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Wat Sakithaka (Wat Pha Lat)

Wat Sakithaka(วัดสกิทาคา) or Wat Pha Lat(วัดผาลาด) is a temple located on Doi Suthep (Suthep Mountain) above Chiang Mai. "Doi" (ดอย) is the Thai word for "Mountain", so it is frequently seen in the Thai highlands.



It’s on Doi Suthep, halfway between the top and the base. Wat Sakithaka is located about 6.5 km from Wat Phra That Doi Suthep. This is a forest temple with numerous shrines scattered on the mountainside.

Wat Pha Lat, which means “Monastery at the Sloping Rock”, was originally used as a resting place for people walking up to worship at Doi Suthep. But once the road was built in 1935, making Doi Suthep much more accessible, Wat Pha Lat in turn became a monks’ residence.



The temple complex is incredibly peaceful, beautifully blended in the nature and barely anyone else goes there.

The temple is located on the side of a mountain and borders a large waterfall. Structural elements of the temple are scattered among the trees of the mountainside as small Buddha shrines and images of various mythological creatures.

Symbols of Mythological creatures at Wat Sakithaka (Wat Pha Lat)
Meditatition huts for Monks

A couple of meditation huts for Monks are located inside the compound now.

How to get there You can get there from the main road: going up the mountain you will see a small temple on your left and then you need to take the small road that goes behind it.
 * By Car




 * By Hiking

There is also the original trail that starts at the bottom of the mountain, marked by orange robes wrapped around trees, that takes you there by foot in about 40 min. To hike to Wat Pha Lat, you must reach the end of Suthep Road, just by Chiang Mai University. You can take a songthaew (the red shared “taxis”) to this point. From here, you will walk forward and turn right at the intersection, heading towards the rear entry of Chiang Mai Zoo.

Once you pass the zoo, you will walk slightly uphill for about 3 to 5 more minutes until you see the trail sign at the end of the road, slightly towards the left. It is next to the big red and white radio/tv antenna to your right – this is more less the start of the actual monk’s trail.

For this hike it is highly recommended to wear closed shoes or hiking footwear, as the trail is rough and quite rocky sometimes.

The trail has a mild incline of moderate difficulty and takes about 45 minutes from this point to Wat Pha Lat. Once you enter the trail, follow the trees wrapped in the customary orange cloth monks use to dress themselves.

There are points in which the trail itself becomes a picturesque scene full of trees wrapped in orange. It is beautiful on itself, but once you come across some of the monks that do use the trail, the scene becomes something completely surreal and even enchanting. At points I couldn’t even stop looking at the monks hiking effortlessly along the trail, making their way to the first shrine just a the base of Wat Pha Lat

Once in the temple, you’ll see that a 45 minutes hike is nothing to what you’ll experience. It is hard to not be amazed by the sight of the stair adorned with two dragons and ending abruptly at the edge of the waterfall.

Entrance of Wat Sakithaka from Hiking Path