Noong Nooch is an impressive tropical and botanical garden measuring 500 acres and located in the Chonburi province of Thailand. Noong Nooch can be easily accessed from the tourist hotspot known as Pattaya. If you have included Pattaya beach in your places to visit in Thailand, by all means visit Noong Nooch Gardens!
The best way to explore the Noong Nooch is to experience it on foot. Most visitors will begin with the Butterfly Hill where you will be greeted with three huge corn installations, surrounded by well- trimmed colorful flower patches. Expect a lot of people taking pictures here because of the incredibly vibrant burst of yellow, burgundy, orange and pink flowers. It transitions via a bridge to another garden full of palms. This part is a sea of dark olive and emerald green. There aren’t any flowers but a puff of pink somewhere in the middle of the garden will surprise you. They are not real but the multitude of concrete flamingoes surprisingly work well in the landscape.
The most visited of the gardens would be the French and the Italian gardens. They are separated by several other gardens but their prominence due to excellent geometrically shaped plants capturing the splendor of their European counterparts, can make you forget what the gardens in between were. These are two of the most photographed in all of Noong Nooch.
The Stonehenge that sits right beside the French garden deserves attention too. The contrasting rough rock arrangements with the neatly manicured lawn and perfectly trimmed shrubs are a delight to behold.
The Mammoth garden is also very picturesque, and the Cactus garden draws volumes of delight! Other gardens you should not miss are the Desert Rose garden, the Cycad Valley and Cycad conservation center, the Orchid garden, the Topiary trees that look like a green zoo, the Palm of the World, the Ant hill, which is a hit among kids just like the Animal sculpture garden, and the zoo garden where animals are not sculptures but real and alive. Here kids can feed deer and goats, see ducks, tigers, turtles etc.
The garden tour is mostly done on foot but if you’re feeling a bit lazy, or perhaps you haven’t ridden an elephant yet, for a fee, you can go around some of the gardens on an elephant’s back. But if you want to make the most of your garden tour, walk! Exploration of the gardens can take up half a day. If you have some hours left to spare, why not also catch Noong Nooch’s cultural and elephant shows.
The cultural show dazzles audience with graceful Thai traditional dance performances; vibrant Thai costumes; short funny Thai acts/ skits and a depiction of the famous Thai martial art called Muai Thai. Another highlight for this marvelous show is the presentation of a portion of Thai history with the participation of the beloved elephants which usually gets the most cheers from the audience.
If you can’t get enough of elephants, stay longer to witness the elephant show staged after the cultural one! This particular show may feature similar elephant tricks and antics similar to the ones seen in places like Samphran but, Noong Nooch’s version is still very much adorable because of the elephants. Prepare your baht for the experience of feeding the elephants, being lifted by an elephant trunk, and any photo opportunities you wish to have with these gentle creatures.
Entrance fee to Noong Nooch is 500 baht, which provides access to the gardens as well as the cultural and elephant shows.