The Elephant Hills camp is the perfect base to meet the unique and natural treasures Southern Thailand has to offer: scenic canoe trips on the Sok River, elephant-back rides through the forest, trekking and more.

Set amidst emerald-green rice fields and lush orchards, Khum Lanna gives you a luxurious home-stay experience combined with a cooking school specialising in traditional Northern Thai cuisine. A celebration of heritage, food and lifestyle, the Culinary & Wellness programme combines cultural exchanges with local communities with Thai cooking classes, herbal steam baths and massages.

During the southwest monsoon that blows between May and October, the conditions on the Andaman coast become inhospitable for liveaboard diving and some boats redeploy to the Gulf of Thailand side which has an inverse weather pattern.

Staying as a guest of a community can be a highly rewarding experience, adding real meaning to a holiday and creating opportunities for a genuine cultural exchange leaving all parties wiser and more enlightened to cultural differences. Koh Yao Yai...