A Week in Khao Lak: Swimming, Surfing and Sunshine

When planning our honeymoon, Claudio and I knew we wanted to go somewhere we'd never been before and discover new cultures and landscapes, but we were also very certain that we wanted to spend a week relaxing on a beautiful beach somewhere hot. So while the first week of our honeymoon in Thailand was packed full visiting the cultural sights in and around Bangkok and the natural wonders of Khao Sok National Park, the second week was where we did the more typical honeymoon type of holiday and took things slower. This was unusual for us, as the trips we've taken together in the past have always been filled with sightseeing - of course there were relaxing moments on most of those trips, but never full days of chilling out by the beach. This trip definitely showed us that we need to do this kind of thing more often!

It actually took less than two hours by road to get from Elephant Hills Rainforest Camp to Apsara Beachfront Resort and Villa in Khao Lak. It was great that this time, unlike our journey from Bangkok to Elephant Hills, we didn't have to get on a plane or even travel that long of a distance to end up in a third, completely distinct landscape.

On our arrival, we were greeted with glasses of delicious iced tea before being shown to our room. And it was quite a room - so spacious and with a beautiful honeymoon-themed display on the bed.

One of the best features of the room was the balcony, which overlooked big coconut trees, where we would often see squirrels scampering around!

On our first afternoon after arriving, I took some time to fully unpack my bags for the first and only time during our time in Thailand. I always like to do so in order to feel properly settled into where I'm staying, but given that our stays in Bangkok and Elephant Hills were quite short and my suitcase was big, it made more sense to just live out of the suitcase during that first week. I'm naturally a person who likes to be organised (though I'm not always that good at it), so I definitely felt a lot more relaxed and ready to enjoy our time at the beach after I'd put everything away in its correct place!

Later, we went out to explore the resort, which is so beautifully thought out.

It has two restaurants...

...two swimming pools...

a garden with chickens...

...and even a library!

There's a bridge next to the resort that crosses over an area that turns into a lagoon at high tide. On the other side of the bridge, you can find the Apsara villas. This area feels very secluded and is a good place to spot wildlife!

On our first evening, we went for pizza and cocktails right on the beachfront at Karkinos restaurant - the perfect way to kick off the second week of our honeymoon. (I loved the pink coasters so much that I actually bought a couple from the gift shop later!)

We tried to have a bit of a nighttime stroll along the beach afterwards, but nearly stepped on something that looked suspiciously like a scorpion, so went for a walk around the resort instead, which looked really magical.

In fact, the following night we started an sunset routine of swimming in the infinity pool overlooking the beach, which we did nearly every night afterwards. It was an amazing way to end the day, and one of the things I'm missing most now we're back in the UK!

Our first two full days were spent chilling out at the resort, spending hours swimming in the pools and the sea, which is our idea of heaven.

One highlight from our second day was trying some delicious cakes and drinks at the Ila Lounge café. I was very excited to try Thai tea, which is a milky iced tea. It was really nice, though I was slightly disappointed to find out afterwards that the orange colour is just a dye rather than any particular spice added to the tea!

On our third day, we went on an excursion to James Bond Island and other exciting places. But while we stayed in Khao Lak on our fourth day, it was no less adventurous - this was the day when we learnt to surf at Memories Beach.

You can reach Memories Beach by crossing over the bridge to the villas and then walking a short distance through a forest. This beach definitely has a more "Gap Year" vibe to it, which is an interesting contrast from the resort.

This is where we came across Better Surf Thailand (which is actually now known as Memories Surf House). We've both wanted to try surfing for a long time - I previously learnt windsurfing in the Cotswold Water Park a long time ago, and back in 2022 we tried indoor surfing in Mall Sport in Santiago. And of course, we had a go at stand-up paddleboarding the previous week!

So when the waves started picking up on our fourth day, we decided to take the plunge and take a surfing class. The class began with a tutorial on the beach itself for us to learn the basics, and then we got into the water and tried to put it all into practice. It was definitely a lot more difficult than stand-up paddleboarding! Claudio was really natural and could stand up by himself pretty much straightaway. I struggled a bit more at the start, but by the end we were both standing up, staying up and surfing some waves!

We were pretty exhausted but the end of the session, but full of endorphins. It was so much fun! We'll absolutely try to go surfing again at some point in the future.

The next day, we came back to Memories Beach, but this time to eat, drink and chill out! The bar is a lot cheaper than the restaurants at the resort, so we thought we should check it out, and it turned out to be some of the best food we ate during our trip - I don't think I've ever had a better Massaman curry in my life.

Another fun thing that happened that day was seeing a small monitor lizard wondering around the resort. I felt a bit sorry for him or her, because he or she seemed rather lost!

That evening, we decided to take a taxi to Coconut Beach, which is known for being one of the most beautiful beaches in Khao Lak. We definitely were not disappointed! It was an amazing place for a sunset walk and an ice cream sundae. The taxi ride was also pretty fun!

The following day, we went on a snorkelling excursion to the Surin Islands, and after that we had just one full day left. We chose to spend part of it having a traditional Thai massage next to the lagoon. It was our first time having this time of massage, and it was certainly an experience. Every muscle of our bodies was stretched out, and afterwards we felt as if we'd done a long restorative yoga session - without having to do any work ourselves!

We then went to Coconut Beach for lunch and an afternoon of swimming and sunbathing, before coming back to the resort for a final sunset swim. We packed up our suitcases and then finished the day with dinner and (very strong!) cocktails at the Apsara Villa restaurant.

All in all, it was a wonderful week in the most beautiful location, and we couldn't have imagined a more perfect way to finish our honeymoon. We've been through our fair share of stressful situations over the last year or so, and our engagement period and start to married life were quite different to those of most couples. These two weeks in Thailand, and particularly our week in Khao Lak, were a time where we could forget about all that and just really enjoy life and being together.

The honeymoon may be over now, but I'm not done blogging about it just yet! Check back here soon for a couple more posts about our adventures in southern Thailand...

Jungle Camp Day 3: Jungle Trekking

We woke up after our second and last night in Elephant Hills to a beautiful day, with dramatic looking clouds covering the mountains.

We only had half a day left in this paradise, and we were given a choice as to how to spend it: either stay at the camp and relax, or go on a trek through the jungle. Claudio was slightly nervous about the prospect of being near massive spiders while trekking, and I can't say that appealed to me much either. But we definitely wanted to make the most of our last day (who knows when or if we'll be in a place like this again?), so opted for the trekking activity.

This activity actually took place right next to the camp itself - after making the short crossing over the river in canoes, we were already deep in the rainforest.

Thankfully, we only saw one massive spider during the trek, which was a good distance away from us and stayed still! Other than that, we didn't see any wildlife, but there was a fallen tree on our path, and our guide showed us a video of a young male elephant coming down the path a few nights earlier and knocking it over. To be honest, we were surprised that he could fit down the narrow path!

Overall, the trek was a nice and not too challenging couple of hours walking through beautiful tropical forests. We saw some fascinating sights, including vines that looked straight out of Tarzan...

...wild mushrooms...

...bananas...

...and a big hollow tree that we could stand inside!

Eventually, we arrived at a hut in the middle of the forest, which was no more than a small shelter. Here we prepared a lunch from scratch, cooked over an open fire, that was up there with the best food we had during our entire trip. The dishes we made were coconut milk soup (with chicken for meat eaters, and without for vegetarians like me), scrambled eggs with Thai spices, and barbecue pork/tofu with a spicy sauce, followed by fresh pineapple for dessert. (When we checked out of the camp later, we were given a sheet of paper with all the recipes, so we can have a go at making them at home!)

After trekking back to camp, we had a couple of hours to pack our suitcases and complete check out. I just had to take a photo of the view from outside our tent before leaving, because when are we ever going to wake up to a view like this again?

We then had a look round the souvenir shop, where we bought a little elephant for our mantelpiece and some delicious Thai ice cream.

At around 14:00, it was time for us to take our transfer to Khao Lak, and thus our time in the jungle came to an end. Although it was the shortest of the three parts of our honeymoon, we packed a lot into the 48 hours we were there. It's impossible to pick a favourite out of the three destinations we spent time in - they were all incredible in different ways - but I feel like our time at Elephant Hills was such a unique experience that we'll remember forever. From meeting elephants and seeing monkeys and snakes on our first day, to taking in the amazing scenery of Cheow Lan Lake and stand-up paddleboarding on our second day, and then cooking in the middle of the jungle on our last day, we made so many special memories.

However, we still had a little over half our honeymoon left, and more special memories yet to make. We spent the final eight nights of our holiday at the beach, and while it was by far the most relaxing part of our trip, we couldn't resist fitting in a couple of more adventurous days! So a few more posts will be landing here soon about everything we got up to in Khao Lak and beyond...