Surat Thani province · a day's travel south-west of Ban Krut

Khao Sok

One of the world's oldest rainforests — limestone towers, a jungle river, floating raft houses on an emerald lake, and gibbons for an alarm clock.

Book your stay

Find a room before you go.

Find hotels on Booking.com · Khao Sok
Ancient rainforest
Cheow Lan lake
Floating raft houses
Jungle treks
River canoeing
Night safaris
Limestone karsts
Treehouse lodges
Introduction

An older forest than the Amazon

Khao Sok National Park protects a slab of rainforest often reckoned among the oldest on Earth — a dripping, hooting, orchid-hung jungle piled around limestone mountains in the interior of southern Thailand. The little village of Khlong Sok sits at the park entrance, a strip of lodges, tour offices and cafés on the Sok river about 1½–2 hours from Surat Thani.

Rainforest in Khao Sok National Park

For anyone doing the Gulf coast, Khao Sok is the great inland detour: swap the beach for a couple of nights of jungle treks, tubing down the river, and — the real showstopper — a night in a floating raft house on Cheow Lan lake, where limestone towers rise sheer from emerald water and gibbons call across the morning mist.

Transport

Tickets & connections

Search tickets on 12go

Affiliate link. If you book through it we earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.

Tours

Tours & activities

See tours on GetYourGuide →

Quick facts

Khao Sok

  • Khlong Sok village sits at the park entrance, 1½–2 hours from Surat Thani
  • The rainforest is among the oldest in the world
  • Cheow Lan lake and its raft houses are about 1 hour further, via Ratchaprapha dam pier
  • Rafflesia, the world's largest flower, blooms roughly December–February
  • Guided treks, river canoeing and night safaris run daily from the village
Limestone cliffs above the Khao Sok forest
Getting there

Getting there from Ban Krut

From Ban Krut, ride the southern line to Surat Thani — around four hours on the train, and the same railway you'd take for Koh Samui or Koh Phangan. From Surat Thani town, the train station at Phun Phin, or the airport, minivans run to Khao Sok in about 1½–2 hours; any travel desk or online booking will include hotel drop-off in Khlong Sok.

Train on the southern line towards Surat Thani

Coming from the Andaman side instead, minivans reach Khao Sok from Khao Lak in about an hour and from Phuket in two to three — which makes the park an easy hinge point between the two coasts.

For Cheow Lan lake, transfers continue about an hour east of the village to the Ratchaprapha dam pier, where longtail boats head out to the raft houses. Lake overnights are sold as packages with boat, meals and guiding included.

Good to know

Khao Sok

  • Book the lake raft house before you travel — the good ones fill up first.
  • Two nights is the sweet spot: one by the river, one on the lake.
  • Pack a dry bag, torch and shoes you don't mind soaking.
  • Leeches appear in the wet season — long socks and a sense of humour help.
See & do

See & do in Khao Sok

Cheow Lan lake
Lake

Cheow Lan lake

The flooded valley behind Ratchaprapha dam is Khao Sok's masterpiece: emerald water, sheer limestone towers and drowned forest. Even a single day trip by longtail boat is unforgettable.

Floating raft houses
Sleep

Floating raft houses

Rows of simple floating bungalows moored under the cliffs — you swim off your doorstep, kayak at dusk and wake to mist and gibbon song. Basic huts and plusher floating villas both exist.

Guided treks & night safaris
Jungle

Guided treks & night safaris

Guides lead half- and full-day treks from the village into the park — waterfalls, hornbills, maybe wild elephants' calling cards — and after dark, night walks reveal a different forest entirely.

The Sok river by canoe or tube
River

The Sok river by canoe or tube

Drift the slow, tea-coloured river under overhanging jungle by canoe or inner tube — monitor lizards on the banks, kingfishers overhead, and a swim wherever you fancy.

Karsts, caves & wildlife boats
Scenery

Karsts, caves & wildlife boats

Boat safaris on the lake weave between limestone islets to viewpoints, caves and coral-shaped crags, with langurs, hornbills and eagles along the shore — best in early morning light.

Khlong Sok village
Village

Khlong Sok village

The village itself is a likeable strip of cafés, smoothie shacks and tour offices where trekkers compare leech counts. Between activities, a hammock and a fresh coconut solve most things.

Food

Jungle appetites

Khao Sok cooking is honest southern Thai fare for hungry hikers: fiery green and massaman curries, tom yum, stir-fries and mountains of rice, served in open-sided restaurants to a soundtrack of cicadas. Portions are generous and menus mercifully tourist-legible.

On the lake, raft-house stays include family-style Thai meals — whole fried fish, curries, fruit — eaten on the pontoon as the light goes off the cliffs. Back in the village, a few cafés do good breakfasts, real coffee and banana pancakes.

Green curryMassaman curryTom yumWhole fried fishBanana pancakesFresh coconuts
Thai green curry
Markets

Markets, jungle-style

Khlong Sok is a jungle village, not a market town — expect a handful of evening food stalls and minimarts along the main strip rather than a proper night bazaar. What's there is cheap and cheerful: grilled chicken, pad thai, roti and fruit shakes.

The real market action is back in Surat Thani, whose morning and night markets are worth an hour if your connection allows — otherwise stock up on snacks, water and insect repellent in the village before heading to the lake, where there are no shops at all.

Tom yum goong at a food stall
Where to stay

Where to stay

Khao Sok splits its sleeping between the river village and the lake — and the classic itinerary combines both. Riverside lodges make the treks easy; a night afloat on Cheow Lan is the memory you'll keep.

Khao Sok

Riverside lodges & treehouses

Bungalows and treehouse rooms line the Sok river at the park entrance — falling asleep to the river and waking to hornbills, with treks and tubing on the doorstep.

Khao Sok

Floating raft houses

On Cheow Lan lake, simple floating huts and smarter floating villas are booked as packages with boat transfer, meals and guided outings included — one night is magic, two is better.

Khao Sok

Luxury tented camps

A handful of high-end tented camps and jungle resorts add pools, proper beds and guided-everything comfort — safari style, deep in the oldest forest you'll ever sleep in.

Browse hotels on Booking.com →
Travel guides

Travel guides

Step-by-step transport guides for this stretch of the Gulf coast.