Beautiful Northern Thailand & Laos Motorcycle Tour

Nine nights in a loop from Chiang Mai, guided, 1,700 kilometres across northern Thailand and into Laos as far as Luang Prabang.

This is the shorter of the operator’s two Laos tours, and it gets to the same destination: the route runs east to Chiang Rai and Chiang Khong, meeting the Mekong for the first time, then crosses the border.

Luang Namtha and Oudom Xai follow in northern Laos, mountain country with very little on the roads, with a rest day built in, then Luang Prabang, a world heritage town at the confluence of the Mekong and the Nam Khan, where the monks still collect alms at dawn along the main street. Chiang Rai and the White Temple come on the way back, a contemporary Buddhist temple in white and mirrored glass that looks like nothing else in the country.

The tour is guided; the full inclusions are not itemised on the operator’s page and are worth confirming at booking. The riding is ninety-five per cent sealed, with around five per cent gravel or broken surface, at 135 to 320 kilometres a day on mostly rural two-lane roads. The cool dry season from November to February is the window. Anyone with a fortnight should look at the longer Laos tour instead, which adds the Mae Hong Son loop and Sukhothai for rather more money. Ten days with a rest day built in is a comfortable shape, and the border crossing and the bike paperwork are handled by the guides, which is the part of a two-country ride most people would rather not arrange themselves. The scenery changes markedly once the route crosses the Mekong.