Northern Thailand & Laos Explorer

Fourteen nights in a loop from Chiang Mai, guided and supported, 2,730 kilometres across northern Thailand and into Laos.

The Mae Hong Son Loop comes first with its mountain curves, then the summit road up Doi Inthanon, the highest point in Thailand, and the Golden Triangle, where Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet on the Mekong.

The Mekong roads carry the route to the border crossing, then Luang Namtha and Oudomxai in northern Laos, which is remote mountain country with very little traffic on it. Luang Prabang follows, a world heritage town at the meeting of two rivers where the French colonial buildings and the monasteries sit side by side, then the return by Pak Beng and Nan, with Sukhothai Historical Park on the way back: the thirteenth-century capital, also world heritage listed, with the ruins spread over several square kilometres and best seen by bicycle.

The tour is guided with a support vehicle and an experienced team; the full inclusions are not itemised on the operator’s page and are worth confirming at booking. The riding is on sealed road throughout at 135 to 310 kilometres a day, spread over twelve riding days in fifteen, which leaves time to look at things. The cool dry season from November to February is the window, and the Laos border crossing is the part the support team earns its keep on. Fifteen days is the longest tour the operator runs, and the shape of it is two countries rather than one: northern Thailand’s mountain roads first, then Laos, where the traffic thins out and the villages are a long way apart. Sukhothai on the way back is the historical high point.