Northern Thailand: Chiang Mai and a Hill-Country Walk with a Village Homestay

1. Day 1: Arrive in Chiang Mai

   Chiang Mai International Airport to your hotel in the old city

   • Drive about 15 min
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Chiang Mai
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Chiang Mai International Airport (CNX), usually through Bangkok, and aim to land by about 4 pm. The airport is only about 5 km from the old city, so a driver meets you in arrivals and you are at your hotel, inside or beside the old moat, within half an hour. The afternoon is yours to rest or wander the lanes around the hotel. At about 6 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a briefing on the walk ahead: how far each day goes, what the homestay is like, what goes in your day pack and what stays in the hotel. If your flight lands later, your guide briefs you over breakfast. Then we walk out through Tha Phae Gate, the restored east gate of the 13th-century Lanna city, to a welcome dinner of northern dishes: khao soi curry noodles, sai ua sausage, nam prik ong and sticky rice.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Chiang Mai International Airport (CNX)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide, including the walk and the homestay
   • Welcome dinner of northern Thai dishes

   Free time: Free until the evening briefing

   

2. Day 2: The forest temples, then a slow afternoon

   Chiang Mai to Wat Umong and Wat Suan Dok, then the old city

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Chiang Mai
   Day 2 details

   A gentle day before the hills. We leave at about 8:30 am for Wat Umong, a forest temple at the foot of Doi Suthep, about 15 minutes from the old city. Its brick tunnels date from the early Lanna kingdom, more than 600 years ago, and you walk through them past niches with Buddha images, then out among tall trees where trunks carry painted proverbs and the pond is full of turtles. We go early, while the forest is still cool. Next is Wat Suan Dok, where the white chedis hold the ashes of Chiang Mai's royal family and the large gilded chedi dates from the Lanna period. Lunch is a bowl of khao soi at a family restaurant your guide uses. The afternoon is free: rest, book a Thai massage or walk the old city. At about 5 pm your guide checks shoes and day packs and hands out what you need for the night in the village, so you can pack before dinner.

   Included

   • Wat Umong, the forest temple with early Lanna tunnels, with your guide
   • Wat Suan Dok and its royal white chedis
   • Khao soi lunch
   • Gear check and packing briefing for the walk

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free in Chiang Mai

   Activity: About 2 hours on foot on flat ground. Shoulders and knees covered at both temples; shoes come off in the halls.

3. Day 3: On foot to a Karen village

   Chiang Mai to the Doi Inthanon foothills, then on foot to a Karen village

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Karen village homestay
   Day 3 details

   We leave at 8 am with day packs and drive about an hour and three quarters south-west to Chom Thong and up into the foothills of Doi Inthanon. At the trailhead we meet two guides from the village, who walk with us all day alongside your See Sight Tours guide. The path climbs gently through rice terraces, past coffee bushes grown under the forest trees, and along streams where you cross on stones or a bamboo bridge; the guides stop to show plants used for food and medicine. Lunch is cooked by the guides on the trail and served on banana leaves. After about 4 to 5 hours of walking, with rests, we reach the village in the middle of the afternoon. It is a Karen community that runs its own homestay group, so the fee goes to the village. Shower, rest, and watch the women at their looms. Dinner is cooked over a wood fire with the family you stay with.

   Included

   • Drive to the Doi Inthanon foothills with your guide
   • Guided walk of about 4 to 5 hours with two village guides
   • Trail lunch cooked by the guides
   • Homestay night with a Karen family in a community-run homestay
   • Dinner with your host family

   Easier option: Ride to the village in the van, with one of the two village guides, and join a short walk round the rice terraces with them, about an hour. Your See Sight Tours guide and the other village guide stay with the walkers.

   Free time: Late afternoon free in the village

   Activity: About 4 to 5 hours on foot, roughly 8 to 12 km and 300 to 500 m of climbing on paths that can be uneven and muddy. Bring shoes with grip and a warm layer for the evening.

4. Day 4: Through the forest, the Royal Pagodas and back

   Karen village on foot through the hills, then the Doi Inthanon Royal Pagodas, then Chiang Mai

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Chiang Mai
   Day 4 details

   Wake to mist in the valley and eat breakfast with the family. Before we leave, there is time to buy weaving straight from the women who made it. At about 7:30 am we set off with the village guides for a different route back out of the hills, about 4 to 5 hours through forest and over the ridges between the terraces, to meet the van on the road. Lunch is in the hills, at a local restaurant or in a neighbouring village. Then we drive up Doi Inthanon, Thailand's highest mountain at 2,565 m, to the twin Royal Pagodas, built in 1987 and 1992 for the 60th birthdays of King Bhumibol and Queen Sirikit. Their terraces and flower gardens sit at about 2,200 m, and on a clear cool-season afternoon the ridges fall away towards the west. We aim to reach the pagodas by about 2 pm, well before they close in the late afternoon (hours confirmed at booking). The drive back to Chiang Mai is about two and a half hours. Sunset is near 5:45 pm in November, so if the walk runs late the last part of the drive is after dark. The evening is free.

   Included

   • Guided walk of about 4 to 5 hours with the village guides
   • Lunch in the hills
   • Doi Inthanon National Park entry
   • The Royal Pagodas and their gardens on Doi Inthanon
   • Drive back to your Chiang Mai hotel

   Easier option: Ride ahead in the van with one of the village guides to the Kew Mae Pan nature trail, a loop of about 3 km on the upper mountain with a local guide (we confirm trail status with the park office at booking), or rest in the pagoda gardens until the group arrives.

   More active option: Walk the short boardwalk at the summit of Doi Inthanon through the cloud forest, if time and weather allow.

   Free time: Evening free in Chiang Mai

   Activity: About 4 to 5 hours on foot on forest paths, then cold air at the pagodas: bring a warm layer. The drive back is about 2.5 hours on a winding mountain road.

   

5. Day 5: Chiang Mai morning and home

   Chiang Mai old city to Chiang Mai International Airport

   • Drive about 15 min
   • Breakfast
   Day 5 details

   A slow last morning after two days on foot. If you have not seen it on an earlier trip, walk with your guide at about 8:30 am to Wat Chedi Luang in the middle of the old city, a short stroll from the hotel. Its great brick chedi, once the tallest structure in Lanna Chiang Mai, has stood partly ruined since the 16th century, and young monks from the temple's school sometimes sit at the monk chat tables to talk with visitors about their lives and studies. Or sleep in, book a foot massage and pack at your own pace. A driver takes you the 5 km to Chiang Mai International Airport (CNX), about 15 minutes, timed for your flight. Most travellers fly to Bangkok and connect home there. If you are going on to our Northern Thailand trip to Chiang Rai, or staying longer in the city, we can arrange extra nights in the same hotel.

   Included

   • Drop-off at Chiang Mai International Airport (CNX)

   Optional experiences

   • Morning walk to Wat Chedi Luang with your guide

   Free time: Morning free in Chiang Mai

   Activity: Book a flight from Chiang Mai leaving after about 12 noon.

   

Wildlife and weather: November to February is the cool, dry season: clear views, firm paths and warm days, with cool nights in the village and near-freezing mornings at the top of Doi Inthanon in December and January. From about February to April smoke from crop burning hazes the hills, and June to October brings rain, slippery paths and leeches.

• Chiang Mai2 nights
• Karen village homestay1 night
• Chiang Mai1 night