Northern Thailand Discovery

Your guide meets the group in the arrivals hall at Chiang Mai International Airport and a private coach runs into the city, a short transfer of around twenty minutes. The airport sits close to the old walled town, so there is no long road into the centre and the group is checked in with the afternoon still ahead.

Check-in at an Old City boutique hotel inside or beside the moat, within walking reach of the Lanna temples the rest of the route will cover. The afternoon is left open to settle in and find your feet in a city built on a far smaller scale than Bangkok, slow and low-rise behind its square of old walls.

A welcome dinner beside the river with a short briefing on the days ahead, the elephant day, the night in the hills and the drive north, so the group knows the shape of the week before it begins.

The road climbs the mountain on the city's edge to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, the gold chedi that has looked down on Chiang Mai since the fourteenth century. The temple is reached by a long staircase flanked by two nagas, or by funicular for those who would rather save their legs, and the terrace gives the clearest view there is of the whole city laid out across the plain below.

Back down into the old walled city, square inside its moat, for the Lanna temples the north built in its own style. Wat Chedi Luang stands around its half-ruined royal chedi, brought down in part by an earthquake centuries ago and never fully rebuilt, and Wat Phra Singh holds the most revered Buddha image in the city behind its teak doors.

The evening is free inside the old city, useful for the Sunday walking street if the dates line up, or a quiet dinner near the hotel.

A full day at an ethical elephant sanctuary in the hills outside the city, a no-riding model where the elephants are not worked or made to perform. The morning is spent feeding them, walking with them and bathing them in the river, and learning from the keepers how each animal came to the sanctuary and how it is cared for now. It is a quieter day than the riding camps, and an honest one.

Later, a northern Thai cooking class that opens with a short market walk for the ingredients, the herbs and pastes and fresh produce of the region. The class works hands-on through the dishes of the Lanna kitchen, the slow curries and the grilled and pounded plates that set the north apart from the food most visitors know from Bangkok.

The evening is free after the cooking class, with the day's own cooking usually enough of a dinner.

A drive into the highlands toward Mae Chaem, climbing out of the Chiang Mai valley onto forested ridges where the air is cooler and the road quieter. The country changes within the first hour, from the orchards and rice of the lowlands to terraced slopes and standing forest.

A community-based village visit hosted by a hill-country community, built around the rhythm of an ordinary day rather than a staged performance. Time is spent in the gardens and the kitchen, walking the village with people who live there, and sharing a community meal prepared by the hosts. The visit is community-run, and the group is a guest in it.

An overnight community homestay, simple and clean, with the family and the village for the night. The hills go quiet and dark after sunset, and the morning starts early and cool. Dinner is the shared community meal with the hosts.

The drive north out of the hills toward Chiang Rai, the country's far northern province on the old border country between Thailand, Laos and Myanmar. The route comes down off the ridges and runs up through the northern valleys toward the provincial town.

Wat Rong Khun, the White Temple, a contemporary work an artist began in 1997 and is still building, finished in white plaster and mirror glass that throws the light back in pieces. Across town the Blue Temple, Wat Rong Suea Ten, answers it in cobalt and gold, proof that the north is still making its temples rather than only preserving them.

The Chiang Rai night bazaar for dinner and the crafts of the northern hill communities, then overnight in the town.

North to the Golden Triangle, the viewpoint where the borders of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet across the water and the Mekong opens out below. The name belongs to the opium trade that once ran this corner of the hills, and the country has spent decades turning the land away from it.

A boat out onto the Mekong, the great river that runs the length of mainland Southeast Asia, then the Hall of Opium, the museum that tells the long and unsparing story of the trade that gave the region its name and the work that went into ending it.

A farewell dinner back in Chiang Rai to close the route, with the morning's departures still ahead.

Breakfast at the hotel. The guide coordinates the departure transfers, timing each vehicle to the individual flight schedules so no one waits at the airport longer than they have to.

Private transfer to the airport for outbound flights, whether a domestic connection south through Chiang Mai or Bangkok or an onward leg across the border. Groups extending in the north or into Laos can be routed from here.

The route ends at the airport. Safe travels.