One of the main and most beautiful attractions of the island of Thailand, and in particular its city of Pattaya, is the tropical park "Nong Nooch". Travelers compare this corner of the island with paradise. It is here, in an unusually beautiful, special place that everyone who came to Thailand should visit.
Nong Nooch Tropical Park is a complex of diverse gardens and parks. Its area is almost 240 hectares. It is only 17 km from the city.
All year round, guests visiting the park are surprised at the rich colors of plants that are brought here from exotic countries. Inexplicable feelings along with admiration and amazing memories - those who share this park share such feelings.
How it all started
It all started in 1954. Then Pattaya was an ordinary fishing village located on the coast of the Gulf of Thailand. To create fruit and vegetable plantations, Mr. Pisit and Madame Nong Nooch Tansaca acquired land in the province of Chonburi.
Traveling around the world and visiting famous gardens and parks, Mrs. Nong Nooch completely changed her plans. She decided that instead of planned vegetable plantations, she would create tropical gardens where exotic trees and flowers would grow.
I had to work for a long time. Mrs. Nong Nooch invited the first visitors to her garden in 1980. Every year, the number of tourists visiting the Nong Nooch Park is constantly growing. Thailand accepts travelers from all over the world. Gradually improving, it became the largest botanical park in southeast Asia.
What is Nong Nooch Park
Nong Nooch is a huge landscape project. The styles of Asian and European countries are closely intertwined here. Next to the sculptures, marvelous houses made in the national Asian style, the European park of Versailles is adjacent . Shrubs and lawns were given the correct geometric shape.
The whole area is divided by park and garden areas. Between them there are a large number of footpaths, bridges and paths. The park has built many large ponds, made artificially, fountains. Open to view pavilions. Here you can ride on a small railway, take a walk in the zoo, admiring a large number of a wide variety of bright statuettes. You can see the Nong Nooch garden from below, taking a walk in the park. To see the beautiful park from above, you can use the suspension bridges located near the tops of the trees. Plants of the established type flaunt in each park and garden zone.
French garden
The most beautiful place worthy of the highest praise is the French garden, which is characterized by a bizarre combination of classic European design and temples of Thailand. With particular care, the creation of landscape compositions with amazing clarity of lines, the hardness of geometric shapes. The appearance of perfectly trimmed trees, borders, trimmed lawns makes one doubt their naturalness. Tourists who visited the garden, note that, having been here, as if they had visited the world of a fairy tale.
Cactus park
This park has a rare collection of cacti. Their sizes are the most diverse - from the smallest to the largest cacti.
Also, the shades and shapes of cacti are the most various. Here you can see both branchy cacti and spherical. On blooming cacti and those that do not bloom at all. Visitors note that this is a very beautiful and unusual garden.
Blue park
Nong Nooch Tropical Park (Thailand) introduced a unique collection of palm trees. She is in the Blue Park complex. Despite the fact that 2800 species of palm trees grow on the globe, only 1100 representatives of these plants can be seen exclusively in Nong Nooch. The park has collected the largest collection in the world, where palm trees and ferns grow.
But of particular interest are dwarf palm trees. These plants have a height of only 30 cm. They gained popularity in Japan in the XVII century. In this country, pruning trees to give them elegant forms has become a real art.
Many tourists visit this park, and everyone is amazed at this extraordinary beauty and uniqueness.
Orchid garden
Of particular interest is the orchid garden. Nong Nooch Park, Thailand (as the country where it is located) can be proud of this garden. The greenhouse is represented by 500 species of these incredibly beautiful plants. And the pavilion itself, where the greenhouse is located, is built in the style of a Buddhist pagoda. To grow these fragile graceful flowers, garden staff put a lot of effort.
For the continuous flowering of orchids, certain conditions are created here. They artificially regulate the microclimate. They are bred in special hanging baskets. Visitors like that anyone can buy a flower for growing at home. The cost of one adult flower is 50 baht, and the price of five sprouts will be 270 baht. There is only one “but”: the land in Thailand is the king’s property and it cannot be taken out of the country. For this reason, the roots of the flowers are in a special gel solution.
Butterfly garden
This garden was opened in 2000. Its open space is enclosed by a fine mesh. More than 1,500 butterflies of a wide variety of colors live here. Tourists compare them with fresh flowers, which fly with special grace above their heads.
Exotic bird park
Rare exotic birds live here. If you wish, you can go inside to get a closer look at the birds. Travelers like that you can even feed the birds by hand by buying food for the birds at the entrance.
Stonehenge
According to legend, Mrs. Nong Nooch, traveling around Europe, visited the UK. She was struck by the beauty of the famous archaeological site of the world, which is located in Wiltshire. It was the famous Stonehenge.
As a result, Mrs. Nong Nooch in her park built a copy of it, only reduced in size. One of the stones has an inscription that this land was bequeathed to Mrs. Nong Nooch to the next generations.
Pot garden
Amazing sculptures of flower pots are created in this garden. These are sculptures of elephants, and a car, and huge hearts, and many other diverse figures.
Fish pond
In the pond of the Nong Nooch Park, you can see giant freshwater fish, the length of which reaches almost 3 meters. These are arapaims. Visitors for a nominal fee can feed these "kids". This is very popular with daredevils and those who like bright and thrill.
Small zoo
This mini zoo is visited by tourists with young children. Here you can freely visit the enclosures with herbivores. By purchasing food from Thai teenagers, visitors have the opportunity to feed these animals. The zoo's terrariums are populated by turtles and snakes, and fish live in large aquariums.
Tigers living in the zoo are fed strictly according to the schedule, having learned which, you can watch this extraordinary sight.
Ride in the park
At Nong Nooch, elephant riding is very popular. There are so many people who want to ride these animals, that sometimes you even have to wait in line. An elephant is set up on the back with a bench where 2 people can sit, paying almost 400 baht for an elephant ride. The route of the walk runs through the entire botanical garden, which is easy to see from the back of an elephant.
Here, near the place of departure, elephants live in a large pen. By purchasing a bunch of bananas for 40 baht, you can feed them.
You can walk around the park using small cars as a means of transportation. They can ride along the picturesque alleys of the park, get to the most beautiful pagodas and orchid garden.
Theatrical performances
To get to know the history, national customs and traditions of the Thai people, it is worth visiting the theatrical performance in Nong Nooch. Thailand and its history are fully represented here. The program of the show is filled with national dances, historical dramas. You can also watch the beautiful theatrical production of the famous Thai boxing. The productions involved a large number of artists. The show is accompanied by unusual national music.
For tourists, this performance leaves a lot of extraordinary impressions and unforgettable sensations.
Nong Nooch (Thailand) is known for its elephant show. These beautiful animals will not leave anyone indifferent. Just worth a look at the dancing, drawing, playing football or basketball elephants. By their simplicity they conquer both children's hearts and adult visitors.
After the end of the show at Nong Nooch, anyone can take a photo with their favorite animals. In small shops you can buy small souvenirs to commemorate theatrical performances.
Excursions to Nong Nooch
Pattaya travel agencies offer excursions to the Nong Nooch Garden for about 500 baht. The main advantage of such a trip is that tourists will not worry about how to get to the park and back. Outdoor vans are used for garden trips.
Tourists reviews
Many tourists, having visited the park, leave the warmest reviews about this place. And everyone notes that there is no better paradise than Nong Nooch all over the world.