Khao Lak–Lam Ru National Park

Khao Lak–Lam Ru National Park tickets and tours: which one to book

Khao Lak–Lam Ru is the national park whose headland, beaches and forested hills give the resort of Khao Lak its name, on the Andaman coast an hour and a half north of Phuket, and it is entered for a modest fee at the headquarters on the coast road south of the resort. Almost nothing is sold specifically for the park itself: the guided tours that mention Khao Lak are day trips from the resort to the far better known Khao Sok National Park inland, with its limestone lake and bamboo rafting, or boat trips to the Similan and Surin islands.

What the park offers on its own is a short nature trail from the headquarters to the Khao Lak viewpoint and a small beach, and a longer trek to the Lam Ru waterfall that needs a ranger or a local guide arranged at the park office. Private guides in Khao Lak run jungle walks and waterfall trips into the park on request. If you want a full day of rainforest with a guide, book the Khao Sok trip; if you want an hour of quiet forest and a viewpoint over the bay, walk in from the headquarters yourself. Bring the entrance fee in cash, as the office does not take cards.

Visiting Khao Lak–Lam Ru National Park: what you will see

The park protects 125 square kilometres from the coast at Khao Lak to the hills inland, rising to a peak of 1,077 metres, and it was declared in 1991 after an earlier seashore park was extended to cover the forest that feeds the province's rivers. The headquarters sit on a small rocky cape with a stretch of clean, quiet beach below and a nature trail that climbs through evergreen forest to a viewpoint over the Andaman Sea; it takes about half an hour and is the best free morning walk on this coast.

Inland the forest is tropical evergreen with dipterocarps, palms and bamboo, and waterfalls of several tiers, the largest being Lam Ru with five levels and water all year, and Ton Chong Fa, reached by a jungle path with pools for swimming after rain. The wildlife list includes serow, tapir, gibbons, black giant squirrels and hornbills, and tigers are recorded in the interior but never seen by visitors. The 2004 tsunami struck Khao Lak harder than anywhere else in Thailand, and the park's headland was one of the places where people survived by climbing; the memorials in the town record it. The coastal road through the park has viewpoints over the bays, and the sunset from the cape is a local ritual.

Khao Lak–Lam Ru National Park: best time to go, seasons and hours

The park is open daily from 8 am to about 5 pm. The dry season from November to April is the time to visit Khao Lak, with calm seas, clear skies and the island trips running; the monsoon from May to October brings heavy rain, rough seas, closed island parks and, on the plus side, waterfalls at full flow and a nearly empty coast. December to February is the busiest and the hotels fill up.

Walk the nature trail early in the morning, when the forest is cool and the birds active, or at sunset for the view. Allow an hour for the trail and the beach, or half a day with a waterfall trek. Khao Sok, with Cheow Lan lake, is the obvious full-day excursion inland, and the Similan islands are the boat trip of choice in season.