Activities & Tours in Chiang Mai
Four-wheel Drive Safaris
This popular new activity features exciting trips by Land Rover between Chiang Mai and Mae Hong Son, taking five days and four nights, or Chiang Rai and Ken Thun in Myanmar, taking three days and two nights. Much of the journey is along dirt roads and tracks so that visitors can witness out-of-the-way areas. Accommodation is in forest lodges or basic hotels.
Trekking Tours
Meo, Lisu, Yao, Akha, Lawa and Karen hilltribes live throughout northern Thailand's mountains. They share animist beliefs and honour numerous forest and guardian spirits. Each tribe has distinctive ceremonial attire, courtship rituals, games, dances, agricultural customs, puberty rites, languages or dialects, aesthetic values and hygienic habits.
Popular 'Jungle Treks', lasting from 2 to 7 days, take visitors through forested mountains and high valleys and meadows, and include visits to remoter high-altitude hilltribe settlements for overnight stays. The best guides are hilltribe youths who customarily speak English, Thai and at least three tribal dialects.
Treks commonly feature travel by foot, sometimes by boat, elephant-back, horse-back or jeep, frequently a combination of two or three modes of transportation.
Trek prices are determined by the duration of the trip, transportation modes, meals available and the size of the trekking party.
Bird Watching
Although bird-watching has been a popular activity among Thais for many years, it is only relatively recently that overseas visitors have recognized the potential of this fascinating pastime. In total, almost one thousand different species of birds - some local, others migrating here- have been spotted in Thailand. Most of Thailand's national parks offer good opportunities for bird-watching such as Khao Yai National Park, Kaeng Krachan in Petchburi and Doi Inthanon National Park in Chiang Mai province.
Elephent Rides
Mae Sa Elephant Training Centre & Pong Yaeng Elephant Centre
Each morning, at Km 10 on the Mae Rim-Samoeng route, trained elephants demonstrate their formidable and highly-valued forestry skills from 9.30 until 11.00 AM, at the Mae Sa Elephant Training Centre. The centre is some 30 kilometres from town. Admission is 80 baht per person. A jungle tour on elephant back, lasting more than two hours through adjacent forests, is offered after the show and costs 250 baht per person. Elephants can also be seen at the Pong Yaeng Elephant Centre at KM 19 on the same route.
Chiang Dao Elephant Camp
This riverside enclave, at KM 56 on Highway 107, features daily shows of elephants at work, from 9.00 AM until 10.00 AM, and from 10.00 AM until 11.00 AM, and offers elephant rides, and opportunities for bucolic river-rafting through largely pristine and tranquil forests, or jungle treks to neighbouring hilltribe settlements.
