Phetchabun

Introduction

Most people classify Phetchabun Province as being in the North of Thailand, but it actually sits right between the North, Central, and Northeastern regions of the country. This makes it an interesting place to visit, but a difficult one to get to. From all the major routes out from Bangkok, you have to take a side track to get here (though there is direct bus service). Partly because of this, there are very few foreign tourists who come here which for more adventurous travelers is a good thing. Phetchabun is popular with Thai tourists as it’s one of the closest areas to Bangkok with high mountains that offer a cool climate to escape the normally stifling heat.

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Recommended for

• Anyone looking for a cool weather escape
• Independent travelers who like to get off the beaten path
• People interested in military history

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Getting there

By bus – There is frequent bus service to Phetchabun from Mochit Northern Bus Terminal in Bangkok. The ride should take four to five hours and cost a bit under 300 Baht.

By plane –
Check flight availability before planning to use Phetchabun airport. You can fly to Phitsanulok airport and come here by car or taxi. If you are visiting Khao Kho, check whether Nok Air offers a combined plane and minibus ticket for your dates before relying on the connection.

By train – There is no train service to Phetchabun. You could use the Northern Line to Phitsanulok, though this wouldn’t be a convenient way to come here. It could be a nice adventure.

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Where to stay

We find our accommodation on Booking.com by first searching for the town or province and our dates, we then filter out any rooms with a score lower than 7 or 8 (depending on availability) as well as any rooms out of our budget. After this, we open the map and hover over all of the pins in the rough location we already decided we want to stay in. Hovering over the pins gives us the price for x nights plus the review score. We click on each pin to open those hotels in a new tab, review them and book our favorite.

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Getting around

In Phetchabun City, motorbike taxis and tuk-tuks are available near the market and at the bus station. Ask your hotel about arranging a taxi or private car and driver, and check local rental options before counting on hiring a motorbike.

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What to do

Khao Kho – The mountainous area of Khao Kho is the highlight of Phetchabun tourism. Check out our Khao Kho travel guide for more information.

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Fitness & gym

Phetchabun town has a few gyms. This gym is decent and has a 70 Baht day rate. No aircon but enough fans.

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Getting out

From Phetchabun it’s just a small hop into any of the three surrounding regions.

Loei – Head north into beautiful Loei Province for some of Thailand’s best national parks and trekking.

Phitsanulok – Travel west to Phitsanulok, a transportation hub for lower-northern Thailand and a great jumping off point to visit historical Sukhothai.

Saraburi & Lopburi – Head south back toward Bangkok and stop off Saraburi for limestone mountains and Thailand’s hidden rock climbing mecca, or hang with the monkeys in historic Lopburi.

When to go

Most of Thailand falls in to the generic high and low season categories, including Phetchabun.

High season - begins in November and runs through to February, bringing cooler temperatures, lush greenery from the previous months of rain, good air quality, and less rain. The downside is larger crowds and sometimes higher prices for tours, flights and accomodation.

Low season - begins in July and runs through to October. During low season the temperatures are higher, the chance of rain and storms are higher. That doesn't mean it's a bad time to visit though, if you can be flexible, there are deals to be found on flights and accomodation.

Destinations like Phetchabun in both northern and north eastern regions can be significantly cooler during the high/cool season than central and southern provinces like Bangkok or Phuket. It's a welcome and noticable change in season which may require a wardrobe change, especially at night.

Need more? Read our post discussing the best time to visit Thailand.

Where to stay

Instead of recommending hotels, we think it will be more useful to share our process so you can pick based on your own critera for location, budget and style.

We always start our search on either Booking.com or Agoda. They have an easy to user interface and have some extra benefits for "Genius" and "VIP" users. You can also sometimes pay with credit card in advance if you're playing the cashback or air miles game.

Process:

1. Search for specific province, city or town.
2. Apply rating filters for a minimum rating or either 7, 8 or 9.
3. Apply other filters: budget, fitness, breakfast, etc.
4. If you have a specific location in mind, use map view to browse and make a final selection.

If there are too many properties available to choose from, increase the rating filter for less, higher rated selections.

Final notes: Prices are dynamic. Check the same hotel on both Booking.com and Agoda to see which has the best deal at any given time (go through to checkout to make sure all VAT and service charges are factored in). You can go one step further by calling the hotel and checking the price for booking directly. In our experience this saves money 50% of the time but you have less guarantees.