Beyond the Mekong (Thailand & Laos)

Eleven nights and around 1,092 miles from Chiang Mai into Laos and back on a Royal Enfield, crossing two countries and finishing on the hardest off-road day the operator runs anywhere.

Chiang Mai opens it, capital of the old Lanna kingdom with several hundred temples, Wat Chedi Luang among them, and the night market. Chiang Khong follows by way of the White Temple at Wat Rong Khun, a contemporary and frankly peculiar building, to the Mekong, and the Friendship Bridge carries the route into Laos at Luang Namtha.

Nong Khiaw comes next past the new China-Laos railway and the limestone cliffs above the Nam Ou. Luang Prabang follows through remote villages and 37 miles of ridge track, and the town itself gets a full day: UNESCO listed, the royal palace, Wat Xieng Thong, and the option of riding out to the Kuang Si waterfalls or taking a cooking class instead.

Sayaboury is next through rice terraces and rubber plantations, with a night at the Elephant Conservation Centre, the only elephant hospital in Laos, and a day spent working alongside the caretakers there. Pakbeng follows on a wilderness ridge track by way of Hongsa, then the return to Chiang Khong on the toughest stage of the trip, a dirt track through hill tribe villages, and Chiang Kham before the finish. Bike rental is included and the price is quoted per person. The riding mixes good tarmac with genuinely demanding dirt, so this suits someone who wants both rather than one or the other.