Motorbike tour in Thailand
The mountains and the tropical region of north Thailand, offer you a landscape with a wide variety of vegetation, such as deep jungle, rich farmer land and rice terraces. It is inhabited by many different mountain tribes, one of them is the Karen long neck people. This part of Thailand is also called “the golden triangle”, a name very suitable for this motorbike tour.. Here you can fully enjoy the excellent hard roads with breathtaking curves, winding up and down the mountains, with many scenic stops at big cave sites, waterfalls, rice fields and small authentic villages. The ideal climate, opportunities for elephant riding, wild water rafting and the superb Thai food, will make this an unforgettable vacation. In connection with this trip, we organize the motorbike tour to North Laos. These trips have been scheduled to offer you an excellent opportunity to combine these two with each other. You are free to book the Thailand Golden Triangle Tour separately (15 days) or in combination with North Laos (29 days).
Tour description Thailand trip
Day 1: Departure
Flight to Chiang Mai with stopover in Bangkok
Day 2: Arrival in Chiang Mai
We fly to Chiang Mai, the beginning and the end of this tour. In the afternoon you’ll have plenty of time to discover the city.
Chiang Mai, the biggest city of north Thailand, has an ancient wall and canal surrounding the old town. Here you’ll find
more than 300 temples decorated with dragons and numerous Buddha sculptures, covered in gold leaf. Most of the temples are surrounded by white walls and by entering you’ll discover a peaceful haven of palm trees and the Buddhist monks, dressed in their orange cloths.
Restaurants, terraces and small vendors on the street offer you the possibility to discover the fragrant
and varied Thai kitchen. In a couple of seconds your “chef” will prepare your fresh meal in his/her wok or mix you a fruit shake.
A pleasure for all senses. End the day by taking the local “tuk-tuk”, a three-wheeled taxi, to the famous night market,
where you can buy almost anything you like!
Day 3: Chiang Mai – Mae Chaem 120 km
After the introduction to your motorbikes, we start our journey to get used to left-hand driving. The main roads in north Thailand are in very good condition. There’s not much traffic and since almost everybody stick to the rules, there are seldom dangerous situations or accidents. The turns and descents are however often sharper and steeper than you’d expect. So it’s important to stay in control. Most of the places that we visit are accessible by the main roads. By when there’s time and possibility, we’ll go off road, which will allow us to discover more remote areas. We leave Chiang Mai by taking the highway southbound. After an hour, we exit the highway and drive through the national park of Doi Ithanon. The road through the park is calm with many turns and in mint condition. In this park you’ll see the highest mountain of Thailand, the Doi Ithanon, standing 2565m tall. During the ascents, the flat farm land changes into forest covered mountain sides. After a steep descent and a narrow twisting road, we arrive in the village of Mae Chaem.
Day 4: Mae Chaem – Mae Ruam 100 km
We follow a winding road with spectacular views, towards Khun Yuam and turn off on a small side road. You’ll now understand why we’ve chosen off road bikes for this trip. The small and twisting paths cut right through the hillsides and take us to remote tribe villages. The passages are in drivable condition, unless it has recently rained. But you need to stay focused on your driving! The water from the rain season easily creates deep hollows in the steeper parts of the road. We cruise through some of mountain tribe villages, where the Karen and Hmong people live. Most of these tribes are people driven out from China, Tibet, Myanmar (Burma) and Laos. They have their own culture, language and traditions and stand out by their colorful tribal clothing with embroideries and silver jewelry. We stay in a remote village in the mountains. As there are no hotels or guesthouses here we are the guests of the local grocer. We will sleep in his shop and wash ourselves between the chickens under the water tube. In this way you will get a good impression of the life on the Thai countryside.
Day 5: Mae Ruam – Mae Hong Song 180 km
By off road paths we cross the hills. The last part of the route we spend on the main road cruising through forests and along rice fields until we reach our hotel in the cozy town of Mae Hong Song. We’ll visit the temple Phra That, which is situated on top of a hill offering a magnificent view of Mae Hong Song and its surroundings. In this area you’ll find three villages belonging to the long neck Karen tribe. The women of the Karen tribe, wear since childhood, copper rings around their necks and legs. Every year a new ring is added. When the girl has reached the age for marriage, her neck measures already 25cm. The rings together weigh approx 9-10 kilos.
Day 6: Mae Hong Song – Pai 140 km
We ride through a valley of rice terraces and end up at the Pha Sua waterfalls. After a refreshing dive in the crystal clear water, we return to the main road. We’ll visit the holy fish cave site and slowly continue our journey northbound. By a steep and narrow mountain path, we’ll end up at the site of the big Tham Lot caves. Local guides with lanterns, will take you through this complex of cave chambers and impressive cliff formations. For the real diehards, there is access by water to a third cave where swallows and bats live. When we reach the village of Soppong, we hit the main road again, towards Pai.
Day 7: Stay in Pai
We spend one full day in Pai, a small village along the Nam Pai river, a back packers paradise with bars, coffee shops and plenty of activities. Glide down the river on a bamboo raft or on a truck’s inner tire. Hit some wild water downstream on a rubber raft, ride an elephant through the jungle or take a Thai cooking course! Relaxing with a cocktail and write your postcards, is also an attractive option in this beautiful and peaceful environment.
Day 8: Pai – Chiang Dao 130 km
We ride on winding mountain roads towards Mae Taeng. After approx 70 kms, we leave the paved road and go off road, heading north. Steep and twisting paths take us along elephant camps, rice terraces, fast flowing rivers and breathtaking views over rich farm land. On a few occasions, our guide might not be able to follow us in his 4x4 Jeep, it is simply too steep and narrow. After enjoying some serious driving, tasting dirt and sweat, we finally arrive in Chiang Dao. We spend the night in a traditional teak wood villa hotel, surrounded by lush gardens with fish ponds and tropical flowers.
Day 9: Chiang Dao – Tha Ton 150 km
We continue our journey heading north. Close to the border of Myanmar, we ride on quiet roads along Doi Ang Khang, a mountain surrounded by farmer land, growing vegetables, fruit and flowers. Crossing the town of Fang, we arrive in Tha Ton. From our hotel, a compound consisting of small bungalows along the river, you can actually see the border of Myanmar. Feel free and ride up the hillside and admire the seven beautiful Buddha sculptures, posted along the road. Like in many places, you’ll find a beautiful temple on top of the hill, overseeing Tha Ton. Early every morning, a bell from this temple, makes sure that the valley and the monks “rise and shine”!
Day 10: Tha Ton – Chiang Rai 80 km
We put our motorbikes on the Thai “long tail” boats, a kind of a long canoe with an engine in the back and a propeller fixed on a long pipe; and we let the captain take us down the river Nam Mae Kok. This can only be done if there’s enough water in the river. If it becomes too shallow, we’ll have to get out and pull the boat into deeper water again. We’ll make a stop during the trip to visit hot water springs, a mountain village and a camp where elephants are being trained for work in the forest. Upon arrival in Chiang Rai, we disembark our bikes and ride to our hotel.
Day 11-12: Daytrips out of Chiang Rai 180 km and 150 km
We use Chiang Rai as our home base, and go for two day trips up in the Golden Triangle, the borderline region where Myanmar, Laos and Thailand meet, an area notorious for its opium trade. We’ll use the small country roads or off road paths, in beautiful surroundings of deep jungles and along the Mekong river delta. We’ll ride along Mae Salong tea plantations, a place distinctively influenced by the Chinese. Mae Salong is a settlement originating from a regiment of the Kuonminlang Chinese Nationalist Army, the KMT. This regiment fled from the Chinese communists in Yunnan, in 1949. We “twist” our way up the mountain of Doi Tung and come across villages such as Lisu, Shan, Lahu, Karen en Akha. Some of these villages, like the KMT, earn their daily bread by their opium trade. It is therefore not wise to ride in this area after sunset, or you might be taken for a drug dealer and get shot upon! We’ll pass Sop Ruak, the point where the three countries meet. Here you can visit a small museum covering the opium trade history, or sit on the most northerly spot of Thailand, Mae Sai, which is also a border control.
Day 13: Chiang Rai – Chiang Mai 230 km
For the last time we roar up our bikes and drive up along a mountain range, heading south. We’ll picnic at the foot of a big waterfall and take in the tropical scenery. The closer we get to the Chiang Mai valley, the busier it gets on the road. Upon arrival, we drop off our luggage at the hotel and return the bikes with the owner. In the evening we have enough time to visit the night market with hundreds of small illuminated stands. For very little money and bargain dealing, you have the possibility to acquire all the “fake” expensive brands of clothes, accessories, music and film, as well as authentic Thai craftsmanship. A real treat is the evening fruit and vegetable market and the endless line of food wagons, who’ll cook up a fresh Pad Thai or any other dish of your liking!
Day 14: Stay Chiang Mai / departure
In the evening we fly out of Chiang Mai, via Bangkok to your end destination. During the day you still have plenty of time to do a last shopping round, enjoy the relaxation of a Thai massage, visit some of the local museums, spend
Day 15: Arrival end destination
Extra information:
During this trip we make a stopover in Bangkok . We offer you the possibility to extend your trip with two days, to discover this melt pot of a city. The most famous attraction is the Royal Palace with its golden Pagodas. We’ll also include a bike cycle tour, a great way to discover this fascinating place. We’ll bike through the narrow alleys of China town and eventually load our bikes on long tail boats, that will take us to the country like outskirts of Bangkok, with rice fields and coconut tree plantations. You’ll have enough time to discover other parts of Bangkok or “shop ‘til you drop” in one of the huge shopping malls.
If you have the possibility to extend your vacation, why not combine it with a longer stay in Bangkok or spend some relaxing time on one of Thailand’s many tropical islands and beach resorts. Please don’t hesitate to contact us for more information and suggestions.