ถ้ำเชียงดาว

Tham Chiang Dao - Chiang Dao Cave

Useful Information

Location:	273 หมู่ 5, Chiang Dao, Chiang Dao District, Chiang Mai 50170 Chiang Dao. Signposted from the town, at the end of the village turn left, 7 km to the cave. 72 km north of Chiang Mai city along the way to Fang and Tha Ton and 5 km west of route 107. (19.3941305, 98.9279213)
Open:	All year daily 8-17. [2025]
Fee:	Adults THB 40, Guide THB 100, Lamp Rent THB 100. [2025]
Classification:	Karst Cave
Light:	Incandescent Coloured Light
Dimension:	L=9,402 m. Tham Phra Nawn: L=360 m. Tham Seua Dao: L=540 m. Tham Maa: L=7,365 m. Tham Kaew: L=477 m. Tham Naam: L=660 m.
Guided tours:	self guided/guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Tham Chiang Dao.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

Description

There are five interconnected caves which make up the ถ้ำเชียงดาว (Tham Chiang Dao) complex, two of the caves are illuminated by electric lights. They are called Tham Phra Nawn and Tham Seua Dao. The lit caves can be visited on self-guided tours. The visit resembles a visit to a cave temple as these caves contain many religious statuary and sacred Buddha images.

The other three caves can be explored accompanied by local guides with lanterns. These are Tham Maa, Tham Kaew, and Tham Naam. This is the real cave trip, with lots of speleothems and a cave river. It is strongly advised to take a guide, as there are unmarked drops. The cave is not difficult, many parts are equipped with paths, but visitors should expect some easy crawls too.

A Thai legend tells that the Chiang Dao Caves served as the home of a reu-sii (hermit sage) named Phra Rama Rishi for a thousand years. She sage was so intimate with the deity world that he convinced some the-wadaa, the Buddhist equivalent of angels, to create seven magic wonders inside the caverns. These are:

a solid-gold Buddha
a stream flowing from the pedestal of the solid-gold Buddha
a storehouse of divine textiles
a mystical lake
a city of nagas
a sacred immortal elephant
the hermits own tomb

Unfortunately they are so far inside the cave, they will never be found. They are also guarded by the deity Chao Luang Kham Daeng. And there is another drawback: visitors who try to remove anything from the cave, even if it is just a piece of rock, loose there way back and will never leave the cave again. Nevertheless, greedy persons have ventured into the cave and meet tragic fates.

Chao Luang Kham Daeng, a son of the ruler of Phayao, deserted his country to search for the girl who impersonated a golden deer. He ran away to Tham Luang Chiang Dao since he was misguided by the beauty of the deer. He followed the deer into the cave and never came out of the cave again. He incarnated a powerful angel guarding Tham Luang Chiang Dao. People built a shrine for him and named it "Shrine of Por Luang Kham Daeng."

Nearby is a cave temple called Wat Tham Pha Plong. It has some great views, as there are more than 500 steps to the temple halfway up the side of the mountain. The peak of nearby Doi Chiang Dao is 2,225 meters asl high, making it one of Thailand’s highest mountains.