Khao Sok National Park: A Thailand Favorite

Khao Sok National Park contains the oldest evergreen rainforest in the world with wildlife, a beautiful lake, and mountains jutting up into the sky that will make you feel like you’re in Jurrasic Park. I loved so many parts of my one-month trip to Southeast Asia, but Khao Sok National Park is probably tied with Angkor Wat as my absolute favorite!

To learn about my few regrets of the trip, check out some of my recent posts.

What to Do at Khao Sok

You absolutely must visit Cheow Larn Lake, which takes up 165 square miles of the park. This lake, studded with limestone karsts jutting out of its waters, was the best way to escape the hustle of busy Thai cities and get out into nature. It’s certainly like nothing else I’ve ever seen before.

limestone karsts jutting up through the lake in Khao Sok National Park — Cheow Larn Lake, Khao Sok National Park

To visit the lake, we ended up taking a day trip that our resort helped us organize. We took a boat through the lake, stopped for lunch and a swim at some of the floating bungalows. Afterwards, our guide took us on the most intense hike I’ve ever been on! On our jungle trek, we waded through streams, climbed across small waterfalls, and swam in a cave. It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime sort of hike that I would do again. I will note that you can stay in the floating bungalows. I personally would not recommend it, at least for the ones we went to. We made friends with a Canadian couple who stayed in one for a night, and it sounded miserable – a wet mattress, bugs everywhere, you name it. Staying in the jungle sounds like a great experience, but I would just be careful when booking something or just do the day trip like us. It was perfect, especially since the cabin we stayed at was in the middle of the jungle anyways.

Blue river flowing through the jungle at Khao Sok National Park — Some views one our hike on our own at Khao Sok National Park. Most of the park requires a guide, but there is a small section that you can hike on your own.

Apart from the day trip, we enjoyed biking to the park entrance and hiking along the one portion of Khao Sok where hikers are allowed without a guide. We also enjoyed spending some time at Art’s Riverview Lodge, where we grabbed smoothies and played in the river, swinging on a rope to jump in. Close to our lodging, we also enjoyed checking out a “monkey temple” at the top of a mountain. The steps to get to it were terrifying, and I barely went up them at all. My then boyfriend made it a bit further than me, but not to the top. Needless to say, we didn’t see the temple, but we did see the monkeys. We brought some bananas for them, and from down below, I saw them coming in from all directions to snatch them from him.

Jungle cabin over a river near Khao Sok National Park — Our jungle cabin at Khao Sok Silver Cliff Resort

Where to Stay

While visiting the rainforest, we stayed at Khao Sok Silver Cliff Resort, which hands down is probably my favorite place I’ve ever stayed. The property is composed of various cabins in the rainforest (don’t worry they have bathrooms!) and a main open air shelter where we ate our meals and read some books. Karen, a Scottish woman who has been living in Thailand for years, runs the resort. When we first arrived, she sat down with us and gave us some tea and coffee while providing recommendations for the area. She let us borrow bikes for a few days, and she organized a day trip for us on the lake. Her staff showed us a nearby bat cave, and one of them even dropped us off at the bus stop at the end of our stay. We also just loved talking with Karen. She truly helped make our stay so memorable.

Girl walking on a dirt road in the jungle near Khao Sok National Park — Walking around Khao Sok Silver Cliff Resort

The area around the rainforest is small, so most of the food options are at local hotels, which meant that we ate most of our meals at Karen’s. The food, prepared by local Thai people, was some of the best food I had in Thailand (and one of the few times I didn’t have to worry about possibly getting food poisoning).

Getting to the Park

It can be a bit tough to get to the Khao Sok, but it is absolutely worth it. It was one of the few places that wasn’t overrun with tourists, and it just felt like such a unique and authentic travel experience.

The closest airport is in Surat Thani. From there, you can take a bus or get a cab, which will be about a 1.5 hour drive. When we researched this, we did read all about buses but didn’t actually see any in the airport, so we had to take a cab, which was a little pricey. Perhaps it was because it was the off-season (May) or perhaps their schedule is pretty limited, so keep that in mind. One thing I learned in Thailand was to never count on public transportation!

The rainforest is also somewhat close to Phuket. With the help of Karen, we were able to take a bus from the resort down to Phuket, which took around 4-5 hours. There is a pretty central bus station in Phuket where you can get on a bus headed towards the rainforest.

One Warning: Leeches!

I will say, one of the only slightly unpleasant parts of our trip to Khao Sok were the leeches. They were everywhere, especially after it rained. Thankfully, the leeches there are very small and easy to pull off. After our intense jungle trek, we got a bit more used to them.

Have you been to Khao Sok National Park or another park in Thailand? What are some of your favorite memories? Please share in the comments below!

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