Mini break from Phuket - Khao Sok

The view from our veranda at Cliff and River Resort

Khao Sok national park is a little less than a 200km drive from Phuket. It's easily reached by road from Phuket, Krabi, Khao Lak or Surat Thani. It's a great getaway for anyone living nearby or a nice two day side trip for tourists staying in Phuket, Krabi, Khao Lak or Samui. Khao Sok features ancient evergreen forest, striking limestone cliffs similar to Phang Nga Bay, a huge dammed lake and all kinds of flora and fauna to keep nature lovers enthralled. There are also plenty of opportunities for adventurous types like treking, climbing, rafting, kayaking and tubing down the river.

There are several places to stay in the Khao Sok area although a lot of tourists stay in Khao Lak just an hour away. Some of the coolest looking accommodation is in tree houses but as we have a young son who hasn't learnt that falling from height can hurt yet we chose to stay at a more earthly resort. The Cliff and River Jungle resort is a beautiful resort that blends well in to the surrounding environment. The rooms aren't fancy but have real natural charm along with the basic facilities that you need like air con and a decent bathroom. At about 2000 baht a night they are good value. The resort restaurant by the river was also pretty good and not too expensive which is lucky because there are no other eating choices near by. When the sun goes down on Khao Sok there is no nightlife apart from eating in the restaurant or sitting on your bungalow veranda listening to the jungle. In the morning the view from your porch is stunning. If you are up at sunrise you can watch the mist covered cliff slowly clear and listen the the macaques howling.

During the day there is plenty to keep you entertained. We visited the picturesque Rajjaprabh dam and went for a longtail ride to one of the raft house resorts on the dam. Some people choose to overnight on the dam, staying in rather basic floating huts but not us. Still, it's cool place to hang out for a couple of hours and take a dip. Kayaks are also available. The water is a beautiful deep turquoise.

We also went kayaking and tubing on the river that ran past our resort. I would highly recommend doing one or both of these while in Khao Sok although whether you can go tubing or not really depends on the height of the water. In the dry season the river may be too low and after a few days of rain the water may run too fast. For us it was perfect.

Cliff and River Resort, Khao Sok

For the tubing we were driven just 5 minutes up the road from the Cliff and River resort and shown down a jungle trail to the river's edge. A bbq lunch was prepared for us there, we had our own cool box of beers. After a leisurely lunch and wallow in the river under a shady tree we were given our tubes and guided onto the water. It took us a few minutes and a few bumps to get our technique down but once we were settled it was a pretty gentle drift down stream. Tubing in Khao Sok is not like Vang Vieng in Laos, there are no bars along the way blaring out dance tunes, it's just you and the river and birds and monkeys. The ride finished after about 90 minutes right at the bottom of our resort. We couldn't believe that the drive to the start had taken 5 minutes and the float back had taken 90 minutes.

The kayaking was done on the same stretch of river as the tubing. This time all of us (my wife, my son and me) shared the same inflatable kayak with a local guide who took care of the navigation. Along the way he pointed out a few critters to us and we had a 30 minute stop at a beautiful swimming hole, deep enough to swing out and jump into river with the rope hung from a tree on the bank. Again, the tour ended at the resort. The tubing cost 500 baht per person, the kayaking about double that. Both are equally enjoyable.

All in all we loved our 2 days and 1 night in Khao Sok. One of our projects for next season is to organise custom tours to Khao Sok for people who don't like rushed, crowded group tours. If you are interested, please contact us.