Stand on the highest ground in Thailand
2,565 metres, and often frozen
Doi Inthanon rises to 2,565 metres in Chom Thong, about 70 km southwest of the city. The summit is reachable by road, which makes the highest ground in Thailand something you can simply stand on.
Why it's unique
It is the highest point in the country, and unlike most national high points it asks nothing of you: a sealed road goes to the top.
The summit itself is deliberately underwhelming and that is worth knowing in advance. It sits in permanent cloud forest, thick with moss and epiphytes, and there is no panorama. The view people photograph belongs to the twin chedis five kilometres downhill, Naphamethanidon and Naphaphon Phumisiri, raised in 1987 and 1992 for the sixtieth birthdays of King Bhumibol and Queen Sirikit.
Before you go
Leave the city by 6am. The mountain generates its own cloud through the morning and by ten the chedis are usually inside it.
Bring an actual jacket. It runs about 15C colder than the valley, and it is the one place in Thailand that records frost, which local visitors drive up specifically to see.
There is a national park fee at the gate, separate from anything a tour has charged you.