Self Drive Tuk Tuk Adventure Holiday Thailand

Ten nights through northern Thailand, self-driven in convoy, at the wheel of a tuk-tuk, with a guide and a mechanic following.

A tuk-tuk is a comic choice of vehicle and a serious one. Three wheels, a small engine and no doors means mountain roads take all day, which in Mae Hong Son province is exactly the right speed, and children from the age of seven can drive them on the private sections.

Chiang Mai opens it, then Mae Wang for the training, which matters more than it sounds: a tuk-tuk handles nothing like a car. Doi Inthanon National Park follows, with Thailand’s highest mountain at 2,565 metres and a day’s trekking with local Karen guides. Mae Sariang comes next, a quiet town of temples and river terrace restaurants, then Mae Hong Son and Pai, mountain towns on the road that climbs over 1,800 bends and is among the best-known motorcycling routes in Asia. The return goes by way of Mae Wang and an elephant home, which the operator describes in detail on welfare grounds rather than in passing.

The tuk-tuk hire, a guide and mechanic throughout, locally-owned guest houses, meals in local restaurants, the rafting and the elephant visit are all included; flights are not. The price shown is the seasonal starting rate, with up to £1,895 quoted. November to February is the window, when the north is dry and cool and the smoke from the burning season has not yet started. Eleven days at tuk-tuk pace covers less ground than any other vehicle would, which is the point: the convoy stops constantly, and the villages are the trip rather than scenery passed through.