Thailand: Bangkok, Ayutthaya, Sukhothai and Chiang Mai

Arrive in Bangkok

Suvarnabhumi or Don Mueang airport to your hotel near the old city

• Welcome dinner
• Nuit : Bangkok
• Environ 1 h de route

Soir

Our hotel is in a walkable area near the old city and the Chao Phraya River, so the first evening needs no taxis. Plan to land by about 4 pm to make the briefing; the exact time comes with your final itinerary. If you arrive earlier, rest, or walk down to the river to watch the express boats and rice barges go by. In the early evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group and walks you through the nine days: the temple dress code, the cash worth carrying and how the one-night stops work. Then we sit down together to a welcome dinner of Thai dishes at a local restaurant. Keep the night short, because tomorrow starts at the Grand Palace gate when it opens.

Compris

• Pick-up at Suvarnabhumi (BKK) or Don Mueang (DMK) airport
• Welcome briefing with your guide
• Welcome dinner

Grand Palace at opening, Chinatown at night

The Grand Palace and Wat Pho, then Wat Pariwat and Chinatown

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du soir
• Nuit : Bangkok
• Environ 1 h de route

Après-midi

Lunch is your choice near Tha Tien pier, and the hottest hours are free at the hotel. Late in the afternoon we drive about 20 minutes south along the river to Wat Pariwat, a working neighbourhood temple whose ordination hall is crowded with modern stucco figures, among them, famously, a small gilded David Beckham.

Soir

As the light goes we walk into Yaowarat, Bangkok's Chinatown, for a street-food dinner: your guide orders, explains each dish and settles the bill.

Compris

• The Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew at opening, with your guide
• Wat Pho and the reclining Buddha
• Wat Pariwat
• Street-food dinner in Chinatown (Yaowarat) with your guide

Activités en option

• A Thai massage at the hotel or near Wat Pho in the free midday

Floating market, then the River Kwai

Bangkok to Damnoen Saduak floating market, then Kanchanaburi

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Kanchanaburi
• Environ 3 h de route

Matin

This is the trip's only 7 am departure: we leave Bangkok then to reach Damnoen Saduak, about 100 km south-west, at around 8:30, before the coach groups that fill its canals from mid-morning. It is a busy, visitor-facing market and we say so; early, from a paddle boat, it is still a lively hour of fruit, noodle boats and narrow waterways. From there it is about an hour and a quarter north-west to Kanchanaburi, where the Khwae Noi and Khwae Yai rivers meet.

Après-midi

After lunch by the river we spend the afternoon on the history that made the town known abroad. The Kanchanaburi War Cemetery holds nearly 7,000 Allied prisoners of war who died building the Thailand–Burma Railway in 1942 and 1943. Beside it, the Thailand–Burma Railway Centre explains how the line was forced through and what it cost, including the far larger toll among conscripted Asian labourers.

Soir

We give the museum time, not a quick pass, and walk onto the bridge at dusk.

Compris

• Damnoen Saduak floating market by paddle boat
• Lunch by the river in Kanchanaburi
• Kanchanaburi War Cemetery with your guide
• Thailand–Burma Railway Centre
• The Bridge over the River Kwai at dusk

The bridge early, Ayutthaya at sunset

Kanchanaburi to Ayutthaya, then a boat around the old island

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Ayutthaya
• Environ 3 h de route

Matin

After breakfast we drive about three hours east across the rice plains to Ayutthaya, capital of Siam from 1351 until the Burmese army sacked it in 1767, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1991.

Après-midi

Lunch on arrival is grilled river prawns, the town's speciality, then a rest through the heat. From about 3:30 your guide takes you through the ruins on the old island: Wat Mahathat, where a sandstone Buddha head sits wrapped in the roots of a fig tree, and the three chedis of Wat Phra Si Sanphet.

Soir

As the sun drops we board a long-tail boat for a loop around the island, past riverside temples and the towers of Wat Chai Watthanaram against the evening sky.

Compris

• Early walk on the Bridge over the River Kwai
• Lunch in Ayutthaya
• Wat Mahathat and Wat Phra Si Sanphet with your guide
• Sunset long-tail boat around Ayutthaya island

Wat Chai Watthanaram, then the train north

Ayutthaya to Phitsanulok by train, then by road to Old Sukhothai

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Sukhothai
• Environ 1 h de route

Après-midi

We arrive at about 1:15 pm and sit down to a late lunch in Phitsanulok, then it is about an hour by road to Old Sukhothai, where we stay a short ride from the gates of the historical park.

Soir

The evening is free: try Sukhothai noodles at a stall near the hotel.

Compris

• Wat Chai Watthanaram at opening, with your guide
• Daytime express train from Ayutthaya to Phitsanulok, about 3 to 3.5 hours
• Lunch in Phitsanulok
• Transfer from Phitsanulok to Old Sukhothai, with your luggage carried in our vehicle

Sukhothai at sunrise, then north to Chiang Mai

Sukhothai Historical Park by bike, then Wat Phra That Lampang Luang and Chiang Mai

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Chiang Mai
• Environ 5 h de route

Matin

Your guide leads you to Wat Mahathat as the first light reaches the seated Buddhas among its columns, then Wat Sra Si on its island and, outside the walls, Wat Si Chum, where a seated Buddha about 15 m high fills a roofless hall and looks out through a narrow opening. Breakfast is back at the hotel, then comes the longest road day: about 320 km and close to five hours of driving, the one day over our 4-hour cap.

Après-midi

There is no railway to Sukhothai and a flight would mean going back through Bangkok, so we split the drive with lunch in Lampang and an hour at Wat Phra That Lampang Luang, a walled Lanna temple whose open-sided wooden hall dates from the late 15th century. We reach Chiang Mai in the late afternoon.

Compris

• Sukhothai Historical Park by bike at sunrise with your guide, bike hire included
• Wat Mahathat, Wat Sra Si and Wat Si Chum
• Lunch in Lampang
• Wat Phra That Lampang Luang

A day with elephants, no riding

Chiang Mai to an elephant sanctuary in the hills and back

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Chiang Mai
• Environ 2.5 h de route

Après-midi

Lunch is on site. We are back in Chiang Mai by mid-afternoon, and the rest of the day is yours: a massage, a walk inside the old-city moat or, on a Sunday, the Walking Street market from Tha Phae Gate.

Compris

• A day at an elephant sanctuary near Chiang Mai, with sanctuary guides
• Helping prepare the elephants' food
• Lunch at the sanctuary

Activités en option

• A Thai massage in the old city

Market, cooking class and Doi Suthep

A Chiang Mai market and cooking school, then Wat Phra That Doi Suthep

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Chiang Mai
• Environ 1.5 h de route

Matin

The morning starts at a fresh market with your cooking teacher, picking out herbs, chillies, galangal and the pastes you will pound later.

Après-midi

The class, at a school we name when we confirm your dates, covers the north as well as the familiar dishes: khao soi, the curry noodle soup of Chiang Mai, alongside a curry, a stir-fry and a salad, and what you cook is your lunch. The afternoon is free. In the late afternoon we drive about 15 km up the mountain west of the city to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, at roughly 1,000 m, the most revered temple of the region. A staircase of about 300 steps, its balustrades shaped as naga serpents, climbs to a gilded chedi, and there is a lift for anyone who prefers it. From the terrace Chiang Mai spreads across the valley below as the light goes.

Soir

We come down for a farewell dinner of northern Thai food: sai ua sausage, nam prik ong and sticky rice, eaten with your hands if you like.

Compris

• Market visit with your cooking teacher
• Northern Thai cooking class, with the lunch you cook
• Wat Phra That Doi Suthep in the late afternoon, lift included
• Farewell dinner of northern Thai food

The White Temple and Chiang Rai

Chiang Mai to Wat Rong Khun and Chiang Rai, then Chiang Rai airport

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Environ 4 h de route

Matin

We leave Chiang Mai after breakfast, at about 7:30, and drive about three hours north-east through the hills to Chiang Rai, the stop travellers on other northern trips most often ask to add. Wat Rong Khun, the White Temple, is the work of the Chiang Rai artist Chalermchai Kositpipat, who began rebuilding it in 1997 and is still adding to it: a white, mirror-glass temple reached by a bridge over a pit of reaching hands, with murals inside that set Buddhist scenes beside figures from films and the news. Your guide explains the symbolism before we go in.

Après-midi

After lunch in Chiang Rai, and the Blue Temple, Wat Rong Suea Ten, if time allows, we drive to Mae Fah Luang–Chiang Rai International Airport (CEI), arriving about 2:30 pm; with these short legs the day has about four hours on the road in all, and your guide sees you to check-in. Chiang Rai has direct flights to Bangkok to connect home; book one leaving after about 4:30 pm. If you need to fly from Chiang Mai instead, we drop you at Chiang Mai International Airport (CNX) in the morning.

Compris

• Wat Rong Khun (the White Temple) with your guide
• Lunch in Chiang Rai
• Wat Rong Suea Ten (the Blue Temple), time allowing
• Drop-off at Chiang Rai airport (CEI)