Photo: BerryJ · CC BY-SA 4.0Andaman Rainforest Road Trip
Loop from Phuket through Phang Nga, Khao Lak, Khao Sok and Krabi, keeping boats and lake nights separate from the drive.
- Allow
- 6–8 days
- Route
- 544 km
- Drive time
- 8 hr 49 min
- Stops
- 6
The mainland behind the Andaman islands is a road-trip landscape in its own right. Limestone rises out of Phang Nga’s mangroves, Khao Lak opens onto long beaches, and Khao Sok replaces salt water with rainforest and Cheow Lan Lake before Krabi brings the karst back to the coast.
Six days works if the lake is a day trip; eight is better with a floating-bungalow night. Boats, park transfers and weather must be booked as their own pieces—your rental car cannot follow you onto Railay or across the reservoir.
The road, in one glance
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Drawing the route…
The route earns
its distance
Each pin is selected as a place to do something—not merely proof that you passed through.
Photo: Myinternationalwikipedia · CC0Phuket Old Town
Start with Sino-Portuguese streets and a food-led evening before using the car for the mainland rather than Phuket traffic.
Phuket is a city in the southeast of Phuket Island, Thailand, and the capital of Phuket province. As of 2024 the city municipality had a population of 71,284 and an urban population of 252,515 in the entire district of Amphoe Mueang. When considering the broader metropolitan area, the population is approximately 430,000.
Photo: Vyacheslav Argenberg · CC BY 4.0Phang Nga
Karst towers rise behind the provincial town and continue into mangrove-and-bay landscapes reached by local boats.
Phang Nga is one of the southern provinces (Changwat) of Thailand, on the shore of the Andaman Sea to the west and Phang Nga Bay to the south. Neighbouring provinces, from north and moving clockwise, are Ranong, Surat Thani, and Krabi. Towards the south of Phang Nga is the Phuket province, connected by the Sarasin Bridge.
Photo: Vyacheslav Argenberg · CC BY 4.0Khao Lak
Long beaches and low-rise resort areas make a calm two-night base between Phuket and the rainforest.
Khao Lak is a small village in Phang Nga Province, Thailand, located south of Lak Mountain. Tour operators like to use the popular name to refer to a series of nearby villages, now primarily tourist-oriented, mainly in the Takua Pa District of Phang Nga Province, Thailand. The name "Khao Lak" literally translates to 'Main Mountain'.
Photo: BerryJ · CC BY-SA 4.0Khao Sok National Park
Ancient rainforest, river valleys and limestone cliffs provide the route’s green interior and its strongest reason to stop for two nights.
Khao Sok National Park is in Surat Thani Province, Thailand. Its area is 461,712 rai ~ 739 square kilometres (285 sq mi), and it includes the 165 km2 (64 sq mi) Cheow Lan Lake contained by the Ratchaprapha Dam. The park is the largest area of virgin forest in southern Thailand and is a remnant of rain forest which is older and more diverse than the Amazon rainforest.
Photo: kallerna · CC BY-SA 3.0Krabi & Ao Nang
Use Krabi for karst viewpoints, mainland food and boats to beaches the road cannot reach.
Krabi is the capital of and main town in Krabi Province (thesaban mueang), on the west coast of southern Thailand, where the Krabi River flows into Phang Nga Bay. The town lies 650 km (400 mi) south of Bangkok, and as of 2020, has a population of 32,644. As in much of southern Thailand, the local economy centres largely on tourism.
Photo: Vyacheslav Argenberg · CC BY 4.0Samet Nangshe
A high viewpoint over Phang Nga Bay turns the return toward Phuket into a final dawn or late-afternoon landscape stop.
Phang Nga Bay (Thai: อ่าวพังงา, RTGS: ao phangnga ) is a 400 km2 (150 sq mi) bay in the Andaman Sea between the island of Phuket and the mainland of the Kra Isthmus of southern Thailand. Since 1981, an extensive section of the bay has been protected as the Ao Phang Nga National Park. The park is in Phang Nga Province, at 8°17′N 98°36′E.
Drive the conditions,
not the itinerary.
Heavy rain changes visibility and journey times fast. Do not drive through flood water, keep boat departures buffered and avoid planning a long road leg after an overnight transfer.
Checked against
the people who run it
Distances and driving times are planning estimates. Conditions, closures, ferries, permits and park rules can change, so check the linked official guidance before setting out.