Northern Thailand Explorer [8 Days & 7 Nights]

Arrive to Chiang Mai Airport, meet and greet with Local English speaking guide. Depart to Chiang Mai city moat and ruined walls. Start the temples tour with Chedi Luang Temple was built in the end of 14th century. The great chedi was to remain the tallest structure in Chiang Mai and was once the home of the Emerald Buddha image, Thailand's most sacred religious relic. Visit to Phra Singh Temple, was built in the year 1345. This temple contains marvelous examples of Lanna art, including a Lanna style viharn and the finest scripture repository of its type in the north.

Proceed to Phrathat Doi Suthep Temple, one of northern Thailand's most sacred temples built in the year 1383. It is located 1,050 meters above sea level. See the marvelous golden chedi, which is containing the holy relics of Lord Buddha. Enjoy the panoramic view of Chiang Mai City and Ping valley from the summit of Suthep Mountain.

Then transfer to the hotel for check in and free at leisure.

19:00 Hrs. Pick up from hotel lobby and depart to Old Chiang Mai Cultural Center. Enjoy a Dinner the traditional northern Thailand form of dining. The food is served on a wooden pedestal tray, called Khantoke. While guest enjoy the meal there are usually performances of traditional northern Thai dances and music.

Overnight: Chiang Mai
Meal: Dinner (1)

08:00 Hrs. Pick up from hotel lobby and depart to Doi Inthanon National Park, which the Thailand's highest mountain (2,565 meters above sea level) offers beautiful scenery, evergreen mountain forests, dwarf rhododendron groves, rare bird life, and impressive waterfalls.
 
Visit to the Summit and short trek along Angka Nature Trail; explore and feel the beauty and the unforgettable nature around. Continue to the great Twin Royal Pagodas, which were built for His Majesty the King and Her Royal Highness the Queen of Thailand. This place provides a marvelous view of its surrounding.
 
Lunch served at the local restaurant.
 
Depart to Doi Inthanon Royal Project, one of the many royal-sponsored projects to familiarize hill tribe people with new agricultural techniques. View the flower nurseries and cultivation areas. Then visit Karen Hill Tribe Village to experience their primitive lifestyle. Surrounded by green forests and rice terraces that support the families who live there, it sets a beautiful picturesque scene in the mountains.

On the way back visit to Vachiratharn Waterfall, a large waterfall which plummets over the edge of a high cliff around 100 meters into a deep pool below. It is also one of the highest waterfalls in Northern Thailand, great to take pictures.

Then transfer back to hotel.

Overnight: Chiang Mai
Meal: Lunch (1)

08:00 Hrs. Pick up from hotel lobby and depart to Maesa Elephant Camp; home to one of the largest assembly of elephants in the north of Thailand. The camp’s philosophy is to create a natural and healthy environment for the elephants while working to conserve and breed them, due to the dwindling number of Asian elephants left in the wild. Watch the elephants enjoy complete freedom of movement, no longer chained; they can roam wherever they choose in the sanctuary.  The mahouts do not ride the elephants, nor do they use the hook for control.  New dust and mud bath areas have been created, and the elephants can spend time cooling off in the stream. Experiences with their daily basis activities and enjoy feeding, touching, playing, and photograph with elephants.

Visit to Orchid Nursery; see a large collection of different types of colorful exotic year-round-bloom orchids.

Lunch served at the local restaurant.

Depart to Pai Town by mountain road (2½ hours drive) along picturesque scenic routes passes the several beautiful northern mountains and valleys. Arrive to Pai Town, visit to Tha Pai Hot Springs which the water has an average temperature of 80 degrees Celsius, relax at a stream running through the hot springs where you can bath there.

Continue to Mae Yen Temple; where is a peaceful, serene atmosphere, suitable for admiring a vast panoramic view of Pai town.

Then transfer to the hotel for check in, free at leisure.

*** Your free time to Pai Walking Street; shops selling Thai handicrafts, souvenirs, antiques, clothes and hill tribe products. There are so many sidewalk stalls selling all kinds of items also food and drinks are sold. (Open 18:00-23:00 Hrs.)

Overnight: Pai Town
Meal: Lunch (2)

08:00 Hrs. Pick up from hotel lobby and depart to Santichon Village; one of the Chinese communities migrated from Yunan, China. The village showcases reproductions of traditional Chinese clay houses, and there are a few tiny shops made of mud and clay selling tea by the bag or by the pot, where they also often run tea-tasting sessions.

Continue to Lod Cave, one of Thailand’s most impressive which features colorful stalactites and stalagmites, where a huge cave system is once a dwelling place of pre-historic man. Experience with take the Bamboo Raft reach into the cave; explore two connected caves, with the first one being a grotto, the second one containing pre-historic paintings of deer.

Lunch served at the local restaurant

Depart to Pai Canyon, narrow red ridges with steep-sided valleys, both sides filled with pine and dipterocarps forests. The steep 50 meter drop either side and stunning views over the surrounding countryside are impressive.

Continue to World War II Memorial Bridge, This Bridge was built in 1942; at that time the Japanese troops chose Pai to be their military base.
 
Depart to Chiang Mai (03 hours drive) by road along picturesque scenic routes passes the several beautiful northern mountains. Arrive to Chiang Mai and transfer to hotel for check in.
 
Overnight: Chiang Mai
Meal: Lunch (3)

08:00 Hrs. Pick up from hotel lobby and depart to Chiang Mai Handicrafts Center. Learn and see the local people making handicraft including Hand-woven Textiles by Silk, Silverware, and Umbrellas or paper parasols which are hand-painted in a variety designs.

The artisans produce an extraordinary range of quality products, which are invariably the first choice among shoppers. This tour shows you how Chiang Mai craftsmen produce their crafts by hand from the first stage until finish, and gives you an idea that Chiang Mai is the major center for quality handicrafts in Thailand.

Depart to Chiang Rai (03 hours drive) by road along picturesque scenic routes passes the several beautiful northern mountains

Lunch served at the local restaurant.

Arrive to Chiang Rai, visit to White Temple (Rong Khun Temple); designed by the famous national artist. The main temple building is a distinctive white color, decorated with fragments of reflective glass which can be seen from afar. Continue to Emerald Buddha Temple (Phra Kaew Temple); where the Emerald Buddha image was once enshrined. Now it is replaced with a jade Buddha image which was made to commemorate the 90th birthday of the late Princess Mother. Then transfer to the hotel for check in and free at leisure.

Overnight: Chiang Rai
Meal: Lunch (4)

08:00 Hrs. Pick up from hotel lobby and depart to  Blue Temple (Rong Sued Ten Temple); designed by the local Chiang Rai artist who used to the team work of White Temple before. The main temple building is a distinctive blue color with the new philosophy of Buddhist art

Then visit to Black House, (Baandum Museum); belongs to the national artist who is celebrated for his eerie sculptures made from horns and bones, reptile skins, traditional African sculptures, old boats, Lanna-style woodcrafts and art installations housed across 32 buildings, most of which are Lanna-style pavilions made from black wood.

Then visit Mae Sai Town, the Thailand-Myanmar border and the northernmost point of Thailand. Enjoy shopping Myanmar products at the local market.

Lunch served at the local restaurant

Continue to visit the Golden Triangle where the borders of three countries; Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar are met. See the Golden Buddha Statue and the panoramic view of Mekong River. Then visit the Opium Museum, displaying all the stories about the opium and the Golden Triangle.

Depart to Chiang Saen Town, which ancient city originated around 1328; visit the multitude of sites including ancient ruins of temples, stupas, and ancient city wall and moat. Then transfer back to the hotel

Overnight: Chiang Rai
Meal: Lunch (5)

08:00 Hrs. Pick up from hotel lobby and depart to visit the Long Neck Tribe Village; the woman wears several brass rings around their long, slender necks. A woman generally has about twenty or more rings around her neck. They are originated from Shan state, The Union of Myanmar.

Depart Doi Mae Salong, visit to Santi Kiri Village (Yunan Chinese Comities) with its Tea Plantations and also co-op store where homemade wines, medical herbs and other locally grown products are sold. They are ethnic Chinese, descendents of KMT Nationalist Chinese army regiment that took refuge in Thailand almost 50 years ago.

Lunch served at the local restaurant.

Drive up to the highest mountain peak on the Thai/Myanmar border; Doi Tung, 2,000 meters above sea level. In the past, shifting slash-and-burn cultivation destroyed the forest around Doi Tung area. Until 1987 when the Doi Tung Development. Project was established in accordance to the King’s Mother initiative.

Visit to Mae Fah Luang Garden; it’s built in 1992 on an area of 12 Rai. This garden grows winter flowers and decorative plants with beautiful flowers taking turn to bloom season by season. Continue to The Royal Villa of the late Princess Mother (the King's mother), the most beautiful combination styles of the northern Thai and Swiss winter villa. Then transfer back to the hotel

Overnight: Chiang Rai
Meal: Lunch (6)

Check out from the hotel and transfer to Chiang Rai Airport for flight to next destination.

Overnight: x
Meal: x

- All itineraries are subject to change due to circumstances beyond our control including, weather, road or trail conditions, tour attractions, tours, flight schedules and availability.