Hiking
The beautiful and natural environment of KhaoLak and it's surroundings, including nearby land and marine based national parks, offer a wide range of interesting and varied activities for everyone to enjoy including canoeing, rafting, diving and snorkeling, safaris, elephant trekking, and of course hiking.
Hiking trips, whether to view flora, fauna, bird watching or visit waterfalls will no doubt be centered around the nearby national parks:-
Khaolak-Lamru
Khao LamPi - Thai Muang
Sri Phang-Nga
Khao Sok
Similan islands
Surin islands
Khaolak-Lamru national park partly encompasses Khao Lak, and is ideal for hiking, forest walks and viewing wildlife. It offers tropical evergreen forest, granite mountains, hills, beaches and sea cliffs, and a fairly varied selection of flora and fauna considering it's size. Four waterfalls are popular. There are also coastal trails, near the Park HQ, on the picturesque headland of Leam Hin Chang. The national park of Khao Lampi - Thai Muang lies about 24km south of Khao Lak, and covers two distinct regions. Thai Muang is a long narrow coastal and mainly beach section, famous for turtle conservation.
Tropical evergreen forests cover the hilly and fairly mountainous regions of Khao LamPi. Here, there are several hiking opportunities and two interesting waterfalls. There are four picturesque waterfalls at Sri Phang-Nga national park, which lies 65km north of Khao Lak, and avails itself to good hiking trips. This park is fairly large, covering 240 sq km., and is fine virgin evergreen forest, with numerous hills, streams, and a few outcrops of limestone cliffs in the east. The park provides a basic campground and toilets, but visitors should bring their own equipment.
The spectacular 645 sq km Khao Sok national park, is in neighbouring Surat Thani province. It features thick native rainforest, punctuated by towering outcrops of limestone karsts, sparkling streams, an island studded lake, several caves, many trails, a vast range of flora and fauna, and at least eight popular waterfalls. Hiking is almost unlimited.
The Similan Islands in the Andaman Sea are world renowned for excellent diving and picturesque sandy beaches. Inland, the nine islands are mostly relatively low lying formations with some thick forest and a few hiking trails. In particular, Ko Similan (the largest island) is good for hiking, and exhibits the largest granite outcrop; this distinctive formation offers sweeping views from the top.
In addition to the superb marine attractions of the Surin Islands, the inland evergreen rainforests are also quite popular for hiking and trekking. The north island (Ko Surin Nua) supports the most nature trails. The fauna is quite varied and the eighty recorded bird species include the rare Nicobar pigeon.