Tour Type: Private tour
Destinations: Bangkok, Chiang Rai, Sop Ruak, Chiang Mai, Phuket
Featured Highlights:
Experience Thailand’s rich history and rapid development in the nation’s throbbing capital. Soak up the authentic atmosphere of the lush rice paddies and forested peaks of the Golden Triangle. Cap it off with some much-deserved R&R on a little slice of paradise on Phuket Island.
Day 1: Arrival in Bangkok
Day 2: Floating Market -Grand Palace -Wat Arun -Wat Pho
Day 3: Bangkok - Flight to Chiang Rai
Day 4: Golden Triangle Discovery Tour
Day 5: White Temple - Chiang Dao Cave - Chiang Mai
Day 6: Chiang Mai's Elephant Camp
Day 7: Chiang Mai - Flight to Phuket
Day 8: Phuket R&R
Day 9: Phuket R&R
Day 10: Phuket - Departure
Welcome to Bangkok, Thailand’s throbbing metropolitan capital. Upon your arrival, your friendly local tour guide will be waiting to meet you and take you to your hotel for check-in. Spend the evening indulging in your first REAL taste of vibrant, world-renowned Thai-cuisine, or living the high life at a rooftop bar, marvelling at the pulsating city below.
After breakfast at your hotel, your local guide awaits to begin your discovery of the Land of Smiles. After a short drive to Ratchaburi Province, you’ll spend the morning aboard a private longtail boat, snaking your way through the winding canals to one of the country’s most iconic sites, Damnoen Saduak Floating Market. Grab a fresh coconut juice or mid-morning snack from one of the vendors as they paddle by in their wooden canoes laden with tropical fruit.
After the market, you’ll be driven back to heart of Bangkok to explore Wat Phra Kaew and the Grand Palace. These two dazzling 18th-century structures are some of Thailand’s most striking, and it’s easy to see why the western world was once so envious of their architectural brilliance. Wat Phra Kaew is the holiest site in the country, and home to its most important icon, the Emerald Buddha; the Grand Palace has been the official residence to the Kings of Siam since 1782, and it’s not hard to see why with the kind of oriental opulence displayed here. After the Palace, you’ll make a quick stop to admire the world’s largest solid gold Buddha, standing some three metres high, before moving on to Wat Arun, or ‘Temple of the Dawn’, Bangkok’s towering, most-distinctive landmark, considered one of the most beautiful temples in Thailand. We end the day at Wat Pho, the city’s oldest temple and home to the magnificent forty-five metre-long Reclining Buddha, a depiction of the true Buddha entering nirvana. The temple is also a centre for traditional medicine, and is the ultimate place to unwind with a Thai massage before you’re taken by to your hotel for the night.
Enjoy one final morning in the bustling capital, perhaps enrolling in a Thai cooking course so you can take some of this spectacular country home with you. Your guide will collect you late-morning for your flight to Chiang Rai, at the heart of the Golden Triangle. Upon your arrival at the airport, another friendly local guide will be waiting to meet you and take you to your hotel for check-in. The rest of the day is yours to relax or do a little exploring of this totally walkable city.
Today’s tour begins with an adventure to the heart of the Golden Triangle, Sop Ruak, where the Thai, Myanmar and Laos borders meet. Gaze into each of these ancient kingdoms from Wat Phra That Phu Khao Temple, a temple that has watched over the region from its hilltop vantage point for over a thousand years. Next you’ll get a chance to learn about the fascinating culture in the curious village of Mae Salong, a hilltop of ramshackle housing and tea plantations settled by Chinese hilltribes yet officially remains part of Thailand. After lunch, you will spend the afternoon in a village of Karen Long-necked women, your knowledgeable guide explaining their unusual yet ancient traditions. After driving back to Chiang Rai, the evening is yours to relax in your hotel.
After breakfast at your hotel, your guide awaits to drive you to the extravagant yet highly unusual ‘White Temple’ of Wat Rong Khun. While much of Thailand’s temples have centuries of history, this is a modern take on a classic design, a brilliant-white temple encrusted with clear-mirrored chips that make for a dazzling sight in the morning sun. It’s quite unlike any other temple in Thailand, or elsewhere for that matter. Next, you’ll wind through the lush forests and limestone mountains of Chiang Dao, where you will visit a sacred cave extending some 10km into the mighty Doi Chiang Dao Mountain, Thailand’s third tallest peak stretching some 2,175 metres into the heavens from the fertile plains below. After lunch, you’ll continue towards Chiang Mai, taking in the breathtaking scenery as you drive, as well as making stops at rural villages to see unique hilltribes. Once in Chiang Mai, the evening is your own to relax.
After breakfast, you’ll visit the nearby Maetaman Elephant Camp. Here, you’ll have the chance to trek through the forest and across shallow rivers on the back of one of the Camp’s gentle giants. After a local lunch, you’ll spend some time up close with the animals, aiding in the feeding and bathing process, during which the young elephants are especially playful. Later in the afternoon you’ll try your hand at bamboo rafting along a relaxing stretch of the river, and take a leisurely oxcart ride through the countryside before your driver returns you to Chiang Mai. The rest of the day is yours to relax.
Enjoy one final morning in Thailand’s enchanting second city, perhaps signing up for a local cooking course so you can take a little of this spectacular country home with you. Your guide will ensure you arrive at the airport in time for your short flight to Phuket Island. Once you’ve checked in at your beach resort, the remainder of the day is yours for lounging on the fine white sand.
Time to unwind with two days of rest and relaxation in this tropical paradise. Phuket island is the pearl of the Andaman coast, boasting the softest, whitest sand, the bluest waters, great towering limestone cliffs, and the most luxurious resorts. This is one part of the world that postcards just can’t do justice! The more adventurous can try their hands at snorkelling, scuba diving, sea kayaking, or exploring one of the many smaller islands just offshore.
Enjoy one final morning of sun and sand before you are taken to the airport for your onward flight, leaving Thailand having explored its most authentic region, having experienced the throbbing pulse of the capital, and having lived a postcard dream in a tropical beach paradise - it won’t be long before you’re craving another trip to Southeast Asia.
Inclusions:
Entrance and sightseeing fees as listed;
All meals as listed;
Transportation as listed;
Accommodations as listed;
Domestic flights, car transfers as listed;
Professional licensed English-speaking guide.
Exclusions:
Passion Indochina Travel will provide you with a dynamic professional local private tour guide, a private chauffeur and a transportation that suits your style and gives you pleasure, comfort and security through every points of your destination. All our tour guides in our company are registered English Speaking Guides, they are passionate about their city and they take pride in sharing it with others.With our private local tour guide, you’d get the chance to see and learn more among the historic places in the world and their cultures. Be amazed with the breathtaking scenery of Asia and enjoy some once in a lifetime adventure!
Private Tour Guide
The tour guide is always punctual on every destination he/she is needed. You will be picked up at the airport and will be escorted to your hotel and tend to your stuff til their services is needed again. They will also assist you at the airport at every departure, seeing to it that you have checked in and passed through the security checkpoint. All the tour guides in all your choices of destination are Locals. Since they know all the areas of the tours you're taking, they make sure that they share to you all the information may it be historical facts, dates and anecdotes or tell stories about the tour sites to make it more interesting and entertaining. They would also suggest the best spots for picture taking.Our tour guides are also flexible when it comes to the itinerary changes if there's any unexpected reason and will be more than accommodating to any alternative suggestions just to ensure that you will have an incredible experience.
Arrive in the comfort of your style. Depending on the group size, and the tour packages of your choice, we would accommodate you with the best transportation and a professional Chauffeur to assist you wherever and whenever you need. They would be happy to transport you.