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Travel Destinations - Nakhon Nayok Province

Nakhon Nayok is another tourist destination not far from Bangkok. The province comes alive during the holidays with tourists. Nakhon Nayok is renowned for it’s refreshing waterfalls and abundant varieties of fruits.

Historically, it is believed that the area of Ban Dong Lakhon, which is situated to the south of Nakhon Nayok town, was a Dvaravati settlement, dating back for more than a thousand years. As for the name of “Nakhon Nayok”, records going back to the Ayutthaya’s period indicated that it was an Eastern frontier town during the reign of King U-Thong. In 1894, under the royal command of King Rama V, Nakhon Nayok was designated as a part of Prachin Buri province. Eventually, it became a province.

In the past, Nakhon Nayok was called “Ban Na” (village of the rice field). From hearsay, during Ayutthaya period, Nakhon Nayok was just a forested highland, on which farming nor planting was fruitful. Jungle fever was everywhere, thus the town people migrated elsewhere, leaving the place deserted. News of the plight of people reached the King. Subsequently, the King commanded that paddy field taxes be lifted to encourage the people to stay on, which worked, and also enticed the people around the area to migrate to the town. After that, it became a large community and the town was renowned as “Muang Nayok” (the town that paddy (tax) was lifted).