Chiang Rai Hot Springs: the rest

Besides Pong Phra Bat and Huai Hin Fon, Chiang Rai province possesses a number of other active hot springs, making it together with Chiang Mai province one of the most geothermal active Thai provinces. But unfortunately there is little, incomplete or no information at all, on the springs not visited by myself the other month. Some with this summar, I hope to uncover more details, providing access on the other hot

Pha Soet Hot Spa (Prasert)
Location: near Huai Mak Liam Hot Springs which are located close to Lam Nam Kok National Park Headquarters. The nearest village is Ban Akha Pha Soet. The road is basically the road from Chiang Rai town, south of the Mae Kok river heading west, and at the turn-off to Akha Hill Guesthouse you are in Phasoet village.
This blogger provides two photo's on his site, it looks like a great place to soak!


Huai Mak Liam Hot Springs
It's one of the more well known, so probably more visited as well (by tourists at least), especially as it is easy to access from the Mae Kok Riverside.

From the Thai National Park Administration website, where the springs are a part of:

'20 kms far from the city of Chiang Rai. This hot spring is come from the nature heat beneath the world, which has hot water to bob up all time. When brought the eggs into this hot spring about 30 minutes, the flavor of the boiled egg will better and more delicious than normal boiled. This waterfall is appropriate for night visitor to put up the tent in the beautiful night'.

Joel John Barlow in his Chiang Rai guide:

'It's one of the more well known, so probably more visited as well, especially as it is easy to access from the Mae Kok Riverside'.

TourismChiangrai.com describes the hot spring such:

'It is a part of Lam Naam Khok National Park and located on the Khok riverside. The area is a nice and peaceful place for recreation. Its diameter is 5 meters and there is an outdoor hot spa. The average temperature of hot spa is 67 degree Celsius. The hot spa consists of Fluoride, Nitrate, Sulphate, and Iodine which is not harmful for people who take mineral bath. Moreover, elephant riding tour is also available'.

As with the Pha Soet Hot Spa, follow the road on the south side of Chiang Rai town toward the west. At the end you will have arrived at the hot springs.


Naerunchara Hot Springs Resort
Possibly, this is the resort formerly known as PK Hot Spa; by delving through the available information, it's unclear whether this is the case or not.

Joel John Barlow describes the location of PK Hot Spa as follows:

'on the Kok River off 1233 well past Mae Fah Luang Royal Garden. Nice riverside restaurant, B600 rooms'.

This puts it just outside of Chiang Rai town on the road to Lam Nam Kok National Park.

All great information, but try to book a room there. Not possible. Apparently it now is called Naerunchara Hot Spring Resort. 'Apparently', because there does not seem to be any connection between the two. The PK at least existed, but there is no web site, neither any clear photo's. Anyway if you want to stay at the Naerunchara, here is their site. You can also book through asiarooms.com.

Update (Jan '08): the Naerunchara is located close to the previously mentioned Pha Soet hot springs, diagonally across the stream and road. Probably have the same source.

Pong Fu Fueang (Pong Pu Feuang)
Also part of the Lam Nam Kok National Park, the National Park site provides us with the following sentence:

'About 1.8 kms from the crossroad of Mae Suai-Chiangrai Land highway. There are 2 hot spring wells in this place with about 75^oC'.

Though they refer to this as Pong Fu, the map refers to this site under the name Pong Pu, oddly enough the map locates them southwards from Chiang Rai, 18 kms on the Pa Sak - Mae Suai Road (highway 118).


Huai Sao Khao Hot Springs
More well known, Huai Sao Khao, is located on the east side at km 794 (highway 1), south of Chiang Rai.
The Chiang Mai - Chiang Rai.com guide mentions this hot spring as follows:

'The second sight of hot spring can be found at Ban Huay Zai Kao Hot Spring located on Mae Lao District, Chiangrai. This hot spring has been left in its natural state and is not attractive to visitors as a relaxation spot since there are no bathing facilities'.

Well, as there are absolutely no other references on internet to these hot springs, we'll have to take their word for it.


Wiang Pa Pao Hot Springs (T(h)ung T(h)e wi hot spa)
The aforementioned Chiang Mai- Chiang Rai.com site describes the following:

'The third is Wieng Pa Pao hot spring. This is located at a midway point between Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai on highway 1019. Most people travelling by road stop at Wieng Pa Pao for a short break. Here are restaurants, a fresh produce and flower market and a bazaar selling items made by the hill tribes and lowland Thais. One popular activity at the hot spring is to hard boil eggs in the boiling water. The clever vendors have attached baskets on a long pole making the activity safe and fun for customers of all age to boil the eggs. If you can't encourage your children to cook at home, they will love to boil eggs here. Other than this the hot spring hasn't been develop for recreation use but plans are underway to develop this spring as a spa'.

Oddly enough again the map situates them elsewhere, just off highway 1150, two kms from highway 118.

Natural, but non-commercial?