The White Temple, the Blue Temple and the Golden Triangle.
PriceAsk usper person, twin share — the price depends on your dates and how many are travelling. Tell us roughly when suits and we quote the date and the price together. See what is included
Travel DatesOperator departures · we confirm yours
Return flights from Phnom Penh via Bangkok included. You meet the group at Phnom Penh International Airport and fly out together. Your tour leader travels with you, and a local guide meets the group on arrival. Phnom Penh ✈ Bangkok ✈ Chiang Mai out, Bangkok ✈ Phnom Penh home.
Confirmation
A departure runs once about 10 travellers are going. It can still run below that, but the price is higher. We tell you where a date stands when you enquire, and nothing is due until the departure and the price are confirmed.
The trip at a glance
Chiang Mai & Chiang Rai
Days 1–5
01
Chiang Mai
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Phnom Penh ✈ Bangkok ✈ Chiang Mai GUIDED
Meet at Phnom Penh International Airport and fly up to Chiang Mai, by way of Bangkok.
Our guide meets the group on arrival.
Chiang Mai is the main city of northern Thailand, about 700 km north of Bangkok and set in a valley ringed by hills. Nights in the cool season are markedly colder than anything Bangkok does.
Nothing else is scheduled — the two flights and the transfer are the whole day.
Dinner, then the hotel.
02
Chiang Mai
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Chiang Mai GUIDED
Breakfast, then the Royal Flora Garden, the largest in Chiang Mai.
It was laid out on 80 hectares south-west of the city for the 2006 Royal Flora Ratchaphruek horticultural exposition, and reopened as a public park in 2008. The Lanna-style royal pavilion at the head of the main avenue is the piece everyone photographs.
Then Doi Suthep Temple.
Wat Phra That Doi Suthep stands on the mountain above the city and dates from the 14th century. From the car park it is a staircase of 306 steps flanked by two nagas; there is a funicular for anyone who would rather not climb it. Shoulders and knees covered, and shoes off at the terrace.
Late February to April is the burning season in the north. Farmers clear their fields by fire and the hills hold the smoke in the valleys, so Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai record some of the worst air in the world for weeks at a stretch, worst of all through March. This tour is sold on what you can see — the garden, the mountain, the village and the river — and haze takes all four away. Ask us about the air before you book a departure in those months.
Lunch, then a honey farm and a Karen hill-tribe village.
The Karen are the largest of the hill-tribe peoples in Thailand, with communities across Mae Hong Son, Chiang Mai and Tak. Ask before photographing anyone.
Dinner, then the hotel.
03
Chiang Rai
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Chiang Mai → Chiang Rai GUIDED
Breakfast, then about three hours by road to Chiang Rai.
On arrival, the White Temple (Wat Rong Khun).
It is not an old temple. The artist Chalermchai Kositpipat began rebuilding the ruin at his own expense and opened it in 1997, and it is still unfinished — nine buildings are planned. The white is whitewash set with mirrored glass, so the whole thing catches the light.
Then a tea plantation. The hills of Chiang Rai province are Thailand’s main tea-growing country.
Lunch, then the Blue Temple.
Wat Rong Suea Ten — the house of the dancing tiger, named for the tigers that once crossed the river here — was finished in 2016 and built by a student of the man who built the White Temple. Deep blue throughout, with a white seated Buddha inside.
Dinner, then the hotel.
04
Bangkok
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Chiang Rai ✈ Bangkok GUIDED
Breakfast, then out to the Golden Triangle, where Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet across the river.
The point is at Sop Ruak, where the Ruak river runs into the Mekong: Myanmar on the far bank to the north, Laos across the Mekong to the east. The name is not a local one — American officials coined it in 1971 for what was then the largest opium-growing region in the world.
The boat trip there is paid for locally, if you want it.Take some baht in cash for it; this is the one part of the tour you settle yourself.
Lunch, then to Chiang Rai airport for the flight to Bangkok.
Dinner, then the hotel. Overnight in Bangkok.
Nothing is scheduled in Bangkok beyond dinner, so the evening is your own.
05
Departure
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Bangkok ✈ Phnom Penh GUIDED
Breakfast, then time to shop.
Then the transfer to the airport and the flight home to Phnom Penh.
This itinerary does not say which Bangkok airport you leave from, and there are two — Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang, on opposite sides of the city and about an hour apart in traffic. It is confirmed with your departure. Check it on your ticket, and check the ticket against your joining letter.
Pack the night before — the bags go with the group in the morning and there is no coming back to the hotel.
Restaurants worth trying
Your meals are already included, so none of these are arranged by us and you would pay for them yourself. They are simply places we rate, near where the tour goes. Tick any you are curious about and they appear on the map.
Suggested, not included. Opening hours and prices are theirs, not ours — and a place that is busy at eight will be busy whether or not you booked through us.
Tour Price
A package is priced for the group, not the seat. The date and the price are confirmed together, once enough people are travelling on the same dates. What the price always covers is below.
Included
4 nights’ accommodation
Three meals a day, unless a day above says otherwise
A tour leader travelling with the group throughout
A local professional guide at each destination
All transport, entrance fees and the activities listed on each day above
Return flights from Phnom Penh, travelling together as a group
Not included
travel insurance
tips
drinks and anything personal
a visa where your passport needs one
The Golden Triangle boat trip on day 4 is paid locally
How a package tour works. Tell us roughly when you want to go → we put you together with others travelling around the same time → once about 10 of you are going we confirm the departure date and the exact price → a deposit holds your seats → your documents arrive by email before you fly. You travel together the whole way, with the tour leader alongside you.
Seasonal pricing. High season costs more everywhere on this list — and for Japan and Korea the cherry blossom and autumn weeks are the dearest of the year. Your quote will show the exact figure for your dates.
Budget separately for: travel insurance · tips · drinks and anything personal · a visa where your passport needs one
Start your booking
Tell us who you are and when you want to go.
We’ll reply within a business day with the price and what’s available.
A deposit holds it, and comes back in full if we can’t get your dates.
✓
That is with us
If you do not hear from us, email
info@dltravel.net and we will pick it up.