Khao Lak
Things to Do in Khao Lak, and the Half-Year When Most of Them Stop
Khao Lak's list is short and heavily seasonal: the Similan Islands close for the monsoon and take the diving with them. What is worth the day, what runs all year, and the memorial that is treated as history rather than as a sight.
Khao Lak’s list of things to do is short, and that is the point rather than a failing: it is a place people choose because there is not much to work through. What makes planning it different from other Thai beaches is that the best of the list is seasonal in a way that is close to binary.
What runs when
This is the table to read before booking anything, and it is the reason this page is organised by season rather than by attraction.
| What | J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Similan Islands National park, closed for the monsoon. Dates set each year. | Runs | Runs | Runs | Runs | Depends | Closed | Closed | Closed | Closed | Depends | Runs | Runs |
| Dive boats and liveaboards Follow the park. Several operators close entirely. | Runs | Runs | Runs | Runs | Depends | Closed | Closed | Closed | Closed | Depends | Runs | Runs |
| Khao Sok Inland rainforest. Better wet than dry, and open all year. | Runs | Runs | Runs | Runs | Runs | Runs | Runs | Runs | Runs | Runs | Runs | Runs |
| The waterfalls Need the rain of the preceding weeks. A trickle in February. | Depends | Depends | Depends | Runs | Runs | Runs | Runs | Runs | Runs | Runs | Runs | Depends |
| Swimming off the beach Read the flags. Calmer than Phuket in every month, and still an exposed coast. | Runs | Runs | Runs | Runs | Depends | Depends | Depends | Depends | Depends | Depends | Runs | Runs |
| Rainfall Millimetres per month, thirty-year mean. | 69 | 46 | 122 | 168 | 317 | 323 | 328 | 350 | 400 | 374 | 213 | 99 |
- Runs
- Depends on the year
- Closed
The Similan Islands
Sixty kilometres offshore and the reason Khao Lak exists as a destination. Nine granite islands with white sand and the clearest water on this coast, reached by speedboat in about ninety minutes or by liveaboard over several days. For divers it is one of the best sites in Thailand; for snorkellers it is a long day that is worth it in good conditions and miserable in bad ones.
The park closes for the monsoon, historically from around mid-May to mid-October, with dates set each year by the park authority. That closure takes the day boats and most of the dive operators with it. Nothing else on this page changes as sharply.
The Surin Islands, further north, run on a similar calendar and are quieter, with better shallow snorkelling and less infrastructure. They are the alternative when the Similans are full rather than when they are shut.
Khao Sok
Ninety minutes inland and the best thing on this coast that is not a boat to the Similans. Khao Sok is rainforest on limestone, with the Cheow Lan reservoir at its centre: a flooded valley with karst towers rising straight out of it and floating raft houses to sleep in.
It is sold as a day trip and it is much better as one or two nights. The day version is three hours in a vehicle for four hours on the water. The overnight version is one of the more memorable things in southern Thailand.
Unlike almost everything else here, Khao Sok is at its best when it is wet. The forest is the attraction and the forest wants rain. That makes it the anchor of a monsoon trip to this coast rather than a fair-weather add-on.
The waterfalls and the national park behind the town
Khao Lak-Lam Ru national park runs along the hills behind the beaches, and there are several waterfalls within a short drive: Chong Fah is the usual one, Ton Chong Fah and Lampi further out. They are modest, they are close, and like every Thai waterfall they are worth judging by the rainfall of the preceding weeks rather than by the photograph on the sign. In February they can be a trickle.
The tsunami memorial
Khao Lak was the worst-hit place in Thailand when the tsunami arrived on the morning of 26 December 2004. The resorts along the front were destroyed and the Khao Lak that exists now was rebuilt afterwards.
A police boat carried two kilometres inland by the wave has been left where it came to rest, near Bang Niang, and there is a small museum beside it. There is also a memorial park further north at Bang Muang.
We list it as history rather than as an attraction, and it is worth an hour and a quiet one. A number of people working in the restaurants and resorts here lived through it.
The market, and the evenings
The Bang Niang night market runs several evenings a week and is the best eating on the coast, and the closest thing Khao Lak has to a night out. Beyond it, the evenings are quiet: a handful of bars along Nang Thong, nothing resembling nightlife, and a coast that is largely dark by eleven. That is most of the reason people who dislike Phuket like it here.
The turtle centre, and a caution
There is a sea turtle conservation centre on the naval base at Thap Lamu, south of the town, which visitors can see. Turtle facilities across Thailand vary a great deal in what they actually do, and the questions worth asking are the same ones we set out for elephant venues: what happens when nobody is visiting, whether animals are handled by the public, and where they came from. Look before you queue.
What the month decides
December to March: everything is open. The Similans, the day boats, the restaurants. This is the season and it is priced as one.
April: still largely fine and the last reliable month for the islands, with the closure approaching.
May to October: the Similans are shut, the dive boats stop, and a proportion of businesses close. The coast takes between 317mm and 400mm a month through this run. What still works is Khao Sok, the waterfalls at their fullest, the market and the memorial, and a beach that is calmer than Phuket’s even in the monsoon.
November: reopening, improving through the month and much cheaper than December.
The full month-by-month figures are on the weather page, and which stretch of coast to sleep on is on where to stay.
How long to give it
Four to seven nights. Two of those days go to the water, one inland to Khao Sok if you are not staying over, and the rest to a beach. Longer than a week here works only if doing very little is the plan, which for a good number of the people who come back every year it is.
Things to Do in Khao Lak, and the Half-Year When Most of Them Stop FAQs
What is there to do in Khao Lak besides the beach?+
The Similan Islands by day boat or liveaboard, Khao Sok national park inland, two or three waterfalls in the national park behind the town, the Bang Niang night market, and the tsunami memorial. It is a short list by design: Khao Lak is a place to stop rather than a place to work through.
Are the Similan Islands worth it from Khao Lak?+
They are the reason most people come, and Khao Lak is the closest mainland base to them, about sixty kilometres offshore. The park closes for the monsoon, historically from around mid-May to mid-October, and the exact dates are set each year. If they are the point of your trip, check the dates before booking flights.
Can you visit Khao Sok from Khao Lak?+
Yes, and it is the best day out on this coast that does not involve a boat to the Similans. Khao Sok is about ninety minutes inland: rainforest, limestone, and the Cheow Lan reservoir with floating raft houses. It works as a long day and works considerably better as an overnight.
What is there to do in Khao Lak in the rainy season?+
Khao Sok, which is at its best when it is wet, the waterfalls behind the town for the same reason, the market and the memorial. What you cannot do is the Similans, and a fair number of dive operators close entirely, so a monsoon trip here needs to be built around the mainland.
Should you visit the tsunami memorial?+
It is worth an hour and a quiet one. A police boat carried two kilometres inland by the 2004 wave has been left where it stopped, near Bang Niang, with a small museum beside it. Several thousand people died here. It is history rather than an attraction and is best approached that way.