Khao Sok
Ancient rainforest and a jade lake of limestone spires. One of the world’s oldest rainforests, with a stunning reservoir of karst cliffs and floating bungalows. A wild counterpoint to the beaches.
What Is Worth Your Time in Khao Sok
The lake gets all the photographs, but the park on the mainland side is the older rainforest and the better wildlife. Give the trip both halves if you can.
Cheow Lan Lake
Boat + park feeAn emerald reservoir studded with limestone towers, about an hour and a half from the park headquarters. The longtail ride out through the karsts is the moment people remember from Thailand.
Floating bungalows
Package rateSleeping on a raft house tied to the shore, with the karsts going pink at dawn and nothing to do but swim off the deck. One night is the minimum, two is better.
The Three Brothers
On the lake tourThe three karst peaks rising straight out of the water near Khlong Ka, the formation on every photo of the lake and the reason it gets called Thailand’s Guilin.
Nam Talu Cave
Guide requiredA 600 m (2,000 ft) river cave you wade and swim through, with a guide, from the Khlong Long ranger station. Genuinely adventurous, and closed in the wet season for good reason after past flash floods.
Coral & Emerald caves
On a lake tourThe two easier caves on the lake side: Coral Cave for formations on a short walk, Emerald Cave for a swim into a hidden chamber. Both add half a day to a lake trip.
Sok River tubing & kayaking
Operator feeFloating the river below the park headquarters past overhanging jungle, with macaques and hornbills overhead. Cheap, easy, and the best way to spend a hot afternoon here.
The Rafflesia trail
Guide + park feeRafflesia kerrii, the giant parasitic flower up to 80 cm (31 in) across, blooms in the hills above the park between roughly December and March. A guide is essential: the plants are tracked, not signposted.
Night safari
Guide feeA guided walk on the park trails after dark for civets, slow lorises, snakes and frogs, which is when most of this forest is actually awake. Book through the park, not a roadside tout.
The park headquarters at Khlong Sok and the lake pier at Ratchaprapha are about an hour and a half apart. Most people stay in the village for the jungle days and add a night on the lake, rather than trying to do the lake as a day trip.
How to Spend 1 to 2 Nights
Don’t Miss
Best Areas to Base Yourself
Park HQ area
Lodges near the trails, tours, and restaurants.
Cheow Lan Lake
Floating raft houses deep in the park.
Slots neatly between the Andaman coast and the Gulf. See how it all connects on the map and overview.
Related Guides
Written by Belle, a Thai American who travels to Thailand every other year and has family in Bangkok. Fees, journey times and rankings were rechecked in July 2026 against the sources below. Brand mentions are never paid placements, and the guide is reader-supported: some links may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.
How we research →Photographs on this page that are not mine are used under the licenses below and hosted on this site rather than hotlinked. Uncredited photographs are my own.
- Wide shot: limestone karsts rising from Cheow Lan Lake, still waterVyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source
- Floating raft bungalows moored beneath the karstsVyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source
- Rainforest trail with buttress roots and bamboo in Khao SokRoma Neus, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source