Ko Rok reopens to visitors on 16 November, according to the national park: what it says about the two islands, and what it does not

Ko Rok is the day trip every Koh Lanta operator sells, and the national park says it reopens to visitors on 16 November. The park's own page is short and plain, which makes it useful for one thing in particular: it separates what the park actually states from what the tour sellers say.

What the park says

The Department of National Parks describes Ko Rok as two islands in Mu Ko Lanta National Park: Ko Rok Nok, the outer island, and Ko Rok Nai, the inner one. The highest peak on Ko Rok Nai is 208 metres, and on Ko Rok Nok 156 metres. The page dates the rock of the Rok group to the Permian and Carboniferous periods, roughly 345 to 230 million years ago. All of this is our translation from the Thai, and the page is undated.

Ko Rok Nai, it says, is a place for both snorkelling and deep diving. Ko Rok Nok has a long stretch of sandy beach, a snorkelling spot and a nature study trail, and it is where the park's ranger unit Lt.1 is based. A park shop on Ko Rok is listed as open daily from 08:30 to 17:00. Its terrain description also names Hat Thalu and Ao Man Sai, which is our transliteration of the Thai, without saying more about them.

Getting there

The park says you hire a private boat from Ban Sala Dan pier on Koh Lanta, or from Hat Pak Meng in Sikao district, Trang. It gives no boat time and no distance.

The tour sites do: they say about 30 kilometres south of Lanta and an hour to an hour and a half by speedboat, with one quoting 50 minutes from Old Town pier. These are sellers, so read them as marketing figures. One reviewer on a tour page described a rough crossing of about an hour each way. The same sellers say only licensed tour operators visit, which we could not confirm from the park.

When it opens

The park's page says the tourist season at Ko Rok, Hin Daeng and Hin Muang is closed from 16 May to 15 November every year because of the southwest monsoon, and open from 16 November to 15 May. That puts the reopening about two weeks from now. A search summary of operator pages suggested seasons generally restart around 1 November, but we found no source for that and are going with the park. Our piece on the two dive rocks covers the closure from the diving side.

Phone signal

The park's signal list names TRUE and TRUE-DTAC at some spots on Ko Rok and says the signal is received but not very good. It does not list AIS there, unlike its other islands. We cover that list in our article on mobile signal.

What we could not establish

The park page does not give fees, which it shows in images we could not read, and says nothing on camping, rules or how many visitors are allowed. It does not mention a lagoon. One operator says the park fee may not be included in tour prices, so ask when you book. For the park itself, it lists 0 7565 6576 for enquiries. The illustration above is generated and is not a photograph of Ko Rok.