Khao Sok National Park: Cheow Lan Lake, hikes and how to get there

Khao Sok National Park has two parts about an hour apart by road. Khao Sok village, at the park headquarters, is the base for jungle hikes, the river and the night safari. Cheow Lan Lake, to the east, is reached by longtail boat from Ratchaprapha Dam and is where you sleep in a floating bungalow. Plan two nights, one in each. We checked fees, prices and closures on 14 November 2026, and we mark every figure that is only reported.

Tours and activities to book in Khao Sok

These six tours cover the lake, the trails and the night safari, with live prices and availability.

See more activities in Khao Sok

Khao Sok National Park entrance fee in 2026

You pay twice if you visit both parts of the park, because the headquarters and the lake have separate gates. The fees below are those listed by Thai National Parks in June 2026. We found no fee table on the website of the Department of National Parks, and some travel guides still quote 300 THB at the headquarters, so carry 300 THB in cash per adult for each gate.

Thai citizens pay 40 THB, and 20 THB for a child. A ticket covers several days only if you sleep inside the park, at the campsite or in a raft house on the lake. Sleep in the village and come back the next day, and you pay again. The visitor centre is open from 8 am to 4:30 pm every day.

Cheow Lan Lake by longtail boat from Ratchaprapha Dam

Cheow Lan Lake is a reservoir of 165 square kilometres, held back since the early 1980s by the 94-metre Ratchaprapha Dam. Boats leave from Cheow Lan Pier, also called Ratchaprapha Pier, near the dam. It is the only way to reach the raft houses, the caves and the viewpoints on the water.

Longtail boats carry 7 to 10 passengers, and larger ones up to 18. One guide reports about 2,000 THB for two hours or 2,800 THB for three, per boat whatever the group size, but the page is not dated. Since the 2023 to 2024 season boats have been short in high season, and Thai National Parks says the problem continued into early 2026. Book the boat with your tour or raft house rather than at the pier.

Times are those given by Thai National Parks. Boats may not run before sunrise or after sunset, so what is sold as a lake night safari is in fact a late afternoon trip. A typical day tour leaves the village at about 8:30 am, reaches the pier around 10 am, stops at the three rocks, a cave and a raft house for lunch, and is back in the village around 6 pm.

Khao Sok floating bungalows: a night on Cheow Lan Lake

The raft houses are wooden bungalows on floats, moored in bays up to 1 hour 20 minutes by boat from the pier. Most visitors book them as a two-day package with the boat, meals and a guide, from about 150 USD per person on booking sites in 2026. In high season they fill weeks ahead.

Mobile signal reaches only parts of the lake, and only on the AIS network. Pack a power bank and a head torch, as the lights go off early in the cheaper places. Kayaks are usually free to use, and you swim straight off the porch.

Thai National Parks notes that raft houses do not provide mosquito nets, and that the generators on shore can be heard at night. Nights from February to May are hot without air conditioning.

Khao Sok hiking trails from the park headquarters

The trails start at the visitor centre in Khao Sok village. Only two short stretches can be walked without a guide, and guides are no longer booked at the visitor centre. You arrange them through your hotel or an agency in the village, and many speak little English.

Thai National Parks gives minimum guide rates of 600 THB for a half-day hike of three to four hours and 1,200 to 1,500 THB for a full day, for one or two people, plus 50 THB per person from three. Hotels add their own fees, and a backpacker blog reports 700 THB for a half day and 1,200 THB for a full day.

The trails are muddy and slippery, so wear closed shoes with grip, not flip-flops. In the rainy season, expect leeches and mosquitoes, and treks are often cancelled after heavy rain. The main trail has also become very busy since the 2023 to 2024 season.

Khao Sok caves: Nam Talu, Coral Cave and flood safety

Nam Talu is the cave people come for, with a stream running through it, reached by boat and a walk through the jungle. It is also the dangerous one. It is closed from 1 June to 30 November because of flash floods, the dates given by the Tourism Authority of Thailand and the Bangkok Post. Thai National Parks gives 14 December as the opening date, so it varies.

Coral Cave is in the Khlong Saeng Wildlife Sanctuary, north of the lake. Count 45 to 50 minutes by boat, a walk of 20 to 25 minutes and a 200 THB entry, with a bamboo raft at 400 THB. Diamond Cave is closer and shorter, and you need a torch. Look Nam cave, 800 metres long, is a hard 8.5 km hike from a ranger station and is closed if rain is forecast, because the water can rise five to seven metres.

Bamboo rafting, tubing and the Khao Sok night safari

On the Sok River, near the village, you can float down on a tube for about 500 THB or take a bamboo raft for 700 to 1,200 THB per person, depending on the source. A canoe trip costs about 800 THB. All three need enough water, and in the second half of the dry season the river can be too low.

The night safari is a guided walk of about three hours, from around 7 pm, on the trails near the headquarters. Thai National Parks gives 1,200 THB for one or two people as the minimum guide rate. Expect frogs, snakes, spiders and glowing fungi rather than big animals. It is not allowed on the lake, where boats stop at sunset.

Khao Sok wildlife: rafflesia, hornbills and tigers

Rafflesia kerrii, the emblem of Surat Thani province, grows here. The flower reaches 70 to 80 cm across and blooms around February, on the Orchid trail and near km 111 of the main road. That roadside area is closed from 1 May to 31 October, according to the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

Nearly 400 bird species are recorded in the park. The great hornbill is seen along the Sip Et Chan trail, while the helmeted hornbill has become very rare because of poaching. Macaques and banded langurs are common around the headquarters, and you often hear gibbons at dawn.

The park has elephants, gaurs, tapirs and sun bears, but they keep away from the busy areas. Thai National Parks puts the chance of seeing wild elephants at 30 to 40 percent on a private three-day tour of the lake. As for tigers, nobody has seen one in the park for decades, not even on camera traps. Skip any tour that offers elephant rides or shows.

Best time to visit Khao Sok National Park

January to March is the driest period, and mid-November to April is the high season, with the shortage of boats and full raft houses that comes with it. Temperatures stay between 22 and 36°C all year.

The rains run from late April to early December, heaviest from May to October. Rain tends to fall in the late afternoon or at night, the jungle is greener and the lake is quieter, but Nam Talu is closed and treks get cancelled. September is the wettest month, with about 450 mm of rain against about 40 mm in January.

On the coast nearby, the monsoon also roughens the sea, which is worth knowing if you combine Khao Sok with things to do in Phuket or the Similan Islands in the same trip.

How to get to Khao Sok from Phuket, Krabi, Khao Lak and Surat Thani

Buses and minivans stop at the junction on Route 401, 1.8 km from the park entrance, and many minivans drop you at your guesthouse. Most hotels sit between the junction and the gate. Surat Thani airport is the closest, about 1.5 hours from the village.

From Bangkok, the usual route is the night train to Surat Thani, arriving early in the morning, then the bus. Buses from Phuket stop often, and travellers on booking sites report late or missed departures, so leave a margin. If Khao Sok is your first stop after landing, fill in the Thailand Digital Arrival Card before the flight.

Getting to Cheow Lan Lake and the pier

The pier is about an hour east of the village, and there is no convenient public transport to it. Tours include the transfer by minivan. Otherwise, take a private taxi, or the bus to Ban Ta Khun and a songthaew from the junction, which leaves only when it is full. Do not count on shared transport if your boat leaves the same day.

Khao Sok tour or independent trip?

You can reach the village and walk the first part of the main trail on your own. For the lake, a tour or a raft house package is the simpler choice, because it brings the transfer, the boat and the park fee together, and boats are hard to find at the pier in high season.

Group day tours from the village follow nearly the same route at nearly the same price, so the difference is the group size. A private boat costs more but lets you stay longer at the caves or the viewpoint. Ask whether the 300 THB lake fee is included, as some tours collect it in cash on the day.

Day tours from Phuket, Krabi or Khao Lak exist, but from Phuket or Krabi the drive alone is 3.5 to 4 hours each way. From Khao Lak, at about an hour, a day trip makes more sense.

How many days in Khao Sok: a 2-night plan

Two nights is the usual minimum: one in the village for the trails, one on the lake for the sunrise. A third night adds the night safari or a longer hike without rushing.

Khao Sok sits between the Andaman coast and the Gulf islands, so on a tour of the southern Thailand destinations it fits between a stay in Phuket or Krabi and a ferry to Koh Samui.