Wear good shoes, your bathing suit, and some good insect repelent. I hiked all the way up the top and was very tired but knew it was well worth it for the view. Plus, when I got hot I would take a break and hop in the water. Speaking for water, the park is very good about trying to stop littering so they will not allow you to bring water bottles as you hike. If you really need the water then I would suggest that you hide it in your backpack before you start the climb up the footpath.

*If you are a student bring your id because you will get a discount into the park. The prices have gone up and it is worth the savings.*

The falls were gorgeous! Like nothing I’ve even seen. Crystal clear water that was an unreal aquamarine color. The falls actually consisted of about 100 waterfalls in all, but their were 7 main tiers spread out over maybe one mile, maybe more. Each tier was unique and beautiful. You could swim in the pools under all the falls except for the 6th tier. We hiked up to the 7th tier to swim. The hike took about an hour, since we stopped at each tier to look and take pictures. Since we had gotten an early start, we had the 7th falls pretty much to ourselves, at least for a while. You should definitely keep an eye out for the schools of carp while you are swimming, as they like to nibble on swimmers. They are kind of a "cleaner" fish, and like to clean dead skin off people. Scary if you don’t know ahead of time that it might happen.

After swimming for a while, someone in our group pointed out that there were some monkeys coming down from the jungle above the 7th falls, where there is no trail or people. We watched 3 or 4 monkeys come down, then they just kept coming! There ended up being approximately 25 monkeys, including many babies and one that looked like a leader. At first I was disappointed that they were coming down, because I thought that they were associating us with being fed. But when they got down closer, they kept their distance from us. They were primarily interested in the large quantity of fruit hanging from some trees near us. They had a feast while we watched, and to my delight, everyone watching kept away from them, only took pictures, and did not try to feed them. I heard that later, one rude man tried to walk closer and the result was that all of the monkeys left. Bad man! He ruined the fun for everyone. I hope these monkeys stay wild – so far, so good. There are signs up in the park about a large fine for feeding monkeys, but we never saw a park employee on the trails, only at the entrance, so I don’t know how the rule is enforced.

While definitely a tourist attraction, Erawan Falls is worth a visit. It is nature at it’s best.