The Chiang Rai Loop

One night from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai and back, self-guided, 580 kilometres over two riding days on entirely sealed road.

This is the shortest thing the operator sells and it works as a taster: two days on a bike in northern Thailand with the route planned and the hotel booked, and no guide riding alongside.

Doi Chang comes first, the hills where Thailand’s best arabica is grown, on back roads rather than the highway, then Chiang Rai and the White Temple at Wat Rong Khun, a contemporary Buddhist temple built in white plaster and mirrored glass by an artist who has been working on it since the 1990s and who intends to leave it unfinished. Wat Thaton follows on the way back, with rural two-lane roads and a good deal of cornering between the stops.

The tour is self-guided; the full inclusions are not itemised on the operator’s page and are worth confirming at booking. The riding is a hundred per cent paved at 280 to 300 kilometres a day, which is a solid day’s ride for anyone not used to the heat, and the self-guided format means the pace and the stops are the rider’s own. The cool dry season from November to February is the window, since the burning season in March and April fills the valleys with smoke and the wet brings landslips to the hill roads. Two days is enough to find out whether riding in northern Thailand suits before committing to a fortnight, and anyone who finds it does has the Mae Hong Son loop and a long list of guided tours waiting from the same base.