Phraya Nakhon Cave in Hua Hin
Thai translation: ถ้ำพระยานคร
Phraya Nakhon Cave is a half day from Hua Hin: about an hour's drive to Bang Pu beach, a 15-minute walk round the headland, then 30-45 minutes of stairs up to a cave with a hole in its roof and a royal pavilion sitting under it. It's the most popular thing in Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park and most people come for this and skip the rest. We'd do it, in the morning, and walk rather than pay for the boat.
Note: Check out our Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park itinerary for the rest of the park, including the Khao Daeng boat trip and the marsh.
How to get there from Hua Hin
The first step is to get to Bang Pu Beach (หาดบางปู). It's about 50 km (1 hour) south of Hua Hin town, and you park here. The car park has restaurants and cold drinks, and a beach that's fine for a photo. You'll be on a nicer one soon.
Driving yourself - the easiest option. Follow Phetkasem Road (Highway 4) south out of Hua Hin and turn off for Sam Roi Yot and Bang Pu; it's signposted for the national park.
Taxi - other people have paid around 1,500 baht for the return trip from Hua Hin, with the driver waiting in the car park. Agree the price and the waiting time before you set off.
Tours - hotels and agents in Hua Hin sell half-day trips. Ask what time the tour gets you to the beach. If it's late morning, you'll be climbing in the heat and arriving after the best light.
Entrance fee and the boat
Because it's a national park, foreigners pay 200 baht to enter, and Thai nationals pay 40 baht (100 baht and 20 baht for children). The ticket is good for the whole park for that day, so if you're doing the itinerary above you only pay once. The ticket office at Bang Pu opens at 8 am.
Then you have to decide: boat or walk. The boat is 400 baht per boat (up to six people) for a 5-minute trip round the cliff to Laem Sala Beach (หาดแหลมศาลา), and you'll get your feet and ankles wet getting in and out. The walk over the headland takes about 15 minutes and has some nice views. The rangers will tell you the walk takes two to three hours; that's only true if you count the whole climb to the cave, which you do either way. It really seems like the rangers get a cut of the boat fees.
We took the boat there and walked back. Walk both ways.
The climb
Laem Sala Beach has a small restaurant selling water and mosquito spray if you didn't bring your own, and free toilets. You will need water. The trail starts about 100 metres back from the beach and climbs 430 metres to the cave mouth.
Time - 30 to 45 minutes depending on your fitness. It's primarily walking straight up stairs, and it gets very hot.
The path - a lot of limestone, some of it sharp, some of it worn down to the point of being slippery. You need to be in decent shape to do it without a lot of breaks. Wear proper shoes, not flip-flops.
Guides - there are small children at the beach offering to be your guide. That's your choice, but you absolutely do not need one. The path is very easy to follow up and down, and if you stay on it, it's almost impossible to get lost.
Inside the cave
There are two chambers, and both have open roofs with their own mini jungle growing in the light. The big one is massive. In the middle of it, on a mound, sits the Kuha Karuhas pavilion: four gables, red and gold, built by craftsmen in Bangkok in 1890 and carried up here for a visit by King Rama V. He came to the cave several times and signed the wall; Rama VII's initials are up there too. The pavilion is on the Prachuap Khiri Khan provincial seal, so you'll have seen it before you get here.
The second chamber is the one most people skip. It has the stalactites and stalagmites, and far fewer people.
Note: The cave is named after Phraya Nakhon, a governor of Nakhon Si Thammarat who sheltered here from a storm around 200 years ago. The brick well near the entrance is supposed to be his.
When to go
Go in the morning. The shafts of sunlight that make the photos come through the roof between about 9 am and noon, and it takes at least 45 minutes to get from the car park to the cave, so be at the ticket office by 8:30 if you can. Later than that and you're climbing in the worst of the heat and sharing the pavilion with everyone who came on a tour.
The park is open year-round and there's no bad season. The cool months from November to February make the climb easier. In the rainy season (mid-May to October) you'll probably get some rain, but we almost never advise against travelling in Thailand because of it.
The honest downside: you pay 200 baht to walk up a hot staircase, and by late morning the cave is busy. Go early and it's one of the best things on this stretch of coast.
Google Map: Open Map