Exploring The Jungle With Kids – Khao Sok National Park
Thailand is filled with amazing world-class adventures and locations, from its paradisical tropical islands to the bustling city streets of Bangkok. There are so many incredible locations, in fact, that it’s entirely possible that you may have overlooked one of Thailand’s best locations for family-friendly jungle adventures: Khao Sok National Park!
Khao Sok National Park
What is it? A large evergreen rainforest park in southern Thailand.
Who’s it for? Nature enthusiasts and families who are looking for non-beach nature outings in Thailand.
Major Attractions? Jungle trekking, tubing and rafting, caving, and more!
Where to stay? Our family chose to stay at Nung House and found it perfect for our needs.
Khao Sok covers an impressive 285 square miles (739km²) of area in Southern Thailand and includes some of the oldest evergreen rainforest in all of Thailand. However, Khao Sok National park is only one of the protected areas in the larger Khao Sok Forest Complex, which covers over 2000 square miles of protected rainforest and animal sanctuary!
This huge area of protected land helps preserve innumerable native plant and animal species, likely including many that have yet to be discovered. And yet, Khao Sok National Park itself is incredibly easy to visit, making it the perfect location for a Thailand jungle adventure!
Jungle Trekking
The jungle itself is the biggest highlight of any trip to Khao Sok, which is great because it’s incredibly easy to access. The shorter trails in the park are well-marked, easy paths with lots of people walking them. And all you have to do to walk them is pay the daily park entry fee!
National Park Daily Entry Fee –
- Adults – 300 Baht (about $8)
- Children – 150 Baht (about $4)
Note: If you buy your entry ticket after 6:00pm (say, for a night hike), it will be good for a full day’s entry the next day as well!
We chose to hike the trail to Wing Hin Waterfall with a group of other families who were in the area. Walking the trails on our own, we spotted dusky langurs, lizards, and several snakes right along the trail, which was pretty cool!
However, if you want to see as much wildlife as possible in the park, I really suggest going with a guided tour.
Guided Trail Tours
I’ve read several other blogs that tell you that it isn’t actually necessary to hire a guide for exploring the different trails through Khao Sok, and technically that is true. However, unless you are an experienced trekker and have done the research for your particular trail, I wouldn’t suggest trying the longer trails on your own.
For one, once you get farther out on the trails, they get much more rugged and it can be easy to get turned around. Especially if you’re hiking with kids, having someone who knows the area helps keep your trip fun by helping you avoid getting lost.
For another, I am constantly amazed at how much better than me the local guides are at spotting wildlife! Guides routinely spot animals that I would have completely walked by without ever noticing! So, if wildlife spotting is on your list of things to do, having a guide is a must.
You can usually book a hike with a guide at your hotel’s front desk or at the park entry where local guides will often hang out near the gate and offer their services. Either method will get you an inexpensive local guide that can take you safely through the park, but if you really want to kick it up a notch, there are full day experiences (like the one below) available via Get Your Guide.
This tour includes a 3km into the national park, and out again (6km round trip), a full lunch, and a canoe trip down the river to check out the local wildlife.
And, bonus! They serve you coffee in an all natural bamboo cup that you can keep as a souvenir!
Night hike
The jungle at night is a different world than during the day, but it’s one that is equally incredible to explore! Night hikes don’t offer a lot in the way of incredible views of the jungle, since it’s way too dark for that. But it does give you a chance to see many of the jungle animals that only come out at night!
A sleeping dusky langur holding her baby (the bit with yellow fur)
A long-horned tree lizard
A David Bowie Spider (yes, really)
An electric blue tarantula
A disinterested tree frog
During our night hike we spotted several of frogs and lizards, a few snakes, and so many spiders, including an electric blue tarantula and a hairy yellow spider that scientists decided to name the David Bowie spider. (I kid you not.)
We also spotted some less creepy crawly critters, including a sleeping dusky langur mom with her baby, and something moving through the trees that our guide told me was a civet.
This was easily one of my favorite outings during our time in Khao Sok, and should not be missed!
Check out this guided hike into Khao Sok at sunset!
Your begin your tour while it's still light out, but finish in the dark so you can see the forest come alive as the sun goes down.
This particular tour also includes bamboo rafting (during the day) and a meal at a local restaurant.
Explore and Play in the Sok River
One of the most prominent features in Khao Sok town is the Sok River that flows right through its center!
The river moves in and out of the national park’s boundaries, and is one of the best ways to beat the heat for families staying in town. It doesn’t cost anything to swim in the shallows around town, though if you’re using a restaurant or hotel’s facilities to get in, it can be a good idea to order some food or drinks while you’re there.
Check out these two river front restaurant/hotels for easy access to the water!
River Tubing (or Bamboo Rafting!)
Families with an adventurous streak can also choose to book a float trip down the Sok River!
Several different river float tours are available, including kayaking trips, trips with locally made bamboo rafts, or trips where you can sit back and relax in a rubber tube. Whichever option you choose, you’ll be treated to a fun trip down the river surrounded by jungle on every side!
Note: The availability of these trips depends a lot on the river’s water levels. My family visited in the dry season and the river levels were too low for us to be able to book a float trip. If you plan to book one of these tours, be sure to check with your provider that the levels will be high enough!
When we were in town, water levels were too low for rafting trips, so I have no personal experience for this one.
Even so, it sounds like a ton of fun!
Cheow Lan Lake and Caving Trip
Jungle trails and cool creatures may be the main draw for visitors to Khao Sok, but they aren’t the only options for families looking to have a great time in the area.
Back in 1987, Thailand decided to build a massive hydroelectric dam along the Phrasaeng river, as a way of creating a low cost power option. But while electricity may have been the main motivator, the dam’s construction also led to the creation of the Cheow Lan Lake in Khao Sok National Park. Today the lake is huge, covering over 63 mi² of surface area, and it is bordered on all sides by absolutely stunning limestone cliffs.
Needless to say, Cheow Lan lake has become one of the most popular tourist destinations in Khao Sok!
Discover hidden waterfalls on a Caving Adventure!
Cheow Lan Lake’s limestone cliffs are honeycombed with caves just waiting to be explored! Most of the lake tours that you can book in the area include at least one caving adventure as part of the experience, and I highly recommend making good use of it.
The tour that we booked included a trip into Nam Talu Cave. The cave itself was beautiful, and had all the normal cave features you would expect, but it also has underground streams to swim through on the way to underground waterfalls! The whole experience made a pretty great adventure!
Because we visited during the dry season, the falls themselves were small, with only a bit of water coming over them, but during the wet season they can be so strong that tourists aren’t allowed in the caves. If you’re visiting between June and early November, Nam Talu will be closed.
Even when we visited (in January), the water in the cave was deep enough to go over my head in a couple places, but our kids loved getting to swim through the cave, and I never felt in any danger while in the cave.
Do note:Â If you plan on taking pictures in the cave, you will definitely want to bring a waterproof camera or phone. I planned on holding my phone above my head while in the water, but when I went in over my head, instincts kicked in and I gave it a good dunk or two. Luckily, the Pixel 7 Pro can take being submerged for a short while, and I didn’t have any problems. Plus, the night sight mode helped us to capture some great shots, even in the dark!
Stay overnight on a Floating Bungalow
Even if you plan on skipping the cave tour, there are other lake activities to check out at Cheow Lan. Including staying at a floating bungalow!
We only did the day trip, but our tour had lunch at one of the floating bungalow sites where other visitors were staying the night. They had 20-30 bungalows built on floating platforms, a larger meal area, and even a small shop, in case you wanted to buy some small snacks between meals.
Guests could swim in the lake, borrow one of the camp’s kayaks, or just admire the beautiful view from the docks.
Needless to say, this is one of the more unique overnight experiences in the area!
This is another one of those trips that we booked directly through our hotel. The hotels in Khao Sok have deals in place with local tour operators that allow them access to group tours so they can offer them at a discounted rate.
That has up sides….and also down sides.
Booking a group trip through our hotel made this trip affordable for us, but that came with fairly crowded transportation and lackluster meals. If we had booked a private tour, or stayed at one of the lake resorts, we would have had tons more space and even more time on the lake. But, it would have come at a price that we weren’t willing to pay this time around.
Here’s where we would have gone, if we had the budget for it.
This place looks like heaven on earth.
Floating multi-room suites right in the middle of the lake. Huge limestone mountains in all directions. And an exclusive restaurant right on site so you never have to leave.
Delightful.
Check the price on Booking, but beware the sticker shock.
Other Awesome Thai Experiences
Many of the things you can do in Khao Sok are pretty dependent on actually being there. But there are a ton of things that you can do in and around Khao Sok National park that you could also do at other places in Thailand.
That doesn’t mean you should skip them. (My family had Thai massages in pretty much every spot we stopped in Thailand!) But it does mean that even if you miss them here, it doesn’t mean you’ve missed them entirely!
Ethical Elephant Sanctuaries
Elephant experiences are undeniably one of the most popular parts of many visitors’ trips to Thailand. These magnificent animals blend their huge size with a gentle grace in such a way that tourists can’t help but marvel at them. Unfortunately, there are people out there who would take advantage of that fact at the expense of the elephants themselves.
There are tons of elephant experiences spread all around Thailand, and while many of them are ethical experiences, many of them aren’t. And if you don’t do careful research, it can be hard to know which ones are ok and which aren’t.
I personally prefer sticking with wild animal experiences, where our family goes with a guide into the wild to spot (or not) wild animals in their natural habitat. However, I know that that’s not always an option for everyone, especially if you’re on a time crunch.
If you do choose to do an elephant experience in Thailand, you should avoid experiences where tourists ride elephants or bathe elephants, as these activities have been shown to have a negative impact on elephants.
Thai Massage
We had several massages during our time in Thailand, including while we were at Khao Sok. While traditional Thai massage can be a bit rough for younger kids, most massage parlors will have gentler options for kids available, so a massage can definitely be a family outing!
Delicious Local Food
Thai food is some of the best in the world, so be sure take advantage of your time in Thailand to eat as much as you can! The main road in Khao Sok is lined with great local restaurants, so good food shouldn’t be hard to find.
During our time in Khao Sok, we chose to eat many of our meals at our hotel, and while it is a short walk off the main road, I can definitely recommend them for both food and rooms.
One last tip for a great trip – Pre-book your hotel accommodations!
I know a lot of people prefer the freedom of showing up in a new location and taking a look around before choosing where to stay for the night. After all, that’s part of the fun of backpacking! But, especially if you’re traveling with kids, I would highly recommend booking a place to stay in Khao Sok before your arrive!
Over the 2 weeks that we stayed in the area, we regularly heard backpackers telling us that every place in Khao Sok was completely full, and I can’t even count the number of times I saw backpackers turned away from the hotel where we were staying because everything was booked up. Many families ended up having to stay in hotels farther out from town, which translates into fewer nearby food options, higher transportation prices into Khao Sok, and less time spent enjoying everything that the park has to offer.
This hotel was one of my favorites in recent memory. The grounds were beautiful, the food was good, and the rooms had air conditioning.
Plus they helped make booking tours a breeze, which was a huge help in getting to see everything we wanted to see!
