Spend The Day At This Stunning Resort Park – Tweechol Botanic Gardens Chiang Mai
Offering your family a plethora of activities to fill the day, is the Tweechol Botanic Gardens aka Horizon Village Resort. It makes for a wonderful half-day family trip from Chiang Mai. What began as a passion project to preserve ancient Lanna culture, developed into one of the most beautiful gardens in Chiang Mai.
You can also stay overnight here in their resort!
Only about a 40 minute drive from Chiang Mai, here’s an overview of what the gardens offer:
A petting zoo, a playground, swimming pool, a hedge maze, pedal boats, bicycle rental, horse riding, hot air balloon rides, a museum, an herb garden, a rock garden, four botanical gardens, a fitness centre, restaurants, and a coffee shop.
There’s something for everyone in your family!
Also check out these other amazing gardens in Chiang Mai.
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Things to do with kids at Tweechol Botanic Garden
Run through the hedge maze
While young kids may not find an herb garden or 107 different species of palm trees interesting, they will be impressed by the incredible sculpting of plants into towering T-rex, King Kong, elephants and more. If Edward Scissorhands were real, he would definitely work here making his magical creations. Speaking of magical, check out the labyrinth! Kids will love finding their way through the hedge maze. It’s not as simple as it looks!
Visit the petting zoo
For animal lovers, there’s a petting zoo where you can feed the animals. Expect to see camels, ostriches, deer, buffalo, exotic birds and more. Horse riding can be arranged as well. Children can ride on led horses around an arena.
Go to the playgrounds
That’s right, plural! There are so many playgrounds and play areas to explore. They are each designed for a different age group so that kids of all ages can enjoy their time here.
There are treehouses, rock climbing walls, trampolines and more!
There’s slides and swings and sandboxes too. Best of all there’s shade and plenty of space to run around.
There are even monkey bars for kids and big kids too to accept the challenge.
You could literally spend all day here just playing on all the different equipment. Kids love it here! Just make sure to bring plenty of water as there are no shops around.
Go pedal boating!
How about having a little water fun?! Lakes are scattered across this nearly 120 acre garden and one of them offers pedal boating! At the small cost of 50 baht per boat you can pedal around to your hearts content. Put your legs up and float around. Even take a nap out over the water if you like. Life jackets are provided and there will be staff to help you in and out of the boats.
Head for a swim
If you’re more serious about getting wet, head to the salt water pool in the botanical garden. In total, there are 2 pools, but the other one is reserved for Horizon Resort guests only.
The garden access pool with a waterslide does cost extra. It is 139 baht per adult and 75 baht per child. This includes the fitness facility but just a heads up that the pool is not catered to little tots. There is no kiddy pool and the shallow end is rather deep. This doesn’t mean you can’t have a little fun! Just be mindful and keep your hands and eyes on any little ones.
Visit a museum at Tweechol Botanic Gardens
For the family history buff, Tweechol has a small museum. Each room caters to a different Thai monarch. You can expect to see a photo collection, military medals, ancient swords and spears, and Buddhist relics. Nearby, you can even explore how Lanna people used to live. Three houses have been built in the old Lanna style to show and preserve how different walks of life used to live, from farmers, to the Galare and the Tai Lue.
Take a hot air balloon ride
For the adventurous, the gardens have started offering hot air balloon rides! This is not a show up and let’s go type of thing. You must book in advance and expect to get up very early. The ride lasts about an hour and costs 8,800 baht per rider.
Food
When your tummies start to rumble, there are two main restaurants to cater to your needs. One is located very near to the entrance and offers a large buffet lunch. The other, is a-la-carte, and can be found near the middle of the garden. A coffee shop is also located near the entrance and you will have passed it on the way in. A small snack shop is located near the bicycle rental where you bought your entrance tickets.
Getting Around
On foot
So how does one go about getting around 120 acres? Well, there are many options. The slow-mo method is to walk. This could be a great option for those looking to explore and not miss speeding by anything interesting.
Rent a bicycle or bring your own
The next option is to rent a bicycle. All sizes of bikes are on offer and you can even get a baby seat attachment. Rentals are 75 baht for 3 hours or you can bring your own at no charge! Many expat and local families will come here to ride around on the weekends.
Hire a golf cart
Or, how about a golf cart? Now’s your chance! For 321 baht an hour fitting up to 5 people, get yourself a cart. The final option is to wait around for the free shuttle bus. This gives you less control over where you go and how long you stay at any given spot, but it is completely free.
Map of Tweechol Gardens at Horizon Resort Chiang Mai
How To Get There
Drive
It’s pretty much a straight shot once you get yourself to the 118. Head northeast along the 118 also called Doi Saket Rd for about 20km and look for signage. The sign will say Horizon Village Resort and Tweechol Garden. Turn left and a guard will direct you to the right for the gardens, or left for the resort.
Songtaew it
From Chiang Mai Bus Station Terminal 1 you can take a yellow-bus on the Doi Saket Line or Mae Guang Line. The price should be 20 Baht per person. Expect multiple stops along the way as people are dropped off and picked up along the way. This could be a nice way to meet locals!
Looking for other ways to get there? No worries, we’ve got you covered!
