Khao Sok is my favorite National Park in Thailand! It's a nature reserve in containing dense virgin jungle, towerlike limestone karst formations and the man-made Cheow Lan Lake. And this is on the lake that the park is the most interesting. I recommend strongly 2 things:

• Do a 2 Days 1 night safari and sleep 1 night on the lake in a raft house (around 2500 THB).

• If you don't have time, you can also do a tour by boat passing through a few spots such as Pra Kay Petch Cave, the 3 sisters limestones, some floating resorts, etc... The best here is to hire a private boat that you can share, it's around 1500 THB for half a day. And by doing this, you can choose at what time you start, the earlier the better, so you can spend some time on the dam at sunrise looking at the see of fog over the valley.

By taking a private boat, you can also do your own itinerary on the lake, here some good spots: the 3 sisters, Smiley lakehouse, plern prai raft house, Tarzan viewpoint, Phutawan Rafthouse resort, 500 Rai Floating Resort, Panvaree raft house... All these are great photo locations, you should talk with the boat driver to know what's doable within your time. All these resorts propose 2D1N or 3D2N on the lake. Most of them propose similar activities: tour of limestone karst formations, hike to see viewpoint, jungle trek, wildlife safari by boat, morning mist safari, kayak, swimming, all included as well as breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The advantage with the 2D1N package is that you will spend the full day on the lake, the sunset at the floating resort, and the sunrise the next day with some beautiful reflections over the lake. You can also launch your drone everywhere here, nobody will complain. The inconvenient is that you cannot choose where you want to go exactly, and you're part of a tourist group, so your time at each spot will be quite short, and you might be pressured to get some good photos or launch your drone. The food also is so so in this kind of packages, it's usually a simple buffet, same for breakfast. I've tried some of the most expensive and some of the cheapest resorts, and there's not much difference. You mostly pay for electricity, internet, aircon and a bedroom VS a simple raft with just a mattress and a fan. You can choose which option suits you the best. I'll recommend in the middle :)

Khao sok is not just the lake, it's also all the jungle around. It's home to rare species such as the giant parasitic Rafflesia flower, hornbill birds and gibbons. The park can be explored by elephant safari, hiking trail, and raft, canoe or kayak via the Sok river. Other spots include: Nam Ta-lu Cave, the Coral Cave and the Pra Kie Phet Cave, tours to the rare Rafflesia, Ton Kloi WaterfallTrail, SonchanaFarm and Elephant Sanctuary, the Khao Sok Elephant Sanctuary and monkey temple Wat Thum Nang Panturath.