Sa Kaeo & Prachinburi: 3 Days, 2 Nights
Forests and Khmer Temples in Eastern Thailand

✍️ By Doctor Chat

🔄 Updated 21 Jun 2026

The nice thing about pairing these two provinces is that the sights never feel repetitive. Prachinburi leans into forests, herbal medicine, and antiquities, while Sa Kaeo is more about geology, temples, and the border. Stitch them together and you get a trip where you walk through forest in the morning, look at old buildings in the afternoon, relax by the water in the evening, and stand in front of thousand-year-old stone temples the next day. A private car is by far the easiest way to do all of this, since many of the stops are well outside town and public transport doesn't reach them.

Day 1 — Prachinburi: forest, waterfalls, century-old buildings

Day one is for ticking off Prachinburi's highlights. Spend the cooler morning hours in nature, then head into town in the afternoon for the old buildings. For the night you can stay in Prachinburi town or out toward Kabin Buri — it depends on which way you'll drive into Sa Kaeo the next day.

Day 2 — Crossing into Sa Kaeo: Pang Sida forest and Khao Chakan

Today is the cross-province day, driving from Prachinburi into Sa Kaeo. The headliner is Pang Sida National Park, which actually straddles both provinces, with waterfalls and butterfly-watching spots (butterflies peak around May–July). In the afternoon you drop down to Khao Chakan, a limestone hill with caves and swarms of bats that fly out at dusk. Tonight you move into Sa Kaeo town to get set for a final day of temples.

Day 3 — Sa Kaeo: Khmer temples and earthen wonders

The final day belongs to temples and unusual landscapes. The highlights are Sdok Kok Thom, the largest sandstone Khmer temple in Eastern Thailand, and Lalu, an eroded earth formation where the soil has been carved by rain into pillars like a miniature canyon. If you still have energy, you can add Khao Noi Si Chomphu temple before looping back to Bangkok.

Adjusting the plan to your time

• Only 2 days — drop the Kabin Buri waterfall and merge Days 1 and 2: cover Prachinburi in the morning, cross into Pang Sida in the afternoon, sleep in Sa Kaeo, then hit the temples on the second day.
• Travelling with kids — focus on the Si Maha Phot bodhi tree, the Abhaibhubejhr building, Khao Chakan (monkeys and bats), and Lalu, and cut back on the heavier forest walks.
• History buffs — add a temple day: a full day for Sdok Kok Thom + Khao Noi Si Chomphu + the museums in town.
• Dry season — shift the focus to temples and caves, since many of the waterfalls run low.

Where to stay each night

This trip is two nights: the first on the Prachinburi / Kabin Buri side, the second on the Sa Kaeo side (in town or Aranyaprathet). Both sides have everything from riverside resorts and in-town hotels to homestays near Lalu, with prices running from the high hundreds to around a thousand-plus THB a night. On long weekends you'll want to book ahead, especially the places near the national parks, which have only a limited number of rooms.