Chiang Mai & Chiang Rai Highlights: White Temple & Golden Triangle (5D4N)

Itinerary

Chiang Mai Arrival / Doi Suthep Temple & Old City Temples

Arrive at Chiang Mai Airport, meet your local English-speaking guide, and transfer to your hotel for check-in. Free time at leisure.

Pick up from your hotel lobby and depart to Wat Chedi Luang, built in the late 14th century. Once the tallest monument in Chiang Mai, it originally housed the Emerald Buddha, Thailand’s most sacred religious relic.

Continue to Wat Phra Singh (1345), renowned for its stunning Lanna-style viharn and the finest scripture repository in Northern Thailand.

Depart to Doi Suthep Temple, one of Northern Thailand’s most sacred temples, built in 1383. Perched 1,050 meters above sea level, its golden chedi enshrines holy relics of the Buddha, with panoramic views over Chiang Mai and the Ping valley.

Ascend the 306-step Naga staircase, symbolizing the spiritual journey toward nirvana, or take the tram to the summit. Afterwards, return to your hotel.

Chiang Mai / Elephant Camp, Bamboo Rafting & Orchid Farm

Pick up from your hotel lobby and depart to Mae Taeng Elephant Camp (1½ hour drive) through breathtaking mountain landscapes.

Enjoy an elephant show demonstrating painting, log pulling, and trained commands, followed by an elephant ride through the lush mountain trails.

Lunch is provided at a local restaurant.

Enjoy a relaxing Bamboo Rafting cruise along the Mae Taeng River, gliding past charming farmhouses amid stunning greenery.

Continue to Bai Orchid & Butterfly Farm, home to a large collection of colorful exotic orchids and a delightful butterfly garden. Afterwards, return to your hotel.

Chiang Mai – Chiang Rai / White Temple & City Temples

Pick up from your hotel lobby and depart to Chiang Rai by road (3 hours’ drive) along picturesque scenic routes through several beautiful northern mountains. On the way, visit the local Hot Spring at Mae Ka Chan Town for a short break, watching locals boil quail’s eggs.

Arrive in Chiang Rai and visit White Temple (Wat Rong Khun), designed by a celebrated national artist. Its distinctive white main building, decorated with fragments of reflective glass, can be seen glimmering from afar.

Lunch is provided at a local restaurant.

Continue to Blue Temple (Wat Rong Suea Ten), designed by a local Chiang Rai artist, its striking blue main building reflecting a new philosophy of Buddhist art.

Depart to Black House (Baan Dam Museum), the home of a celebrated national artist known for eerie sculptures crafted from horns, bones, reptile skins, and traditional woodcraft, spread across 32 Lanna-style pavilions.

Visit Wat Huay Pla Kang, home to the tallest statue of Guan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy, standing 79 meters tall, and the Nine-Story Pagoda, its layered roofs decorated in Chinese style with dragons. Afterwards, transfer to your hotel for check-in and leisure time.

Chiang Rai / Long Neck Tribe, Mae Sai Border, Golden Triangle & Chiang Saen

Pick up from your hotel lobby and depart to Long Neck Karen Village, home to women who wear brass rings around their necks, a tradition originating from Shan State in Myanmar.

Continue to Mae Sai Town, the Thailand–Myanmar border and the northernmost point of Thailand, with local markets selling Myanmar goods.

Lunch is provided at a local restaurant.

Visit the Golden Triangle, where the borders of Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar meet, marked by a golden Buddha statue and panoramic Mekong River views. Continue to the Opium Museum, displaying the history of the region’s opium trade.

Conclude at Chiang Saen Town, an ancient city dating to around 1328, with ruins of temples, stupas, and the old city wall and moat. Afterwards, return to your hotel.

Chiang Rai / Departure

Check out from the hotel and transfer to Chiang Rai Airport for your flight to the next destination.