Sai Ngam

Trees are the whole show here, and they're enough. Centuries of banyan growth have knitted together into one sprawling grove on the edge of Phimai, aerial roots dropping and re-rooting until it's hard to tell where one tree ends and the next begins. The canopy is dense enough to kill the heat, which is a rare thing in Korat, and the paths wind through the trunks rather than around them. It takes maybe half an hour to see properly, longer if you sit.

I'd pair it with Phimai Historical Park, which is close by, and I'd do the grove first thing rather than in the flat glare of midday. Morning light coming through the canopy is the reason people take photographs here. There's a small market near the entrance selling snacks and souvenirs, low-key and worth a wander, but nobody comes for the shopping. Families do well here because there's shade, space and nothing fragile to break.