Christmas New Year Special Edition Lanna Kingdom Discovery Tour

Nine nights in a loop from Chiang Mai, guided, 2,008 kilometres across the Lanna kingdom, starting on Christmas Eve.

The dates are the point. This is the operator’s full Lanna route run over the holidays, which for anyone with no particular attachment to a northern European Christmas is an appealing alternative.

Phayao and Nan open it, then Bo Kluea, where salt has been drawn from inland wells for around eight hundred years, with Doi Phukha and the Nan Loop. Phu Langka and Phu Chi Fa follow on the Laos border, then Chiang Khong on the Mekong, the Golden Triangle and the White Temple at Chiang Rai, and Fang. Chiang Dao comes next with the limestone caves at Wat Tham Chiang Dao, then Pai, and Mae Hong Son by way of Ban Rak Thai, a Chinese village settled by Kuomintang soldiers after 1949. Mae Sariang follows with a visit to a Long Neck Karen village, then Doi Inthanon and the return to Chiang Mai over New Year.

The choice of motorcycle with three base models included and upgrades available, and a complimentary hotel night in Chiang Mai, are included; the full inclusions are not itemised on the operator’s page and are worth confirming at booking. The price shown is for one rider. Late December falls squarely in the cool dry season, which is the best riding weather of the year in northern Thailand, so the timing is weather as well as calendar. Ten days and two thousand kilometres makes this the operator’s full Lanna route rather than an abbreviated festive version, which is worth knowing: the Christmas framing does not come at the expense of the riding.