Nan

Covering 12,130 km² — the eleventh-largest province in Thailand — Nan had a population of 470,507 in 2024 and borders Laos' Sainyabuli Province to the north and east. The highest peak, Phu Khe in Bo Kluea District, rises to 2,079 metres, and forest covers 61.3% of the province across seven national parks, the largest of which is Doi Phu Kha. The city of Nan is celebrated for Wat Phumin, an early-18th-century temple famed for its remarkable murals depicting Nan court life, and Phra That Chae Haeng, a gilded stupa venerated across the upper north. The Queen Sirikit Dam on the Nan River creates a 250 km² reservoir that today straddles the border with Uttaradit Province. Nan's isolation until the 1980s — when the last armed communist insurgency in Thailand was active here — helped preserve its forests, traditional crafts, and distinct northern vernacular architecture.