The Charms of Central and Northern Thailand

Upon arrival in Bangkok, meet your guide after Customs & Immigration formalities, and transfer to your hotel. For the remainder of the day, you are at your leisure. Enjoy an evening welcome dinner at the hotel.

Meals: Dinner
Accommodation: Narai hotel

After breakfast, your guide & driver will pick you up to visit the Grand Palace and Wat Pho, enjoy lunch in a local restaurant, and take a walk through one of Bangkok 's most extensive flower markets. Then take a local-style, long-tail boat and visit the “klongs” (canals) of Thonburi. Return to the hotel and enjoy the rest of the day at leisure.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: Narai hotel

After breakfast, check out of the hotel and transfer to Ayuthaya to visit the ancient ruins. This town, an ancient capital of Thailand, flourished for several hundred years (1350 – 1770), was sacked by the Burmese, and then taken over again by the Thais! This was the last location of the capital before the government based itself in Bangkok. Enjoy lunch at a local restaurant in the city, and in the afternoon, continue to Phitsanuloke. En route, your guide will pick a village where we can stop for refreshments, and a short walk to explore “real life” in a Thai village. Check in to your hotel and spend the rest of the day at leisure. Dinner on your own.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: Phitsanuloke Thani Hotel

After breakfast, check out and continue on to Sukhothai, to visit the historical park and ruins, many of which have been restored now by the Thai Fine Arts Department. This ancient capital preceded the later Ayuthaya period, and one can tell because the architecture is markedly different. The first site where we stop is in the centre of the town of Sukhothai. Enjoy lunch at a local restaurant. Then proceed to Phrae town. The Burmese-style temples of Wat Chom Sawan and Phrathat Shoe Hea are notable among other attractions, and we will visit these today. Check into the Maeyom Palace Hotel. Dinner on your own.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: Maeyom Palace Hotel

After breakfast at the hotel, check out and visit Wat Baan Pratabjai, which is a house of beautifully carved teak pillars, in the traditional & graceful Thai style. Then proceed to Phayao, en route visiting Pae Muen Pee / Wat Sri Kom Kam. Lunch is at a local restaurant. Then take a boat trip on the Mekong with a local Mekong Riverboat to visit the famous Golden Triangle. Return in the late afternoon for overnight at Wang Come Hotel in Chiang Rai. For dinner, you are on your own.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: Wang Come Hotel

After breakfast, proceed to Mae Salong Mountain to visit the Akha & Yao hilltribe villages there before continuing the drive to Mae Sai, the northernmost town in Thailand, on the border with Burma. Here you can explore the local market. Sometimes the border is open for visitors to walk into Burma for shopping! (* no visa necessary when Border open – dependant on daily conditions). After lunch at a local restaurant, continue your drive to Chiang Mai. Check in at the hotel, and relax or explore on your own until dinnertime. Enjoy a classical “Kantoke dinner” (Traditional) with a Hill Tribe show. Overnight at Chiang Mai Plaza Hotel.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Accommodation: Chiang Mai Plaza Hotel

After an American breakfast in the hotel, you will visit Wat Doi Suthep, a mountain temple on the edge of town. Continue on to visit an Elephant Training Camp. Enjoy meeting the huge, friendly pachyderms! You can feed them bananas and fruits that are available on site. Then take a short elephant safari into the jungle. Riding elephants is bouncy, but very exciting! Enjoy lunch in local restaurant and visit a local orchid farm. See the many varieties of the Orchidea family…some are for perfume and others just for the eyes. Transfer to Chiang Mai airport for flight to Bangkok.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: None

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