Famous Golden Triangle Tour

Five nights in a loop from Chiang Mai, guided, 1,140 kilometres through the Golden Triangle and the Nan mountains.

This is the operator’s most popular tour and the reason is the balance: six days, a rest day in the middle and the two best pieces of riding in the east of the region, without the full ten-day commitment.

Phayao and its lake open it on the way to Nan, then Bo Kluea, where salt has been drawn from inland wells for around eight hundred years, with Doi Phukha National Park and the Nan Loop, which is a two-hundred-kilometre day of almost nothing but corners. Phu Langka and Phu Chi Fa follow on the Laos border, then Chiang Khong on the Mekong and the Golden Triangle, where Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet and the opium trade was run from until the mid-1990s. Chiang Rai comes next with the White Temple and a coffee estate, then Fang, and Chiang Dao Cave on the final run back into Chiang Mai.

The choice of motorcycle with three base models included and upgrades available is included; the full inclusions are not itemised on the operator’s page and are worth confirming at booking. The operator has been the official BMW Motorrad partner in Thailand for five years. The price shown is for one rider. The cool dry season from November to February is the window, since the burning season in March and April fills the valleys with smoke. Six days with a rest day in it also means the daily distances stay reasonable: two hundred kilometres on roads like these takes a good deal longer than the number suggests.