Khao Lak Safari or Avatar World from Phuket: Which Jungle Day?

The two days side by side

On paper they look alike: a pickup around seven, an elephant camp before lunch, a bamboo raft on a jungle river, a swim under a waterfall. On the day they feel quite different. The safari is a day of looking and tasting — a temple inside a stalactite cave with bats overhead, a local zoo, a turtle farm, the guide explaining the fruit and rubber plantations as you drive past, then a fruit market where you try what you've just heard about.

The Avatar world day starts gently and gets physical after lunch. Morning is a café built around a pond of giant water lilies, a white temple and the elephants; then the Samet viewpoint over the bay at 13:00; then raft, quad bikes and waterfall one after another. It ends at the thermal springs on the coast at Natai beach. The safari, by contrast, runs north through the Khao Lak Lam Ru reserve and finishes at the Sarasin bridge viewpoint. If you've already settled on the safari and just want to know whether it's worth the day, read is the Khao Lak safari worth it. How Khao Lak fits with the Similan trips is on Khao Lak from Phuket.

The elephants: a ride, or bathing only

This is the clearest difference between the two. On the Khao Lak safari the elephant spa at 12:05 is the full programme — a mud treatment, bathing and showering the elephants, the baby elephant show and a ride, all of it in the price. On the Avatar day, at 11:00, you help wash and bathe an elephant and watch the baby elephant show; the programme on its card has no ride.

If riding matters to you either way, let that decide, and treat the rest as detail. Expect to get wet on both. The safari card calls a change of clothes not optional, and the Avatar card puts swimwear and a towel at the top of its packing list.

Rafting, quad bikes and the waterfall

On the safari the river comes straight after the elephants: bamboo rafting or canoeing down the jungle river at 12:50. Lunch is at a local restaurant at 13:50, the turtle farm at 14:50, and the waterfall stop at 15:00. There are no quad bikes on this day.

The Avatar world day puts its active hours together. Bamboo rafting at 15:00, ATV trails with a bridge, a swing and a maze at 15:30, then the waterfall at 16:50 to cool off. The ATV is one stop among many, and the card is clear that you don't have to drive: you can sit it out at the base while the others ride. Bring shoes you can walk in the jungle in — sandals that come off in mud are no good here.

How each day ends

The safari winds down early. The Sarasin bridge viewpoint and the fruit market come at 16:20, and the bus leaves for Phuket at 16:50. The card puts the whole day at around ten hours.

The Avatar day saves its best stop for last. From 17:30 you're at the Hotspring Beach Resort on Natai beach, moving between thermal pools at around 40°C, a cold pool at around 16°C and a freshwater pool, with the sun going down over the sea. Departure is at 19:00, so you'll be back late. Massage and spa treatments at the resort aren't in the price, if you want them.

Children, pickup and the small print

Children aged 4 to 9 pay the child price on both trips. On the safari the adult price starts at ten; on the Avatar day under-fours travel free. The safari card calls it one of the easier days for a family — the elephants, the zoo, the turtle farm and the raft all land well with children. The Avatar day is long, but it keeps changing, and the water stops break it up. Our page is the Avatar world tour suitable for children goes through it hour by hour.

Hotel transfers both ways are included on both. On the Avatar day, pickup from Kamala, Surin and Bang Tao costs 1,000 ฿ extra, and guests staying in the north either reach the lily café on their own or skip that stop. The safari's cave temple asks for covered shoulders and knees, and cover-ups can be hired there for a small fee. National park entrance fees are in the safari price; on the Avatar day all entrance fees in the programme are covered.

Which one to book

One question settles most bookings: an elephant ride and an earlier evening, or quad bikes and hot pools at sunset? If you want rafting with real rapids instead, there's a third day built around the river. If someone in your group is pregnant, read can I join a Phuket boat tour while pregnant before choosing any day, on land or at sea.

• →An elephant ride included, a cave temple and a fruit market — Khao Lak safari
• →Elephants without a ride, ATV trails and hot pools at sunset — the Avatar world day
• →A family day that heads home earlier — Khao Lak safari
• →Five kilometres of river with rapids and an instructor in every raft — Rafting and the elephant spa

Guide and booking

Every tour in our catalogue runs with an English-speaking guide. The programme can change with the weather on either trip. Payment is agreed in the chat after the booking is confirmed: send the tour, the date and your hotel, and we confirm the pickup time. Every jungle day we run is on Phuket jungle tours. Pairing Khao Lak with a Similan day? Read Similan Islands from Phuket or Khao Lak. The Similan boats leave from Tab Lamu pier near Khao Lak, and both of them stop at Koh Miang, Similan island 4.

Questions people ask