Chiang Dao Cave

I really enjoyed our trip to Chaing Dao cave, even though it was certainly geared towards the tourists it was still incredibly interesting.The whole temple complex was nice, apart from the Spanish flamenco music being blasted out of the speakers...The cave itself was great though, you have to pay 40THB to get in to walk the electrically lit part of the cave, which provided you are reasonably fit to climb 50 steps you will manage perfectly fine and you get to explore the caves reasonably well without having to venture deeper. For those more adventurous there is the option of having a paraffin gas lamp tour by one of the local villagers, which has you crawling through gaps 2 - 3 feet wide, this cost 100THB and there is a sign when you pay your money asking for a 100THB tip (according to the sign that is the norm) So, just call it 200 THB. We did enjoy our tour though and the benefit is that the guide explains the name of the different rock formations, she knows the way around so you don't get lost and she's holding a lamp!! believe me where you go there isn't any electric at all, it is absolutely pitch black, which brings me to the other piece of advice head the signs advice do not!! go walking around on your own!! it is a maze of tunnels if you get lost that's it.We did walk down to the reclined buddha statue, which is electrically lit however, once we had done the lamp tour, there wasn't anything particularly special about the walk down. So, that isn't necessary if your not too fussed walking a further 500m down.

We went into the caves, and were immediately stopped by a lady telling us we couldn't go any further unless we paid for a guide. It is very well lit down the one passage, and everyone else was just walking past. We ended up saying no thanks, and walked down the lit tunnel. It was our understanding that you only needed a guide if you wanted to go down the side that was not lit. The part of the caves that are lit are very interesting, and there are many different formations to see. We chose not to go down the unlit side as neither of us like spiders, and we felt we had seen enough already. It is worth the 40 baht, but we felt there was much more to Chiang Dao. These caves are often presented as the main attraction, but the views and country side are much more impressive.

In summer 2010 out gang just would like to check out North and one of my frind mentioned this. then we went to thes cave...the bgining was very good then we found it humorous that they have strung lighting and cameras everywhere and they conveniently have left a section of the cave unlit so that you have to pay for the guides. Overall it was ok

“I really enjoyed our trip to Chiang Dao cave, even though it was certainly geared towards the tourists it was still incredibly interesting. The whole temple complex was nice, apart from the Spanish flamenco music being blasted out of the speakers... The cave itself was great though, you have to pay 40THB to get in to walk the electrically lit part of the cave, which provided you are reasonably fit to climb 50 steps you will manage perfectly fine and you get to explore the caves reasonably well without having to venture deeper. For those more adventurous there is the option of having a paraffin gas lamp tour by one of the local villagers, which has you crawling through gaps 2 - 3 feet wide, this cost 100THB and there is a sign when you pay your money asking for a 100THB tip (according to the sign that is the norm) So, just call it 200 THB. We did enjoy our tour though and the benefit is that the guide explains the name of the different rock formations, she knows the way around so you don't get lost and she's holding a lamp!! believe me where you go there isn't any electric at all, it is absolutely pitch black, which brings me to the other piece of advice head the signs advice do not!! go walking around on your own!! it is a maze of tunnels if you get lost that's it. We did walk down to the reclined Buddha statue, which is electrically lit however, once we had done the lamp tour, there wasn't anything particularly special about the walk down. So, that isn't necessary if you’re not too fussed walking a further 500m down. Visited December 2014”