Khao Sok is a popular national park in southern Thailand, known for its massive man-made Cheow Lan Lake, dramatic limestone cliffs, diverse wildlife, and numerous hiking trails. In this article, I will share my itinerary for 2-4 days in Khao Sok and my opinion on how many days in Khao Sok is enough.
There are many things to do in Khao Sok National Park including taking a boat ride on Cheow Lan Lake, jungle trekking, spotting wild animals, and exploring the caves. You can take a day trip or stay overnight at Cheow Lan Lake.
The overnight trip has a similar schedule as the day trop but it allows you to experience a stay in a floating house and a night safari on the boat. It can be a unique experience for some visitors.
How Many Days in Khao Sok is enough?
I stayed 3 nights in Khao Sok and believe that 2-4 days is enough time to do major activities in Khao Sok. This time allows you to take a boat ride on Cheow Lan Lake, explore the caves, jungle trekking, night safari, and enjoy the nightlife at the main village.
Here are my recommendations on things to do and how long to do these activities in Khao Sok:
#1. Cheow Lan Lake. This lake is the hightlige of Khao Sok National Park. You can choose to take day trips from Khlong Sok village or take 2 days 1 night tour to the lake. I personally take a day trip to the lake and believe it is enough to explore the area.
#2. Jungle trekking. There are several trekking routes in the National park. You can do a short trek (around 3 km) by yourself and longer treks require guided tours. There are half day or full day tours inside the park. The hike to the giant Rafflesia flower is seasonal only in the blooming season.
#3. Night safari. This tour lasts for a couple of hours in the evening. You can spot wild animals in the dark. This can be done easily by booking a direct ticket at the entrance of the National park. The ticket was 500 baht and I had a private guide.
#4. River activities. There are numerous water activities on the Sok River including tubing, canoeing, kayaking, and bamboo rafting. These can be done within a half or full day.
See more: 9 Best Things to Do in Khao Sok
Getting to Khao Sok:
Khao Sok is located in South Thailand close to popular places such as Surat Thani, Ao Nang, Krabi, Khao Lak, and Phuket. It is easily accessible by road from all places in Thailand.
The closest airport to Khao Sok is Surat Thani Airport. From the airport, you can easily take public transport or private transfer to get to Khao Sok, which is 1-1.5 hour drive away. Other popular airports nearby are Phuket and Krabi, but flight to Surat Thani is the cheapest option.
Getting around Khao Sok:
Khlong Sok village is the main village of Khao Sok, located near the entrance of Khao Sok National Park Headquarter. The main village is a small area, centered around the 2km long main street. If you stay in the main village, you can easily get around on foot.
From the main village, you can also walk to Khao Sok National Park Headquarter where you can buy tickets for trekking and night safari.
The distance from Khlong Sok village to Cheow Lan lake is 60km. To explore the Cheow Lan lake area and caves, you need to hire a private driver, take a guided tour, or rent a motorbike.
See more: How to Get to Khao Sok & Get Around
Best months to visit Khao Sok:
November to February is generally the best time to visit Khao Sok National Park. This is part of the dry season that has pleasant weather and little rain, which is ideal for trekking, cruising along the lake, and wildlife spotting. March to May is still the dry season but it can be very hot.
The rainy season in Khao Sok is from June to October. This season has fewer tourists and offers greener landscapes. If you are looking for budget-friendly time to travel to Khao Sok, the rainy season offers great deals on accommodations and tours.
Accommodations in Khao Sok:
Khlong Sok Village is the most convenient place to stay in Khao Sok. This is the main town of the area and is lined with tourist amenities such as hotels, resorts, and guest houses. You’ll be within walking distance from a range of restaurants, bars, and shops, as well as bus stations and travel agencies.
Many visitors just choose to stay a night in the village before taking 1 night & 2 days or 2 nights & 3 days trips to Cheow Lan Lake. This tour offers a stay in a floating house, as well as activities such as jungle trekking and cave exploring.
See more at Where to Stay in Khao Sok.
Here are the brief og my itinerary for 2-4 days in Khao Sok:
How to Spend 2-4 Days in Khao Sok Itinerary
Day 1: Arrival and Klong Sok Village
I came to Khao Sok from Koh Samui. It is a long day trip from my hotel in Lamai at 10am to Khao Sok at 6.30pm. I was to transfer to various modes of transport such as minivan, ferry, and bus.
Klong Sok Village at night
After checking in the hotel, I walked to the main road to explore the area and have dinner. It is a 2 km long road with one end is the bus station and another end is the entrance to Khao Sok National Park.
You can find everything in the village including ATMs, convenience stores, travel agencies, restaurants, bars, cafes, and souvenir shops. There are no 7-11 at Klong Sok, just local convenience shops.
I had my dinner at Nongsaw Thai Food. The restaurant has a buffet style where you can choose whatever you want to put on your plate. The price is 80-100 for rice with 2 other choices.
Day 2: Trekking and Night Safari in Khao Sok National Park
I spent my second day in Khao Sok, checking a couple of small trekking routes in the national park and joining the night safari program. I did the 3 km hike to Bang Hua Rat Waterfall trail and the 2km San Yang Roi Trail.
From my hotel in Klong Sok village, I walked to Khao Sok National Park for exploration. It is located at the end of the main road. The ticket is 200 baht per adult.
Trekking to Bang Hua Rat Waterfall – Ton Kloi Waterfall Nature Trail
This is an easy trail where you can do the first 3 km to Bang Hua Rat Waterfall by yourself. If you want to continue the hike to Ton Kloi Waterfall Nature Trail, you need to take a guided tour or hire a private local guide. The price is quite expensive, around 1500 baht for a full day hike in a group tour.
I did the trail myself to Bang Hua Rat Waterfall. The main path is easy to follow. There are some small trails from the main road taking you to the waterfall. It doesn’t necessarily need a map, but you can use Map.me or Google Maps for some navigation, especially at some smaller paths.
Along the way, you can find some nice pool areas for swimming and chilling.
I saw Dusky Langur (black monkey) in the bamboo area on the main path as well as many regular monets along the waterfall area.
At the end of the trail to Bang Hua Rat Waterfall, you will see a ranger office where you can buy some snacks or a bottle of water.
The trail to Ton Kloi Waterfall is also blocked here by a gate and barbed wire. You can see the sign “Hiking with the guide only” in several places.
I spent a total of 3 hours on this trail, taking a leisure walk, enjoying the waterfalls, climbing between some rocks, and observing the wild animals.
When I walked back to the first checkpoint, I had lunch at the restaurant inside the park. I had chicken fried rice, ice cream, and a bottle of water to bring with me for the next trekking route.
Trekking the San Yang Roi Trail – Sip-et-chan Waterfall
San Yang Roi Trail is a 2 km loop trail where you have to walk up and down long, steep wooden stairs. This trail is not very well maintained and nothing special at the viewpoints, but it is great for those who like hiking.
Be sure to bring insect repellent with you. Just walk slowly, take a deep breath, and enjoy nature. It took me 1 hour to do the loop of San Yang Roi Trail.
After reaching the end point of San Yang Roi Trail, you can only continue the trail to Sip-et-chan Waterfall with the guide only. You can probably wander around, but it is not worth it. The trail is narrow dirt road and not very well signposted.
I came back to the park’s entrance and ticket counter around 4.15pm. I bought a ticket for night safari, which is 500 baht. I chose to come back at 6.30pm for a night safari. If you buy the ticket after 4.30pm, you can use it for the next day.
I told the staff that I will visit Cheow Lan Lake the next day, and he helped me to stamp something on my ticket to make it available to use at Cheow Lan Lake. I will have to pay 100 baht more instead of the 300 baht national park fee to the lake.
Night Safari at Khao Sok National park
I came back to the park around 6.30 for my night safari tour. The staff selling me the ticket assigned me to a private tour guide. We took the short trail toward Bang Hua Rat Waterfall and saw many wild animals in the dark.
The guide showed me fireflies, lizards, grasshoppers, spiders, snakes, scorpions, black monkeys, and butterflies. The tour lasted for around 2 hours and I was very happy with it.
Dinner at Black stone Cafe
I had my dinner at Black stone Cafe. The cafe is nicely decorated. I ordered pattaya salad and fried rice. They served very nice and authentic Thai food.
Day 3: Day trip to Cheow Lan Lake
On my 3rd day in Khao Sok, I took a day trip to Cheow Lan Lake. I booked the tour from my hotel. This trip includes the two way transfer between hotel and the lake, the boat tour, jungle trekking, visiting a cave, and buffet lunch at the floating house.
The driver picked me up from my hotel around 8am with 6 other tourists in the van. We stopped at a 7-11 along the way for toilets and bought some snacks. We arrived at Cheow Lan Lake Pier around 10 am.
We met our tour guide and joined a group of 10 people, so my group is quite big now, 17 people. I traveled To Khao Sok in January. It is the high season, so there are many other groups like us on the same tours. It is very crowded.
The hotel gave me a waterproof bag with a raincoat and towel in it. It was useful because you can get wet on the longtail boats.
The natural surroundings around the lake are breathtaking with emerald green waters and dramatic limestone mountains. We reached the three limestone peaks within a 1 hour ride from the pier. This is the iconic attraction of the lake, according to my tour guide.
As I sat at the back of the boat, I didn’t have a good shot. I recommend finding a spot in the front of the boat for the best views and best photos.
From the Three Rock Landmark, we rode to the Pra Kai Petch Cave within 15 minutes. Also known as Diamond Cave, this is a small cave where you can admire unique stalactites and stalagmites. This cave is a popular spot on the boat tour so it was, again, full of tourists.
After the cave, the boat takes us to the forest where we can do a small loop hike in the jungle. The jungle is nice with natural springs and lots of old big trees, but it was very crowded. The guide showed us some small animals like spiders and cicadas. We spent around 1 hour in the jungle.
We arrived at the Klong Ka floating house for lunch around 1pm. We have Thai Lunch and share the food together.
We had 2 hours at the floating house for swimming, kayaking, relaxing, and enjoying the views.
The boat left the floating house at 3pm, went back to Cheow Lan Lake pier at 4pm, then we were transferred to a minivan to get back to Klong Sok village at 5pm.
Overall, I think it was good to take the day trip to have an overview of this huge man-made lake. Nature is magnificent. The downside is that it was very crowded every spot we went to. It is probably a better experience in the low season where there are less tourists.
If you take the overnight trip, you’ll likely have a better experience at sunset and sunrise when all the day-trippers have left.
Day 4: Bus to Khao Lak/ Other things to do in Khao Sok
On day 4 in Khao Lak, I travel to Khao Lak by shared minivan in the morning. I booked the ticket the day before at Minivan Station at one end of Klong Sok Village.
If you have more time, you can do other activities such as tubing, Canoeing, and Kayaking on the Sok River. You can relax in the tube and water will lead you to their flow. You can enjoy the scenery along its river bank.
These are my recommendations on how to spend 2-4 days in Khao Sok. I think 2-4 days is generally enough to explore Khao Sok National Park and the main village – Klong Sok.
With 2-4 days, you can do some trekking by yourself, and take either a day trip or overnight trip to Cheow Lan Lake. On the trip to Cheow Lan Lake, you can enjoy the boat ride with stunning landscape, visiting caves, do small trekking, and visit a raft house for lunch, swimming and kayaking.