Khao Lak is blessed with some fantastic beaches. The Sands where we stayed is on Nang Thong beach and while this was a little rocky if you wander along the beach for a couple of minutes you reach a nice bay that we really enjoyed. If you move up the coastline further still you’ll pass Bang Niang beach, Khao Lak beach, and Khuk Kak beach. The really impressive spots though are further north – with White Sands beach, Coconut Beach and Memories Beach. All 3 are in close proximity and easy to reach in a taxi. We enjoyed a fantastic day at Memories Beach, which has the fantastic Memories Beach Bar and an elephant sanctuary (Elephant Home) within walking distance.

Khao Lak has an abundance of restaurants you can enjoy, particularly lining the main street. Its really easy to go for a wander and pick somewhere you enjoy. Personally we picked up some recommendations from Facebook groups and Trip Advisor, a few of which we tried. We’re really recommend the Gold Elephant and Mojo – both of which we really enjoyed. Memories Beach Bar was also fantastic up on Memories beach. Others which were recommended to us were Phu View (for the views), Orchid and Pams – which we tried to visit but it was booked up for a week – so if there’s somewhere you really fancy contact them online and book a table in advance.

Thailand is dotted with many Elephant Sanctuaries, mainly home to Elephants that were previously made to work and now live a more protected life. The treatment of elephants in general does vary and so in our opinion it is important if you choose an Elephant encounter you pick somewhere that takes good care of the elephants and is as ethical as possible. From our research the Phuket Elephant Sanctuary and the Khao Lak Elephant Sanctuary seemed to be the best. We visited the Khao Lak Elephant Sanctuary and had an amazing morning here that we’d recommend perhaps as the number 1 thing to do on your trip. We give a more detailed review of our experience in the video link below and our excursion can be found here: https://gyg.me/VgzkhDAo

Thailand has hundreds of beautiful temples dotted around the country, which you can either take in from outside or pay a visit. You can even book tours which take you around a selection of temples. There are several in and around Khao Lak with the most notable being the What Khuk Khak temple which is fairly central. Just remember to be respectful and prepared with appropriate clothing – I believe covering knees and shoulders, and no caps, but check with your tour guide.

This is a brilliant night market that runs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays from 5pm – 10pm. Its right on the main road so you can jump in a tuk tuk for just a few pounds and they’ll take you up here in no time. The market is probably the best night market we’ve ever visited – its absolutely buzzing, with loads going on, loads to eat and loads to buy. If you’re staying in Khao Lak this is probably a must do.

This is a wonderful sanctuary on the outskirts of Khao Lak. Baby turtles are protected and raised here until they’re old enough to be released into the wild safely. We visited here as part of our Bamboo rafting excursion (see here: https://gyg.me/2dSxw5BZ) which we talk more about on the next page. The staff here were amazing, engaging with the kids and teaching them about the turtles. They even let them hold one of the baby turtles (under careful supervision) and feed some of the older turtles by hand. It was an incredible experience so it’s worth the effort to get out here.

These seem to be popular in Thailand and are offered at several places in the Khao Lak region. From our research this seemed to be the Kukulo beach club and Memories Beach Bar on certain days of the week. The Sands where we were staying put one on for valentines day and it was really impressive.

Khao Lak was badly hit by the December 2004 tsunami and there are several memorials in the region. The museum here is now home to the police boat which was guarding the royal family out at sea when the tsunami hit and which was washed 1km inland. Now its kept as a memorial to the tragic event alongside the museum.

We know this is very popular with locals and tourists and a lot of people like to take this in. It wasn’t something we were too interested in so never really looked into it, but there is a boxing stadium in Khao Lak if you’d like to take in a fight. We also saw loads of adverts for Thai boxing classes, even in our hotel, so you can get involved and give it a try if you want to!

With Khao Lak being surrounded by jungle, there are numerous opportunities for hiking and getting out to enjoy the area, including to some amazing waterfalls. We didn’t really consider hiking with the kids, but we noticed numerous options, often as combinations with trips to waterfalls, rafting or Khao Sok National Park. We did manage to take in one waterfall, the Ton Pling waterfall, as part of our bamboo rafting excursion (see the next page). Keep in mind that these waterfalls and some of the waterways themselves often dry up in the summer season.

We noticed a selection of these on offer – for example the Khao Lak Elephant Sanctuary offered a package including cooking classes. The one that stood out for us though was Pams restaurant, located in Khao Lak, which also offers cooking classes – they take you into town and help you choose and buy your own ingredients, then work with you to make your own dishes. This came highly recommended from several people we spoke to. Given our kids are picky eaters we decided against this, but we’ve heard lots of good things.

Tuk tuks are the taxis of Thailand and are basically trucks with seats built into the back. They’re a lot of fun to ride in and almost an experience in themselves. Some are kitted out as disco tuk tuks with lights and music which the kids absolutely loved. The Sands has their own tuk tuks which were really handy, and you can hail one from almost anywhere. If you specifically want a disco tuk tuk we were recommended a tour company - Penny and Oat – which we used to pre-book a disco taxi for just a few pounds.