Bangkok to Khao Sok travel options

My family of 4 wants to go from BKK to Khao Sok to Koh Samui or BKK to Koh Samui to Khao Sok. We would like to leave BKK and get to Khao Sok by noon or leave Koh Samui and get to Khao Sok by noon. Is that possible? We are planning on taking a tour with Limestone Lake Rainforest Tours and we would rather not have to spend the night in Surat Thania.

At the end of the Limestone Lake Tour, we would then want to leave Khao Sok about 2:30 and either get to Koh Samui that night (avoiding the night ferry) or leaving Khao Sok and get to Surat Thani and take a plane to Chaing Mai that night?

Thanks for any advice!

Teresa

Bangkok to Khao Sok travel options

My best advice would be to do the overnight train from Bangkok to Surat Thani... arriving about 9am in ST.. from there you can get the local bus to Khao Sok which leaves hourly from across the road. Don%26#39;t go with a private minibus as they will take ages.. just walk across the road and catch the local bus.. its about 2 hours to Khao Sok from the train station.

To get to Ko Samui without doing the night ferry you will need to check the ferry times but you would probably have to leave earlier than 2.30 to make the last ferry. I have a feeling it is around 1-2pm for the last ferry... just google it.. the companies you want to look for are Raja, Seatran and I forget the other name sorry!

Thailand transport is slow and unreliable. There is also no planes that fly direct from Surat Thani to Chiang Mai as fas as I am aware. You would need to go via Bangkok.

Bangkok to Khao Sok travel options

I stand corrected, i just did a quick search and found this information - note: this is a travel agency, but the times would be accurate... I have heard this agency is ok to deal with, but my personal advice is to do it yourself and stick to the govt buses!

www.travelconnecxion.com/koh_samui_ferry.php

Thanks Emjay,

I%26#39;ll check out the overnight train today and see if that will work. My family has enjoyed reading your blog and your advice. It%26#39;s been great advice!

Teresa

If you do Khao Sok before Samui you can get to the Don Sak Pier in 2 hours. The ferries leave on the hour with the last one leaving at 7pm, cost 150 bht each. Limestone Lake Tours will drive your family in a private car to the Don Sak pier for about $60 US. Personally I would fly to Surat Thani from Bkk in the morning there are very cheap flights available.

Coffs

Coff,

Thanks, I%26#39;ll check that out also. I see that Air Asia has a flight that arrives at Surat Thani at 10:15 am so we wouldn%26#39;t get to Khao Sok until between 1 and 2 pm (I%26#39;m guessing) and Kris said it was best to be there mid morning to noon at the latest for the tour. We would much rather fly - the train sounds interesting but the bathroom situation sounds awful! Do you think this flight would work?

Teresa

Hi ,

Im in the same situation . Dont have the time to spend the night in Surat Thani so think Im going to get the 9am flight from Bangkok. Total price at the moment is only 35 euros. If I get the private transfer with Limestone Lake Tours I would imagine we would get there around 12/1pm ?

If you land 10.15am at Surat Thani you will definately be there by 12md. You can catch a bus or cab to Khao Sok or atlernately email Kris and ask her how much for one of her crew to pick you up, I%26#39;d guess about 40 to 50 US. I was there several months ago and travelled by bus from Phuket and arrived about 2pm, we just changed the tour a bit from jungle walk to massage, they were very flexible.

Coffs

Here is Kris%26#39; suggestion .....

If you take a private transfer from Surat Thani Airport to either Khao Sok or Chieow Laan Lake, you%26#39;ll be there in time for lunch and the afternoon

activity. If you prefer to take public transport, you may not arrive in time for the afternoon activity, but we can always move that to the next

morning if necessary.

Either way, I don%26#39;t think there%26#39;s any reason for you to have to take the overnight train or spend a night in Surat Thani. The itineraries are designed to be flexible so we can just move things around a bit if

necessary.

So I%26#39;ll check with the family again but we might fly!

Teresa