Khao Sok National Park

[MooNoi]

Khao Sok is a very beautiful national park in Southern Thailand.

 

It is accessed through Surat Thani (easiest if coming from Bangkok), or it is about a 4 hour drive from Krabi if coming from the other direction.

 

You can fly from BKK to Surat Thani and get a hired car from the airport to Surat.

 

OR (and I think a lot more fun) get the overnight train from Bangkok Hualamphong Station to Surat Thani. (There is no station at Surat as such, you have to get off at Phun Phin).

 

Go across the road from the station and have breakfast at Wut Travel. While you are there, Wut and his wife, Fong, will organise a minibus from here to Khao Sok for you. You can share, or get sole use.

 

Alternatively, you can get the local bus from Phun Phin to Khao Sok. (The bus goes on to Takua Pa, but the drivers will know where the stop for Khao Sok is). When you get there, there are pick-up trucks waiting from all the guesthouses in the park.

 

As for places to stay, there are guesthouses on the main road. However, I would STRONGLY recommend Art's Riverside Lodge or Our Jungle House. These places are VERY atmospheric and rustic - no aircon, cold showers, mosquito nets and very basic, but they have a LOT of character.

 

"Our Jungle House" actually has tree houses perched high in the canopies - these are lovely and a wonderfully unique experience!

 

To fall asleep with the sounds of the jungle outside is one of the most amazing travel experiences in Thailand, if not Asia. (IMHO).

And it's black... PITCH black. You cannot see your hand held in front of your face!

 

There are wonderful trekking opportunities in the National Park. Always hire a guide. It's very cheap. (About 500 baht). You can also do a night safari, which is wonderful and, again, very atmospheric.

 

The elephant ride near Khao Sok is EXCELLENT. (About a 30 minutes drive away). All the guest houses can tee it up for you. You will ride to a waterfall where you can take a refreshing dip under the falls - amazing!!

 

Tubing down the Sok River (riding on inflatable tubes) is fantastic and a lot of fun, especially during wet season. (Make sure the river level is not dangerously high after big rains if you go in wet season - people have died in the past... unlikely and unlucky, but it has happened). Hire a guide to go with you.

 

I also strongly recommend a night out at the Raft Houses on the lake about an hour's drive from Khao Sok. It's so beautiful out there - great swimming and stunning nature and scenery.

Again, the guest hosues can tee this up for you.

 

After Khao Sok, it's easy to get a bus down to Krabi (changing at Takua Pa) or back to Surat and then train or flight back to BKK.

 

Let me know if you've got any questions.

Enjoy the pics! (Sorry about the different pic sizes - taken with different camera I owned at different times on different visits!)

 

Entrance to Khao Sok:

 

Treehouses At Our Jungle House:

 

 

Elephant Riding:

 

 

Bungalow at Our Jungle House:

 

Typical Southern Thai Landscape:

 

The Rafthouses At The Lake:

 

Southern Thai Lake:

 

 

[Guest lazyphil]

looks beautiful and you have answred a number of questions i was going to ask. looks like its bkk-LB-KS-krabi-bkk-home.

 

thanks MooNoi for the effort and time!!

[MooNoi]

You're welcome - you can buy me a pint when I come to "The Fens" sometime next year!

 

(Want a tenner on The Ashes, by the way??)

[Guest lazyphil]

of course just let me know when you're planning to be in the country and we can arrange something, try and make it in the summer (not august, not here!) cambridge is best in summer,.....i can take you to the fens, you might not get out though!.....deliverence ring a bell?!

 

btw cricket bores the hell out of me!