors have mostly gone: through the gateways, past the naga balustrades to the central tower, its carvings telling stories of both the Buddha and the Hindu gods. In the evening, the night market and a first proper Isan supper: sticky rice, grilled river fish and som tam, the papaya salad the cook will ask how hot to make. In the morning it's worth walking to Sai Ngam, a giant banyan whose roots have grown into a whole grove.

  3. 03Days 5–7 · Phanom Rung & Muang Tam

    A temple on the rim of a volcano

    About two and a half hours south, in Buriram province, two nights in the countryside among rice fields. Phanom Rung rises on the rim of an extinct volcano: a long processional avenue and three naga bridges lead up to a temple of pinkish sandstone, through whose fifteen doorways the sun shines straight through on a few days each year. Above one entrance is the celebrated lintel of the reclining Vishnu, returned to its place after many years abroad. Below in the valley lies Muang Tam, a quieter temple surrounded by ponds edged with naga, where early in the morning there are only birds and a few locals. On the second day, villages where silk is still woven by hand, and lunch with a family. Where possible, we meet weavers when they wish and when it suits them.

  4. The tall white tower of Wat Phra That Nong Bua, crowned with a gold spire, in Ubon Ratchathani

    04Days 7–8 · Ubon Ratchathani

    City temples and forest silence

    The longest day of the journey: about four hours east, with a stop for lunch along the way. Ubon Ratchathani is a calm provincial city on the Mun River, known for its summer Candle Festival, when huge carved wax sculptures process through the streets. One night here is enough for Wat Thung Si Muang, with its wooden scripture library on stilts in a pond, and Wat Phra That Nong Bua, whose white tower echoes the stupa at Bodh Gaya in India. If Thailand's forest-monk tradition interests you, Wat Nong Pa Phong, a monastery whose teacher drew students from around the world, is a short drive away. At monasteries we dress with shoulders and knees covered, and the quiet is less a rule than an invitation.

  5. 05Days 8–10 · Khong Chiam & Pha Taem

    Where the Mun meets the Mekong

    About an hour and a half east lies Khong Chiam, a small town where the brown Mekong and the darker Mun meet, and in some months the two-coloured water is plain to see. Two nights by the river: in the morning, a boat on the Mekong along the Lao shore; in the afternoon, Pha Taem National Park, where prehistoric paintings survive on a cliff face above the river: fish, figures and handprints thought to be around three thousand years old. In the dry season, when the water drops, it's worth driving to Sam Phan Bok, where the river has worn hundreds of hollows and channels into the rock over millennia. On the last day it's back to Ubon (about an hour and a half) and a domestic flight to Bangkok; with time in hand, sunrise from the Pha Taem cliffs first, often said to be among the earliest in Thailand.

Experience highlights

  1. 01

    Morning in the Khao Yai forest

    Gibbon song, the whoosh of hornbill wings and deer by the road, with a guide who knows where to look.

  2. 02

    Phanom Rung

    A pink sandstone temple on an extinct volcano, approached along a processional avenue and naga bridges.

  3. 03

    Isan cooking

    Sticky rice, som tam and grilled chicken at markets where locals eat.

  4. 04

    The Pha Taem cliffs

    Prehistoric paintings above the Mekong, looking across to the Lao shore.

First, we listen. Then, we explore what's possible.

Make it your own

  • At a slower pace

    A third night in Khao Yai and an extra one in Ubon split the longest day in two and leave time for monasteries and markets.

  • For nature lovers

    More days in Khao Yai with a birding guide and, in the dry season, an extension to Thap Lan or Pang Sida, national parks in the same forest complex as Khao Yai.

  • With a festival

    Ubon's Candle Festival falls in July, and the end of Buddhist Lent is celebrated along the Mekong, usually in October; we can time the journey around them, though stays then need booking well ahead.

  • With Laos or Cambodia

    From Ubon, southern Laos – Champasak and the Wat Phou temple – is close, and the Khmer temple story continues naturally in north-eastern Cambodia and at Angkor.

Practical considerations

  • The most comfortable time is the cooler dry season, roughly November to February. From March to May Isan can be very hot, and in the rainy season (roughly May to October) the Khao Yai forest is at its greenest but trails are slippery and full of leeches.
  • The journey is planned with a driver: distances are long and public transport between the temples is awkward. The longest day is from Buriram to Ubon.
  • Rules for Khao Yai's trails, stays and evening drives change from time to time, and some trails close; we never feed wildlife and keep our distance. We check everything before you travel.
  • The Mekong rises and falls a great deal through the year, so boat trips and rock formations depend on the season. We check domestic flights from Ubon to Bangkok and onward connections before you travel.

General guidance only. Seasons, weather and wildlife are never guaranteed, and travel requirements are always worth checking before you go.

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