If you’ve been dreaming about staying in a floating bungalow on a beautiful lake, surrounded by some of the oldest rainforests in the world, look no further! This is my 2-day Khao Sok National Park itinerary.
During my last trip to Thailand in early 2024, I was determined to visit Khao Sok National Park. I wanted to spend at least one night on the floating bungalows of Cheow Lan Lake. This is one of the most popular national parks in Thailand and you can easily see why. For starters, it’s beautiful! It’s the sort of place where you can escape the crowds to swim, hike, and go on wildlife safaris.
It’s also fairly easy to get to, it’s right along the typical backpacker route, and like most things in Thailand, visiting has been made easier than ever.
Normally, Thailand is one of the cheapest countries in the world to explore, which is why we were pretty surprised to see the price tag attached to most of the stays in Khao Sok National Park. It ended up being the most expensive part of our 4-month trip to Thailand this year.
While there are a lot of options to explore Khao Sok National Park, it’s not always easy to find information about it online. Today I’m going to attempt to share everything I learned about Khao Sok and staying on Cheow Lan Lake with you.
Khao Sok National Park Itinerary
Everything you need to know about Khao Sok National Park
When we started planning our trip to Khao Sok National Park, the first thing we noticed was that there weren’t any options to ‘DIY’ your trip. We looked but couldn’t find a single hotel on Cheow Lan Lake that would just let us book a couple of nights’ stay.
Trips to Khao Sok are organized as prepackaged itineraries.
The second thing to know is that there are two popular areas people talk about when they visit Khao Sok National Park. There’s the Khao Sok Village and Cheow Lan Lake, which are 67km apart. Most accommodation options offer one—or two-night stays. If you opt for the two-night stay, the first night will be in the village.
Getting to Khao Sok National Park
Getting anywhere in Thailand is the easiest thing in the world. I swear it’s one of the easiest and safest countries in the world to explore. Your transportation to Khao Sok will usually be organized depending on where you’re coming from.
Bangkok: If you’ve flown into Bangkok, your quickest option is to get a connecting flight to Surat Thani and a minibus from Surat Thani to Khao Sok Village. You can also take the overnight bus from Bangkok to Surat Thani. The minibus overnight option from Bangkok only costs $24 (USD) per person.
Koh Samui, Koh Tao, or Koh Phangan: From any of the islands in the Gulf of Thailand you can take a ferry and bus to get to Khao Sok. This costs between $18-$22 per person and takes around 6 hours. If you take the night ferry from Koh Tao to Khao Sok it takes around 12 hours and costs $28 per person.
Phuket: This is by far the easiest way to get to Khao Sok! You just need to take a 4 ½ hour bus ride for about $11 per person.
If you’re traveling from anywhere else in Thailand to Khao Sok National Park, simply head to 12Go.Asia and search. You can also walk into any travel shop in Thailand and they will be happy to help you get there (which is always the cheapest option).
Khao Sok National Park Tours
We wanted to stay overnight in the park, but there are also options to visit the national park as a day trip, especially from Phuket and Krabi. Here are some day trips, and one—or two-night stays.
Day Trips to Khao Sok:
- If you only have one day, this is a tour that helps you see the highlights of Khao Sok from Surat Thani.
- And this is a one-day tour option from Krabi.
Both of these day trips help you explore Cheow Lan Lake which is the highlight of Khao Sok National Park. They also take you on a hike to a secret cave and give you a chance to see some of the amazing wildlife in the park.
1-Night Stay in Khao Sok Tree House:
- This one-night tour of Khao Sok National Park includes a memorable stay in a jungle treehouse! This particular tour includes all of your meals and transportation pickup from Khao Lak as well as jungle trekking and a trip to Cheow Lan Lake.
2-Night Stay in Khao Sok National Park:
- We recommend a 2-night stay in Khao Sok National Park. We booked with Smiley Bungalows and spent one night in their ‘Domes’ in Khao Sok Village and one night on their floating bungalows at Smiley Lakehouse. All of your meals are included and you’ll have the chance to go on 2 wildlife safaris, kayak around the lake, and do a guided hike.
3-Night Stay in Khao Sok National Park:
- If you have plenty of time and want to see everything that Khao Sok National Park has to offer, consider booking this 3-night, 4-day stay which includes all of your meals and activities like river tubing. You’ll get the chance to spend two nights in a treehouse bungalow and one night in a floating bungalow on the lake! This tour is the best of Khao Sok.
Khao Sok Village & Park Headquarters
If you decide to do one of the 2 or 3-night stays in the National Park, your trip will start in the Khao Sok Village. The village was beautiful! We arrived in the rain and spent our time drinking coffee, eating, and watching the rain fall on our Dome in the Smiley Dome Camp. (Not the most exciting… but we needed a full day of relaxing and the rain allowed us to do that.)
If you book a tour, you’ll have the opportunity to do various activities on your full day in the village. Some of the activities offered by Smiley were:
- Night Safari
- Bamboo Rafting
- Tubing
- Canoeing
You can also explore the park headquarters which is a good place to see some of Thailand’s most iconic wildlife. You might get a chance to see macaques, hornbills, wild boar, and deer. If you’re lucky and travel between January and March, you might also see the biggest flower in the world – the Rafflesia.
There is a hiking trail that starts at the visitor’s center and continues on for 7km with 9 ‘points of interest’ that are mainly waterfalls. You are highly discouraged from hiking in the park without a guide – and there is a big sign at the headquarters saying that.
Because of this, we didn’t do the hike. I did hear later that the rangers are quite relaxed and will let you go as far as Bang Liap Nam waterfall without a guide.
Restaurants and Bars in Khao Sok Village
On your first day in Khao Sok Village, you’ll have to pay for each of your meals. For us, this included lunch and dinner. For lunch, we decided to get a simple Pad Thai with spring rolls and drinks. This meal cost us ฿390 for two people ($10.80).
Then for dinner, we went to Num Ngern which I highly recommend! They had unique and interesting vegan and vegetarian options on their menu and the food ended up being delicious! We had Vegan Pad Kra Pow, Vegan Larb, rice, and a big Chang for ฿370 ($10.25) for two people.
Big beers in Khao Sok Village cost ฿100 ($2.75) at each place we visited.
Cheow Lan Lake
The star of the show is located 67km away from Khao Sok Village. Cheow Lan Lake is mesmerizing! It’s a manmade lake that was formed when the Rajjaprabha Dam was built in 1987. The Klong Saeng River flooded 185 square kilometers of forest which is why you see dead tree trunks rising out of the lake.
The average depth of the lake is about 40m (130ft) and the deepest point was estimated to be 90m (300ft) deep. Unfortunately, most of the fish species have died because of stagnant waters and there was actually some gullible enough to believe that sharks lived in the lake.
The best way to visit Cheow Lan Lake is with an overnight stay in the famous floating bungalows. Each resort on the lake has its own version and what I loved was how secluded we were. You couldn’t see any other resorts on the lake while you were there.
Smiley Lakehouse has kayaks that you can take out anytime you want to kayak the surrounding area. They also take you on two wildlife safaris, and a guided hike and provide you will all of your meals while you’re there. They also had tea, coffee, and drinking water provided throughout your stay.
Overnight Itinerary
This is an example of our overnight itinerary – but I imagine any tour or resort does it similarly.
- Morning departure from Khao Sok Village to Cheow Lan Lake
- Longtail boat from Cheow Lan Pier to Lakehouse past gorgeous limestone cliffs that rise out of the lake
- Lunch on arrival and free time (we used this time to swim and kayak)
- Sunset wildlife safari
- Dinner and free time
- Sunrise Safari
- Breakfast and guided hike
- Lunch
- Transfer back to Cheow Lan Pier from there to your final destination (we transferred to Krabi)
Guided Cave Hike
The jungle around Cheow Lan Lake is magical. It’s full of wildlife, ancient trees, and thousands of butterflies. During our stay, we hiked to Nam Taloo cave. It’s more of a walk through the jungle and a swim through the cave.
Be prepared for lots of water crossings and swimming in the cave. We were given water shoes to wear, but sandals (like Tevas) would have been perfect. You’re also given a headlamp and the guides will have a dry bag for your phones and cameras.
We left our clothes and bags by the exit to the caves along with anyone who didn’t want to do the dark cave swim.
Be warned that the caves are home to rare and horrifying giant cave spiders.
What to Pack for Your Trip to Khao Sok National Park
We were advised to leave the majority of our belongings at the Khao Sok Village (as we would be returning here after our stay at the lake) and I’m glad that we did as the boat ride back was very wet. If you book with accommodation or a tour operator, chances are they will be happy to store your luggage while you’re at the lake.
Here’s what I recommend packing in your day pack.
- Camera (the DJI Action 5 is perfect for this trip!)
- Kindle (e-reader)
- Reusable Waterbottle
- Playing cards
- Phone power bank
- Bathing Suit
- Sunscreen
- Clean socks and underwear
- Rain jacket
- Towel
- Tevas or other outdoor sandals
- Spare set of clothes
- Mosquito repellent (the mosquitos were *really* bad on the hike)
- Basic toiletries (toothbrush, toothpaste, contact lenses)
- Dry bag/rain cover
Costs of the Overnight Khao Sok Lake Tour
Because everything at Khao Sok National Park is guided tours, the price is generally going to include everything from your meals to your transfers. We had 5 meals included in our 3-days/2-nights stay with Smiley Guesthouse.
We paid ฿7,032.90 for the two of us for this tour with a transfer to Krabi after. At the time (May 2024) this was the equivalent of $192.30 (USD).
You also need to pay the entrance fee of ฿340 per person (about $9.36). And you’ll have to pay for drinks at your resort. During our stay, a Chang cost ฿100 each (about $2.75).
To get to Khao Sok from Koh Tao on the overnight ferry, we paid ฿1,000 per person (about $27.41).
Final Thoughts my 2-Day Khao Sok National Park Intinerary
I’m so glad that I finally got to visit Khao Sok National Park. Staying at Cheow Lan Lake has been on my bucket list for years – and it lived up to my expectations. If you have limited time, try to book at least a day trip to explore the National Park. However, I recommend having a couple of days – and giving yourself time to stay overnight on the lake.
The only downside for me was that we booked the cheapest option which meant we were surrounded by very young backpackers. I don’t mind it, but I would have preferred to have booked a mid-range accommodation to price out the 18-year-olds on their first trip abroad. This is only because I’m not in this place as a traveler anymore and wanted my stay at Cheow Lan Lake to be peaceful and quiet.
If you can afford it, I would recommend keeping this in mind and booking accordingly.
From Khao Sok National Park, consider traveling onwards to Koh Tao or Koh Samui for some gorgeous beaches, island living and diving!
