Khao Lak Family Holiday

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Khao Lak

Family-Friendly Travel Guide to Khao Lak

If Phuket feels a little too busy but you still want turquoise water, soft sand and easy logistics with kids, Khao Lak might be exactly what you’re looking for. About an hour north of Phuket Airport, Khao Lak offers beautiful beaches, national parks and a refreshingly un-commercial feel. It’s the kind of place where you can surf, snorkel or go on short treks through national parks.

It’s also perfectly positioned for access to:

  • Khao Sok National Park
  • Similan Islands
  • Surin Islands

We recently spent time exploring the area as a family — here’s our practical guide to planning a Khao Lak holiday with children.

Where to stay:

  • JW Marriott Khao Lak Resort & Spa: Large pools, kids’ club, beachfront access and space to spread out. This is a great option if you want everything on-site and minimal planning required.
  • The Sands Khao Lak by Katathani : A strong family favourite thanks to water slides, a splash zone and multiple pool areas. Easy walking distance to town.
  • Apsara Beachfront Resort and Villa: Beach front near the surfclub, great for families.
  • Pullman Khao Lak Resort: This is where we stayed. Great kids club and great location to access Khao Sok and the Sea Star jetty for Similan and Surin snorkelling tours.
  • La Flora Khao Lak: More boutique-feeling but still family-friendly, with beachfront rooms and good food options.
  • Khaolak Merlin Resort: A lush, eco-conscious property blending into rainforest surroundings — ideal if sustainability matters to you.

Where to eat:

Travelling with children shaped our food choices. These places worked well for families and offered variety.

Khao Lak

Phuket

What to do:

  • Memories Surfhouse: Great place for kids to take surfing classes!
  • Sea Star Andaman: Great snorkelling tours to Surin Islands, Similan Islands and more! We did the Surin Islands tour and really enjoyed it.
  • Sai Rung Waterfall: Short walk from the parking to the waterfall. There is a small cafe here for beers and drinks. A small charge to enter the waterfall and park. I want to say about 20 baht per person from memory. We enjoyed swimming in this waterfall. Great short pit stop.
  • Komol‘s Corner Bamboo Rafting: We absolutely loved this activity. Rafting down that gorgeous riverway in the cold water was one of the highlights of our trip.
  • Sea Turtle Conservation Center: Great place to take a pit stop for kiddos to learn about Turtle conservation.
  • Lampi Waterfall: Lovely spot to stop and take a refreshing swim in the waterfall.
  • The Little Amazon Takuapa: Lovely little tour around a forest in a canoe.

What to buy:

How to get around:

We highly recommend renting a car from the airport and keeping it for your entire trip. Car rides are expensive in Phuket and Khao Lak area and public transportation is not widely available.

6 Day 5 Night Plan for Families

Day 1: Arrive, Pick up Rental Car, Waterfall, Check in and Chill

After arriving early morning and picking up our rental car at Phuket Airport, we drove to Fashi by Khrua Klang Dong for an early lunch. Once we had refueled, we headed to Lampi Waterfall and had a quick refreshing dip. Was a wonderful way to start the vacation.

We then headed to Pullman Khao Lak Resort to check in. We enjoyed hanging out at the hotel and an early dinner at the hotel.

Day 2: Bamboo Rafting and Lunch

After breakfast at the hotel, we decided to go to Komol‘s Corner Bamboo Rafting for an adventure. Before going, we called to book a spot at 10am. The raft down the water ways was incredible. Steeped in nature, beautiful water, what a great experience.

We then headed to เรอดัง ซีฟู้ด Rer Dung Seafood for late lunch. Following that we hung out at the hotel, enjoying the facilities.

Day 3: Sea Star Surin Snorkeling Tour

We pre-booked a Surin Island Snorkeling tour wit Sea Star Andaman. Arriving at their port bright and early at 8am for a full day away on the boat. What a marvelous day. The boat was clean and large and lunch on the island was simple but great for a family. The boat fit about 30 of us on it. Families and people of all ages and abilities. We really enjoyed this tour. Surin islands are stunning. We saw all sorts of coral and fish. A great first time open sea snorkelling experience for our family. There was some chill time at Surin beach which was stunning. Some people chose the option to camp on the beach over night. We headed back to shoar and enjoyed an early dinner at Laem Pom Seafood.

Day 4: Khao Sok National Park

Having always wanting to see Khao Sok, this seemed like the perfect hopping point from which to go spend a day in Khao Sok national park. We booked a tour with JC Tour in advance. It is a 2 hour drive from Khao Lak to Khao Sok along pretty nice easy to drive roads. At the Khao Sok marina national park meeting point we were met by a father daughter duo – father the boat expert and daughter the tour guide. I have to say we would never have been able to do half the things we were able to do without them. From boat rides, to raft rides, to trekking, to a cave guide – it was all included.

Highlights from the day were, seeing otters and trekking and rafting up to Coral Cave. With both stalagmites and stalactites, and continual water drips, it felt just like we were under the water. They took us for a pre-organised lunch to a resort in Khao Sok which was great. We could have also taken a swim at the resort but chose not to as it was pretty cold in December. The tour ended at about 4pm.

Khao Sok was simply stunning. We couldn’t believe how beautiful it was. So happy to have had the chance to visit.

On the way back we stopped for dinner at ร้านอาหารป้าณี ก.ม.100 Panee KM100 Restaurant

Day 5: Canoe Ride and Waterfall

After a lazy morning, we headed to The Little Amazon Takuapa for a canoe ride through this waterway jungle area. It was peaceful. Then headed to Lok-Un for lunch – the best Khao Man Kai (Hainanese Chicken Rice) ever!! and delicious Khao Moo Daeng (Pork Rice). Highly recommend. Post lunch ice cream is always necessary, so we stopped at Saraan Icecream Homemade.

Then we headed to Sai Rung Waterfall which was a wonderful refreshing dip in the fall.

As an alternate to this day, we could have gone for surfing classes to Memories Surfhouse but we were exhausted from the packed day before and chose to keep Day 5 to a minimum. Lots of chill time at the hotel.

Day 6: Head back to Phuket to catch a flight

After checking out, we headed back to the airport, but not before a stop at Khun Mae Chu (Local Phuket Souvenirs) to pick up gifts for family and friends.

If we had a later flight we would have checked out Tham Phung Chang for some added final adventure.

Handy Tips for Families

  • Arrange airport transfers in advance (about 1 hour from Phuket).
  • Rent a car if you want flexibility.
  • Bring reef-safe sunscreen. All snorkeling outings require this.
  • Plan island trips early in your stay in case weather changes.
  • Book peak-season accommodation well in advance.

Disclaimer: The photos on this website are mostly from Pixabay and credited as in footnotes. We purposefully chose not to use AI to generate images for sustainability reasons. When possible, images will be replaced with author’s own photography and images.

Featured Image by Fonthip Ward from Pixabay

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