Thai National Parks

Private Tour | 2-days/1-night private tour in Cheow Lan Lake

For the August dates, the rooms are rapidly getting fully booked at the average and high end raft houses. You are recommended to book earliest possible. Guide availability may also be an issue in time.

Situated between Khao Sok National Park and Khlong Saeng Wildlife Sanctuary, Cheow Lan Lake has one of the most beautiful scenic views in Thailand.

The lake deserves more than one night of stay, but if you only can stay one night, you will still be able to enjoy a few activities with this tour. If you truly want to enjoy more of the lake, then a 3D/2N tour is recommended.

With the 2-days/1-night tour in Cheow Lan Lake you will be able to see scenic rock formations, hike to a viewpoint, visit a cave, hike in the jungle, kayak, swim and drive around for wildlife watching. The tour includes a stay in a raft house of your choice, a private guide and a private boat with driver. No others will share the guide or the boat with you during the tour.

Out tours must be booked with "no matter the weather" in mind. We don't find the lake tours suitable for kids under 7 years old, other companies may have a different opinion about age limits.

Raft house options

500 Rai (deluxe)

500 Rai is one of the two top raft houses in the lake, with 15 houses/cabins of various sizes. The raft house is located at the far end of the lake, between Phupha Waree and Krai Son raft houses, with one of the best views in the lake.

Following are the type of rooms;

Type	Pax	Size	Info
Deluxe	4	36 ㎡	Master bedroom with double-size bed, loft with two mattresses. 1 kayak, 5 life jackets. A/c from 6 pm to 6 am. Check-in 2pm, check-out 9:30am
Villa	4	42 ㎡	Master bedroom with double-size bed, loft with two mattresses. 1 kayak, 5 life jackets. A/c 24h/day. Check-in 2pm, check-out 9:30am
Family Villa	8	72 ㎡	2 connecting villas, 2 master bedrooms with double-size bed, 2 lofts with 4 mattresses, a/c 24h/day, 2 kayaks, 8 life jackets. Check-in 2pm, check-out 9:30am
Deluxe Suite	4	72 ㎡	Master bedroom with double-size bed, loft with 2 mattresses, a/c 24h/day, 2 kayaks, 7 life jackets (2 sofa beds for additional 2 pax if needed). Check-in 4pm, check-out 1pm
Family Suite	10	86 ㎡	2 master bedrooms with double-size bed, 2 lofts with 6 mattresses, a/c 24h/day, 2 kayaks, 7 life jackets (2 sofa beds for additional 2 pax if needed). Check-in 4pm, check-out 1pm
Honeymoon Suite	4	92 ㎡	Master bedroom with double-size bed, loft with two mattresses, a/c 24h/day, 2 kayaks, 4 life jackets, private swimming pool, jacuzzi. Check-in 4pm, check-out 1pm

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

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 joined 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.

For the dates concerning high season months, week-ends (Fri-Sat nights) and public holidays, rooms at Phupha Waree should be booked well in advance.

Laguna Cheow Lan

Laguna Cheow Lan is located in Khlong Long tributary, in the middle of the lake. Each room have a king size and a single bed, private bathroom, a/c, balcony and can accommodate up to 3 people. The beds are on the floor.

Sai Chon Raft House (wooden)

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 the 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 (bamboo option, basic stay)

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.

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 pickup from Cheow Lan Lake Pier to board your long-tail boat
• Scenic tour of limestone karst formations on the way to your rafthouse
• Check in to the raft house. Enjoy a traditional Thai Lunch prepared with rich southern Thai curries, delicious local vegetables.
• Guided hike to see viewpoints on dry season or to a waterfall on rainy season (optional)
• Afternoon wildlife safari by boat
• Return to the raft house for a swim, relax and enjoy the scenery
• Enjoy a delectable dinner of fish, Thai soup, and veggies.

Day 2

• Rise before breakfast for the morning mist safari, the best time to see gibbons, macaques, and dusky leaf monkeys
• Return to raft house for breakfast
• Explore the surrounding area by kayak
• Depending on the raft house and it's location, check-out from the raft house is around 9:30 am, tour ends around 10:30 to 11 am

Where & when?

The tour starts at Cheow Lan Lake Pier (Rajjaprabha Dam), 65 km from park headquarters. We can arrange transfers from/to Phuket, Khao Lak, Krabi, Ao Nang, Surat Thani and Khao Sok village on request.

The nearest airports are Surat Thani (~1h), Krabi (~2h) and Phuket Airport (~2.5h), you are recommended to arrive to the area a day before the tour start. This tour is not recommended to start the same day when arriving from the islands or to the airport far away.

This tour is operated all year round.

When to book?

High seasons months in the lake are November to April and July/August. Bookings for these months should be done far in advance, earliest possible. Even if some raft houses may still have rooms available days/weeks before, guide availability is more of a concern. The guides may get fully booked months in advance for the busiest times of the year. During the low season months there is less risk of unavailability. 

Panvaree The Greenery superior rooms should be booked at least 6-12 months in advance for the busier months of the year, even the family rooms may get room far in advance. It is one of the most popular raft houses in the lake.

Laguna Cheow Lan should be booked at least 5-6 months in advance, they are constantly fully booked at least 3-4 months ahead.

Phupha Waree can be booked a couple of months ahead, but during the high seasons they may get fully booked most dates 1-3 months ahead. There is greater risk for them to get fully booked during the week-ends.

For the dates concerning high season months from November to mid April, week-ends (Fri-Sat nights) and public holidays, the rooms at Phupha Waree should be booked well in advance. There can be rooms available for the week-days in short notice, but then again, guides may get fully booked.

Sai Chon should also be booked earliest possible for any week-end/holiday concerned dates.

Krai Son tends to have availability for the most year even if booked days/weeks in advance but can be fully booked months in advance for long week-end holidays.

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.

Reviews from our guests

Rated 4.64/5 based on 108 customer reviews

By: Fabienne Veldman | posted Fri 19 Jan, 2024 | Phupha Waree

2/5 stars

Het is een prachrige omgeving. Schitterend! Helaas, vonden wij deze tour te duur voor wat je krijgt. Het eten is niet zo goed en wordt koud geserveerd. Daarnaast gingen wij tijd rekken op paradise island (?), omdat we te vroeg waren voor inchecken. Verder doe je precies wat op de site staat, maar ik moet zeggen dat de 2e dag karig is. Ja, dit wisten we van te voren, maar achteraf had ik het leuker gevonden om die dag nog tot zeker 12.00u door te gaan in plaats van aan te komen om 10.00u bij de pier. Uitcheck 09.00u, klein rondje varen en 10.00u aankomst pier. Dat zijn geen 2 dagen? Eerder 24 uur. Gidsen waren vriendelijk en Rushen antwoordde snel en duidelijk tijdens het boekingsproces.

Om eerlijk te zijn, kan je voor dit geld (private tour) leukere/mooiere dingen doen.

By: Natasha Driver | posted Thu 11 Jan, 2024 | Sai Chon

5/5 stars

We had a truly magical time in Khao Sok (Chow Lan Lake), which was definitely the highlight of our 2 weeks in Thailand. Our guide, Ruam was excellent. We weren’t sure what to expect but Ruam showed us SO MUCH wildlife, from small creatures including chameleons to bigger including wild elephants.

The food was really delicious and although we booked late and only the basic accommodation was available it was totally fine, we slept v well after all the wildlife spotting and canoeing.

We have recommended to a few people already and one day hope to return and maybe do a longer trip, hopefully we will get Ruam again but all the guides seemed good!

By: Lindsay New | posted Mon 8 Jan, 2024 | Panvaree

5/5 stars

We loved our tour of Khao Sok NP, it was one of the top highlights of our honeymoon trip to Thailand. Our guide, Cheun, made every effort to ensure we enjoyed our trip and make it extra special for our honeymoon. She was very knowledgeable about the area, it's plants and animals. Booking everything through the NP service made the whole trip really easy and smooth. We also highly recommend the Panvaree Greenery for lodging on the lake!

By: Fabio Ripepi | posted Sun 7 Jan, 2024 | Phupha Waree

3/5 stars

We loved the place

Booking and organization was perfect (thanks Rushen for that!).

The guide was a bit lazy from our point of view. On the first day we arrived early with the taxi from Aonang, 9:30, but the guide was doing breakfast and not yet available… the we expected to start at 10 as planned, but apparently the boat was late of half a hour and we started at 11. We then skipped the visit to the cave and to the scenic place and postponed them to tue day after. Reason for that was to arrive on time for lunch at the floating resort, but in reality we arrived early and had to wait in the resort. The day after we started later than other groups and finished earlier, then after breakfast we recovered the activities skipped on the day before and were back at the dam at 10:30.

It was a pity not to do something else, we would have liked to stay at least up to the early afternoon in day 2 and do some more activities

Guide didn’t help to make our visit more enjoyable

Thank you

By: Sigrid Kramer | posted Thu 4 Jan, 2024 | Sai Chon

5/5 stars

We had a wonderful experience exploring Khao Sok National Park with our tour guide Junn. She was very knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and kind. It was so interesting to hear her stories about her home when Cheow Lan wasn't a lake yet. She went above and beyond to make this trip memorable for us, especially when we saw the wild elephants. It was one of the highlights of my family while traveling around Thailand. I would highly recommend doing a tour with Junn, she was the best guide we could wish for! :)

By: Michal Stefanik | posted Sun 31 Dec, 2023 | Sai Chon

5/5 stars

We took a two-day private tour with Junn at the beginning of December, and we very much enjoyed the tour with her company. She was so attentive to our interests and was really trying to do her best to accommodate all our random wishes :) We loved that she has remained so authentic despite us being quite different.

We also liked our schedule of the tour, including many sights of the beautiful rocky coasts, a cave visit, enough kayaking, a hike through the water stream and a morning safari.

Thanks to the good eye of our boat driver, Jon, we had a chance to see the elephant family during the safari.

At the end of the tour, Junn took us extra to a few viewpoints and also arranged us a quick private transfer to Phuket, which really helped us.

All in all, despite the long trip from the coast, we would definitely go for this tour again!

Some downsides to consider:

- Note that arranging a reasonable transfer to the park on your own can be hard: Despite it being only around a 2-hour drive, taking a shared van from Ao Nang took us over 6 hours and unplanned dropped us off around 25 km from our accommodation, where we had to take another taxi. The journey there costed us one full afternoon of vacation.

- We were lucky to get enough time for kayaking, thanks to Junn's advice, but we found there were not enough still-functional kayaks in the floating village for everyone interested. I am hoping someone will fix that soon.

- People working at the floating village were not exactly keen on helping. As someone informed us, it could be because they are not compensated adequately for the workload they get. I hope that this will also improve soon.

By: Zsuzsa | posted Sat 30 Dec, 2023 | Sai Chon

5/5 stars

We had a fantastic time at Khao Sok National Park.

Our guide, Ann was great, spoke perfect English and he made the tour really a personalized experience for us. We were super lucky and got to see a baby elephant with its mum, a bear, monkeys, gibbons, otters and many other animals in the wild. Our meals had huuuge portions and it was no issue for them to provide vegan options as well.

Absolutely would recommend the private tour, if you have the opportunity to go to Khao Sok National Park.

By: Lilly Nguyen | posted Thu 28 Dec, 2023 | Phupha Waree

4/5 stars

Overall, Khao sok was beautiful. I had a mostly enjoyable time during the 2 day 1 night stay. The weather was beautiful, it was so peaceful and the food was good.

I know it is no fault of the guides but unfortunately we saw very little wildlife during our tour. Our guides tried so hard to track wild elephants but we didn’t get lucky this time around!

My one disappointing experience was that our guide was not very, well, guidely. He didn’t speak much nor did he share much about the wildlife, the park, or anything really unless we asked about it. Not that he wasn’t nice or anything but I wish he were a bit more friendly / shared more

All in all would still recommend a trip to Khao Sok to see its beauty, and hopefully you’ll get luckier than us with seeing wildlife :)

> Tour operator's response

Thanks for your feedback.

A quick check under "Tour" section of our main navigation, you will see we have a few tours in Khao Yai and Khao Sok National Parks with "wildlife tour" in the title. Those tours are proper wildlife tours, conducted with guides knowing the wildlife.

We don't claim our Cheow Lan Lake tours to be wildlife oriented. Wildlife search is only one of the activities among the others, our tour is no more or less wildlife oriented than what other companies offer. This simply because there are not enough guides in the lake with good knowledge in wildlife.

Chances to see wild elephants during a 2D/1N tour is perhaps around 15-20%, and this increases perhaps to around 40% for a 3D/2N trip. One needs to be lucky to see an elephant, there is no guarantee our guests will see one even when "wildlife oriented tour" options is selected.

Kind regards,

Rushen

By: Elisa Balducci | posted Fri 22 Dec, 2023 | Phupha Waree

5/5 stars

Everything was just perfect! The place was magical, the food excellent and our guide was very nice

Thank you for this experience

By: Siddharth Sharma | posted Wed 20 Dec, 2023 | Sai Chon

4/5 stars

Amazing experience.

A bit expensive but it definitely is worth it.

The private tour, tour guide(kiem), everything was smooth.

Kiem was extra helpful.

The stay was okay. As there is no electricity during the day time.

But other than that it’s 5/5.

Must recommend to everything visiting khao sok.