Honest Review of 2 Day Cheow Lan Lake Tour

The 2 Day Cheow Lan Lake tour was a highlight of our visit to Khao Sok National Park. The scenery of this area is absolutely stunning, and sleeping in floating bungalows overnight is a unique experience.

In this article, we’ll detail the whole Cheow Lan Lake tour itinerary and give you all the tips we learned along the way.

While the tour had a few cons in our opinion (more about that later), generally, it’s a great experience, and we’d happily recommend it if you’re visiting Thailand. Honestly, we wouldn’t mind doing it again.

Is the Cheow Lan Lake overnight tour worth it?

If you’re questioning if the Cheow Lan Lake overnight tour is worth it, our short answer is yes! 

Picture this: you spend the night in a floating bungalow surrounded by stunning limestone cliffs, lush rainforest, and a peaceful lake. You get to jump straight from your bed into the lake for a swim, cruise along the lake, explore remote caves, and go wildlife spotting, where you can see wild elephants.

Plus, you get to wake up to the sounds of nature and enjoy a serene sunrise over the lake, which is truly magical.

So, if you’re up for an adventure and want to experience nature at its finest, then definitely go for the Cheow Lan Lake overnight tour – you won’t regret it! It’s one of Thailand’s most unique experiences.

Khao Sok Lake Overnight Tour Itinerary

This itinerary is based on our overnight tour to Cheow Lan Lake. However, most tours follow more or less the same itinerary.

Day 1

Ratchaprapha Pier (Cheow Lan Lake Pier) and buying tickets

We got picked up at our hotel in Khao Sok Village (Our Jungle House – loved it!) and drove for about an hour to Cheow Lan Lake, also called Cheow Larn Lake or Khao Sok Lake. There was one short stop at a market to stock up on snacks and similar for the lake trip.

But spoiler alert: most floating bungalows have a small store with snacks and some basics such as toothpaste.

Upon arrival at Ratchaprapha Pier (Cheow Lan Lake Pier), we had to stand in two lines to buy tickets. One line was for the Cheow Lan Lake (Khao Sok Lake) entrance fee, which is 300 THB (8.6 EUR). The second line is for buying a Cheow Lan Lake pier ticket, which is 40 THB.

So, to access Khao Sok Lake, you need to pay a total of 340 THB for adults. This ticket will be valid for all your days at Khao Sok Lake.

The entrance to the lake in Khao Sok will probably be very busy, especially in high season, and the whole process might feel overwhelming. But don’t stress; as soon as you get on the water, the crowds disappear as everyone goes to their own floating raft houses, which generally don’t have that many rooms.

Scenic longtail boat ride to Cheow Lan Lake floating bungalow

After buying the tickets, there was a short briefing with everything we needed to know before heading out on the lake.

Right after that, we boarded a longtail boat and headed to our raft house on Cheow Lan Lake.

The longtail boat ride is very scenic but also long. It took us around 45 minutes to reach our floating bungalows.

On the way, we stopped at the so-called Guilin Rocks or Three Brothers Rock, a famous photo spot on Khao Sok Lake. You for sure saw a photo from here, and if you join a day tour of Khao Sok Lake, this is one of the definite stops.

We only briefly stopped here for a photo opportunity, but since it was a boat full of people, we couldn’t get a photo of ourselves there. For that, you’d need to join a private tour or go on a private day trip.

Room check-in and lunch

After we arrived, we were served lunch. While the lunch on the Cheow Lan Lake tour was simple, it was very delicious, and the portions were nice. We definitely weren’t hungry.

Tip: If you’re vegan or vegetarian, inform your tour company beforehand. We did this and got special dishes just for us.

After lunch, we got assigned to our bungalows. Since we didn’t pay for a room upgrade (rooms with AC and private bathroom), we got assigned to a room using a ‘lottery’ system. We each pulled out a number written on paper from a bowl.

We got a simple bungalow with only a fan and a shared bathroom. The room was basic, but everything was nice and clean, which is the most important!

Don’t expect luxury unless you book a stay at floating hotels like 500 Rai Floating Resort or Panvaree Resort.

An important note: the raft houses float on the water, which means they will 100% rock a bit when people are walking. It didn’t bother us, though, and our group was great, as everyone was respectful and not loud. Which was amazing as there’s no sound insulation at these bungalows. 😁

Activity of the day – hike to Coral Cave

Our first main activity of the day was a hike to Coral Cave. We originally wanted to hike to Kri Sorn Viewpoint, but the activity depends on the availability of the raft houses and weather conditions – read more in our guide to Khao Sok Lake.

Nevertheless, we enjoyed the hike to the Coral Cave on Khao Sok Lake, which involved a trek of 45 minutes one way and a short bamboo ride to the cave.

The cave was beautiful, and we got a wildlife lesson while trekking, which was cool.

Tip: Coral Cave in Cheow Lan Lake has a separate fee from the national park fee. It’s 200 THB (5.7 EUR) for adults and 100 THB for children.

Free time

After the activity, we had free time to do anything we wanted. We, of course, used this opportunity to jump in the water, swim, and kayak.

Sunset boat safari

Around sunset, the whole group usually jumps on the boat again and drives around for about an hour observing the animals. 

Animals you might see in Cheow Lan Lake during your sunset boat safari are monkeys and many birds. If you’re lucky, you might see gibbons, wild elephants, deer, or even more rare, tapirs.

Wild elephants are probably on everyone’s bucket list for the Khao Sok Lake visit, as they often come to drink on the shore of Khao Sok Lake.

Unfortunately, our guide told us that the elephants went deeper into the forest during our visit and that seeing them was unlikely. That’s why we decided to skip this activity and went kayaking.

Day 2

Sunrise kayaking or morning safari

At sunrise, there is another opportunity for a morning safari. It’s basically the same as the day before.

We decided to do another kayaking session, which was amazing during the first sunrise light.

We saw some wild pigs and birds and even heard elephants! Yup, you read that right. Unfortunately, we again didn’t see them. And neither did the group that went on the safari. But we heard them rumble. And that’s pretty cool, too!

Breakfast and free time

After the morning safari, breakfast was served. Then, we had free time to enjoy Cheow Lan floating raft houses a bit more before packing and leaving.

Definitely don’t skip your last opportunity to swim!

Longtail boat back to marina and leaving Khao Sok

And then, it was time to leave the Khao Sok Floating Bungalows and Khao Sok. The last boat ride was amazing, and we savored our last view of this incredible area.

We arrived at Cheow Lan Lake pier somewhere around noon.

Our honest opinion of the 2 days Cheow Larn Lake tour

The 2 day Cheow Larn Lake tour is the best way to experience and see Khao Sok. We got to see and experience so much, and to us, this is one of the best Thailand experiences.

We highly recommend booking this tour if you only have 2 days for Khao Sok National Park. 

Now, let’s go over some of the cons of the Khao Sok 2 days-1-night tour. Again, this was our experience, which doesn’t mean you will have the same. None of it was actually that big of a deal, but we still want to mention it.

The Cheow Lan Lake overnight tour has a pretty packed itinerary. Honestly, with these organized packages, there’s little space for relaxation unless you decide to skip some activities (we did that). While we loved staying in a floating bungalow, you don’t get to enjoy it that much. You’re only there for 1 night with lots of activities planned. 

If you want a more relaxed stay, we suggest booking a luxury floating hotel like 500 Rai (check availability) or the more affordable one, Panvaree Resort (check availability).

The biggest issue we had with our tour was that the floating bungalows we stayed at didn’t have enough kayaks. There should be one kayak per bungalow, but in our case, they had only a few, with a bunch of them out of service. 

This meant we had to carefully plan our lake itinerary, which is one of the reasons we decided to skip the safari boat rides as well.

However, we hope this isn’t the case anymore. If you encounter the same situation, definitely make sure to be first in line for kayaks so you don’t miss out. It’s a really fun way to see the lake.

Final thoughts

Thank you for reading our review of the 2-Day Cheow Lan Lake Tour. We hope we answered all of your questions. If you still have any left, leave a comment below! 🥰

And let us know how it went – it might help other travelers. 😊

Continue planning your Thailand trip