Southern Thailand’s trekking is defined by rainforest older than the Amazon — Khao Sok National Park’s jungle is estimated at over 160 million years old, and its trails wind beneath a closed canopy past limestone karst towers that rise straight out of the forest floor. Further south, Khao Luang National Park near Nakhon Si Thammarat climbs into cloud forest on the peninsula’s highest peak, with a cooler, wetter character than the lowland parks further north.
This is Thailand’s wettest trekking region, with a monsoon pattern shaped by the Andaman coast rather than the mainland: the best trekking window runs roughly December to April, before the rains build through the middle of the year. Routes here often combine jungle walking with a longtail-boat crossing of Cheow Lan Lake or a stay in a raft house, and the reward is close-up access to gibbons, hornbills, and — with patience — some of Southeast Asia’s densest old-growth rainforest.
