Private Tour | 3-days/2-nights private tour in Khao Sok Lake
Situated between Khao Sok National Park and Khlong Saeng Wildlife Sanctuary, Cheow Lan Lake has one of the most beautiful scenic views in Thailand.
While a 2-day/1-night stay leaves less time for various activities due to check-in and check-out times from the raft houses, a 3-days/2-nights tour gives a much better opportunity to enjoy more of the attractions and activities around the lake.
Activities
With the 3-days/2-nights tour in Khao Sok you will be able to see scenic rock formations, hike to a viewpoint, visit a cave, hike in the jungle, kayak and drive around in the vicinity of your raft house for wildlife watching. The tour includes two nights stay in a raft house of your choice, a private guide and a private boat with driver.
Why to book?
While the group tours offered by most companies are conducted with larger boats, shared by 12-18 people and has a fixed itinerary, no others will share the guide or the boat with you during our tours. Our tours are strictly private and flexible.
Raft house options
Panvaree The Greenery Raft House (deluxe)
While most raft houses in the lake have on average around two dozen bungalows, Panvaree The Greenery Raft House have fewer which makes it a relatively quiet place even when the place is fully booked. Quality wise it is no doubt one of the best and most popular raft houses in the lake. The raft house is located in the entrance of Khlong Long tributary.
Following are the type of rooms;
- Superior 2 pax - For 2 adults or 2 adults + small child (child to share same bed as parents but quoted half price). Room can be with either a double bed or two single beds, unfortunately can't be chosen, either one can be booked depending on availability and other circumstances.
- Family rooms; For 3+ pax, max 6 person per house (with exception that small childred can share bed with adults)
The price for rooms varies depending on week-day, week-end day or holidays.
Phupha Waree Raft House
Phupha Waree is set back in a private alcove just inside Klong Pey, compared to most basic/average raft houses in the lake it is considered a bit better option. The rooms are equipped with 2 queen size beds, a private bathroom, a/c, balcony and can accommodate 2-4 people. While the smaller rooms will be booked for up to 3 people, the larger rooms will be booked for 4 people.
The rooms are available for booking a maximum 3 months in advance.
Sai Chon Raft House
Sai Chon Raft House is a cheaper alternative compared to high end ones, located in Khlong Long tributary of the lake, not too far from the pier. The quality is somewhere between bamboo and high end options. The rooms can accommodate 2-4 people with king size beds, equipped with fans and has rooms with private bathroom.
Krai Son Raft House (basic bamboo)
Krai Son is perched at the entrance to Klong Yee at the remote end of the lake. It is equipped with traditional style bamboo bungalows (2 pax, double beds), no fan, with shared bathroom facilities on land next to the raft house. It is the only raft house on the lake with a view of sunrise and sunset. Local attractions include a viewpoint hike which overlooks the entire lake, and it is close by to the Khlong Saeng wildlife sanctuary not too far from Phupha Waree.
We do not recommend Krai Son to families with kids.
Itinerary
The following itinerary is just an example. Depending on the location of your raft house, weather conditions, your suggestions or eventual shorter/longer time you may decide to spend at attractions may change the planning. Example; you may decide to do more kayaking, skip some activities for the other, or simply just decide to relax and spend some time with friend(s)/family at the raft house.
Day 1
- 10 am, Board your long-tail boat at Rajjaprabha Dam (Cheow Lan Lake Pier) enjoy the scenic tour of limestone karst formations on the way to floating bungalows
- Check in to the raft house. Enjoy a traditional Thai lunch
- Depart for a guided hike to a nearby viewpoint which has a breathtaking view over the lake
- Return to the raft house for a swim, relax and enjoy the scenery
- Afternoon wildlife safari by boat
- Enjoy your dinner
Day 2
- Breakfast
- Board long tail boat for a morning wildlife safari by boat
- Return to the rafthouse for free time
- After lunch, guided jungle hike
- Return to the raft house for a swim, relax
- Enjoy a traditional Thai dinner
Day 3
- Rise before breakfast for the morning mist safari, the best time to gibbons, macaques and dusky leaf monkeys
- Return to raft house for breakfast
- Explore the surrounding area by kayak
- Depending raft house and it's location, check-out from the raft hour around 9:30 to 10 am, tour ends around 11:30 am to 12 pm at the pier
Where & When?
The tour starts in Cheow Lan Lake (Rajjaprabha Dam), 65 km from park headquarters. It is easy to get to nearby Ban Takhun Town with buses operating from various destinations like Bangkok, Phuket, Krabi or Surat Thani. Private transfers by taxi or minivan can be arranged on request.
When to book?
Panvaree The Greenery should be booked at least 6-9 months in advance for nearly any period of the year. It is one of the most popular raft houses in the lake.
The rooms at Phupha Waree will become available for booking 3 months in advance. For the dates concerning high season months from December to mid April, week-ends (Fri-Sat nights) and public holidays, the rooms at Phupha Waree should be booked well in advance.
Sai Chon should also be booked earliest possible for any week-end/holiday concerned dates. For non-busy periods and week-days, they may have availability even weeks before planned dates, some busies periods should be booked a couple of months in advance.
Krai Son tends to have availability for most year even if booked days in advance but can be fully booked months in advance for long week-end holidays.
Tour details in short:
- Duration: 3 days/2 nights
- Type: Private tour
- Price: * see price table *
- Group size: 2 or more people
- Grade: Easy
- Transport: Long-tail boat
- Start: 10 am (day 1)
- End: around 11:30 am - 12 pm (day 3)
What to bring:
- Rain clothing, specially on rainy season
- Personal toiletries
- Swimming clothing & towel
- Hat
- Flashlight
- Insect repellent
- Sunblock lotion
How much?
The tour will be led by a private guide which means no others will join you while exploring the lake and surrounding areas. The price for this tour package depends on the choice of accommodation and number of people, please see price per person further down.
The prices below do not include entrance fees to the national park.
Optional charges;
Coral Cave Rafthing
- From Krai Son or Phupha Waree raft houses; 1,400 Baht fixed price and 200 Baht per person entrance fee for Khlong Saeng Wildlife Sanctuary
- From Sai Chon or Panvaree The Greenery raft houses; 400 Baht fixed price and 200 Baht per person entrance fee for Khlong Saeng Wildlife Sanctuary
Wildlife oriented tour?
Although our tour is more about visiting the attractions, enjoying the scenery and water activities in the lake, our price includes a bit of safari driving around the lake in hope to see a glimpse of wildlife around.
If you wish a more wildlife oriented tour, we can arrange it for an additional change depending on the raft house location, then our guide could take you to Khlong Saeng tributary on the north/west end of the lake one afternoon. Please let us know in case. The wildlife oriented tour is only suitable for the 2nd day over a 3D/2N tour.
- From Krai Son or Phupha Waree; +2,000 Baht
- From Sai Chon or Panvaree The Greenery; +3,000 Baht
| Price per person | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pax | Krai Son (bamboo) | Sai Chon | Phupha Waree | Panvaree |
| 2 | 8,200 THB | 9,200 THB | 11,500 THB | 13,400 to 15,400 THB |
| 3 | 6,500 THB | 7,250 THB | 8,700 THB | 13,600 to 16,700 THB |
| 4 | 5,400 THB | 6,300 THB | 7,700 THB | 10,400 to 11,600 THB |
| 5 | 4,950 THB | 5,800 THB | 7,500 THB | 12,200 to 15,400 THB |
| 6 | 4,500 THB | 5,400 THB | 6,800 THB | 9,500 to 10,800 THB |
| 7 | 4,350 THB | 5,200 THB | 6,600 THB | n/a |
| 8 | 4,100 THB | 5,000 THB | 6,300 THB | n/a |
Displayed prices are per person
Tour rates include:
- Lodging
- Guide
- Long-tail boat transportation & boat driver
- All meals & fruit
- Drinking water
- Canoeing
- Accident insurance during the tour (covering hospital costs)
Tour rates doesn't include:
- Entrance fees to the park
- Transfer to the lake from the nearby towns
Reviews from our guests
By: K.B. | posted Mon 26 Jun, 2023 | Phupha Waree
Ein großes Lob von uns.Wir sind sehr begeistert, wie professionell alles abgelaufen ist. Auch ein großes Lob an unseren Guide Ruam , der sehr freundlich und flexibel war. Auch die Unterkunft und Verpflegung waren Spitze. Ebenso das immer freundliche Pesonal. Wir sind froh,den Nationalpark besucht zu haben. Dieses wunderschöne Erlebnis wird uns ewig in Erinnerung bleiben.
By: Soraya Maudarbocus | posted Mon 5 Jun, 2023 | Phupha Waree
Booking with Thai National Parks was very good. The whole process was very smooth and excellent communication. We also booked the transfer from Khao Lak and to the airport on the way back which made things very easy as they all communicated with each other. Our guide Ruam picked us up from Cheow Lan Lake Pier and spent the 3 days with us. Despite the weather being rainy on and off, Ruam was very good at organising the treks and boat trips when it was dry. Ruam was amazing at spotting the monkeys, birds, buffalos, etc. I wanted to see the elephant and Ruam went out of this way to try to find them. Even on the way back to the pier on our last day, Ruam made a detour to try and find the elephants. We did not see them but we heard them which was still a fab moment. We stayed at the Pupha Waree raft house. It is quite basic but that's fine. Even if we were constantly wet with either rain or humidity and no hot showers (the water was not too cold though so doable), it remains one of the best part of our trip to Thailand. Definitely bring a raincoat, enough clothes, high strength mosquito cream (for walks in the rain forest) and beware of the leeches if it is wet! Don't miss the treks. They are the best way to see the rainforest and well worth it. Have good shoes.
By: Ryan Y | posted Wed 10 May, 2023 | Phupha Waree
This was an amazing experience from start to finish! Was very easy to communicate with Rushen and Mai to set up the trip. They were very helpful, quick to respond, accommodating and even helped set up a taxi ride for us afterwards. Our guide, Junn was super friendly, nice and very knowledgeable of the national park. We were very happy to book the private tour with this company and the price was even cheaper than booking with a group tour. I highly recommend this company for the customer service, private tour and price.
By: Adam Woodard | posted Thu 27 Apr, 2023 | Phupha Waree
The park is unbelievably beautiful, and our guide, Ruam, was exceptional. Our accommodation at Phupha Waree was good enough, I did expect a more comfortable stay as it is listed as a “deluxe” option but for the location you can’t complain much.
By: World Wild Hearts | posted Sun 16 Apr, 2023 | Sai Chon
A video review from one of our guests. This clip wasn't promoted by us, nor were we informed in advance about it.
Review by; World Wild Hearts
By: Zachary Andrus | posted Wed 5 Apr, 2023 | Sai Chon
Junn was one of the best guides we have ever had! She was so friendly, knowledgeable, and passionate about the park and all of the animals. We enjoyed finding animals along the river banks with her and exploring the jungle. We will definitely be recommending people to visit Khao Sok and doing a similar tour. It was one of our best experiences in all of Thailand and we spent two months traveling around the country.
By: Couple from Finland | posted Sun 12 Mar, 2023 | Phupha Waree
We were on a 3 day, two night tour at Cheow Lan lake in Khao Sok national park in January 2023. It was a private tour with a guide and boat captain to take us around the lake. Tour also included trekking in the jungle to see waterfall, the Kri Sorn viewpoint and bat cave.
Our guide Nid was great and took great care of us and was good at finding animals.
We saw different hornbill species, gaurs, gibbons, langurs, two different macaque species and also other birds.
The trek to the viewpoint was very challenging since the last portion of the trail ends with rock climbing. The view however was spectacular.
We also had a jungle night walk in Khao Sok national park starting from the park entrance with guide Mint.
We were not so lucky with snakes, but saw two different mangrove snakes and plenty of spiders, frogs, lizards and insects.
The night walk was very interesting and eyeopening for a foreigner who had never seen the jungle come alive at night time. Guide Mint was very knowledgeable about the animals we saw.
We can recommend tours with Thai National Parks to others.
By: Bruno Chacur | posted Fri 10 Mar, 2023 | Sai Chon
We were in awe with the beauty of Khao Sok National Park, specially in the Cheow Lan Lake area. It can't get much better than that! Although the park itself it beautiful, our experience was improved in a million times by our friend and guide MEN.
We couldn't have asked for a better guide in the park. MEN spoke perfect english and knew all the information from the park. Also, he was a very funny guy, with whow we had some serious laughs.
Thanks MEN! You made all the difference in our short, but memorable trip in Khao Sok!
By: Gordon Cunningham | posted Thu 9 Mar, 2023 | Phupha Waree
Really enjoyed our trip, our guide was excellent and the park had stunning scenery. Very glad we had the opportunity to appreciate your beautiful national park.
By: Kourtney Sullivan | posted Sat 4 Mar, 2023 | Phupha Waree
Where do I even begin?...
My partner and I took a 3 week trip to SE-Asia in January, and this 3 day adventure into Khao Sok National Park was our favorite part of the entire trip!
Do not pass on this experience! You can see from the images online that this place is beautiful, but experiencing it with your own eyes is another story. I've never been anywhere so full of love and respect.
Our private guide Nid and our boat driver Jed were INCREDIBLE, and truly contributed to our amazing experience! They picked us up from the pier, and we spent the next few days with them touring the lake, seeking wildlife, talking about the land, hiking into the jungle... they were the best! They were so connected with their surroundings, and had so much wisdom and respect for the park. They shared everything they knew with us and it made the whole experience so special and absolutely unforgettable. There was a nice a schedule for the 3 days, which ended-up being the perfect balance of relaxation and adventure.
The accommodation was also amazing. It was simple, with separate bungalows for each guest, all including their own docks and kayaks, and the most amazing views. There was one common area in the middle of all the bungalows where the boats docked and we shared our meals. The food was plentiful and delicious and there were additional snacks and beverages for purchase... would highly recommend grabbing some local whisky before heading out there, if you're into that type of thing. Sometimes Nid will sing and play the guitar for the group, at night under the stars.
We have such fond memories of this place, and will never forget it. We have been and will continue to suggest it to friends and acquaintances, and someday we hope we can make it back!