Authentic Thailand Classics: North to South

Today, you will be transferring with a guide to the airport for a flight to Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand.
Flight: TG104 BKK-CNX 10:15 - 11:30 (with this flight, pick up time at 7:30)
Upon arrival at the Chiang Mai airport, you will be warmly welcomed by a guide and driver who will take care of your transfer to the hotel. After check-in at the hotel, rest up for the afternoon and evening activities. 

Loy Krathong Workshop and Tuktuk City Tour

Pick up time: 15:00
Duration: 15:00 - 18:30

In the afternoon, around 15:00, the guide will pick you up at the hotel, and you'll hop on a tuktuk to head to a nearby local coffee shop. Here, an instructor will guide you through a traditional Loy Krathong workshop. You will create your own traditional floating decorations and immerse yourselves in Thai culture as you prepare to launch them on the water this evening.

After the workshop, hop on your tuktuk to explore the town on the first main night of the Loy Krathong festival. As the procession moves through the streets of Chiang Mai, you can witness traditional performances, cultural displays, and various forms of artistic expression. Tha Phae Gate is a popular location for the Loy Krathong celebration in Chiang Mai, known for its vibrant atmosphere during the festival. You can enjoy live music and traditional dances, explore the bustling street market to enjoy local street food, and participate in or simply enjoy traditional contests including beauty pageants, krathong-making competitions, and cultural showcases. Next, head to Three Kings Monument, where you can expect to find various traditional activities and performances during the Loy Krathong celebration. These may include Krathong-making workshops, traditional dance performances, lantern lighting, food stalls, and cultural exhibitions.

The highlight of the festival is undoubtedly when people gather to float their krathong into the Ping River, symbolizing letting go of negative energy and making wishes for the future. Join locals and fellow travelers at the picturesque Ping Rivers, where the banks come alive with twinkling lights and vibrant Krathongs. 

Khantoke Dinner
Duration: 19:00 - 21:00

In the evening, around 19:00, you will be taken to dinner, where you will have the opportunity to enjoy some Northern Thai dishes accompanied by traditional dances and music. While many believe this northern Thai dinner with music and dance was invented for tourists, the Khantoke dinner dates back many centuries. Nowadays, Khantoke dinners are still organized for big parties and special events and there are a couple of places in Chiang Mai that put on daily shows to promote the history and culture of the ancient northern kingdom of Lanna. You will be comfortably sitting on cushions on the floor to enjoy delicious food served in a traditional Thai Lanna style while watching a spectacular performance of traditional northern Thai dances. This is a must-see for every trip to Chiang Mai!

Accommodation: Hotel in Chiang Mai
Hotel room available from 14:00
Meal included: Dinner

Special Elephant Experience in the Jungle
Pick up time: 7:45
Duration: 7:45 - 14:00

In the early morning, you will be picked up by another guide and driver, and then head for the lush countryside surrounding Chiang Mai and the Elephant Rescue Park. This institution collects elephants in distress who have either been exploited or injured. The Elephant Rescue Park provides the gentle giants with the shelter, attention, and respect they deserve.

After putting on your Mahout outfit, you will meet your hosts for the day. Here, forget about climbing on their backs: this practice has been intentionally prohibited by the camp! Instead, you can enjoy a proper meeting with the pachyderms. You’ll learn to feed, observe, and interact with them. You can then escort them into the green hills before going down for their favorite game: a bath in the river. After such exciting activities with your new friends, it’s your turn for a good shower and a well-deserved home-cooked meal!

You will be arriving back to your hotel in the early afternoon. 

Loy Krathong and Yi Peng Celebration
Pick up time: 16:30
Duration: 17:00 - 21:30

This afternoon, around 16:30, your guide will pick you up and transfer you to the Loy Krathong celebration venue. After arriving at the venue, you will receive a Krathong as a souvenir. A Krathong is a traditional Thai floating decoration, typically made from banana leaves, flowers, candles, and incense. Yi Peng corresponds to the 12th full moon of the lunar year and helps celebrate the end of the monsoon season.

Then freely explore the festival from 17:00 - 19:00:

- Enjoy food and beverages in the Lanna Thai style, typically using flavors like galangal (Thai ginger), lemongrass, and kaffir lime leaves

- Enjoy the activities at the ground show and watch the Lanna show  

- Join playing games and performances

- Loy Krathong

Around 19:00, you will enter the lantern area, listen to the monks chanting, and start the ceremony of releasing lanterns, saying blessings, and floating lanterns in unison.

Accommodation: Hotel in Chiang Mai
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch

Free day at leisure.

Accommodation: Hotel in Chiang Mai
Meal included: Breakfast

This morning, you will be escorted by a guide to the Chiang Mai airport for your flight to Krabi, where you will arrive in the afternoon.
Suggested flight: FD3074 17:05-19:05 (with this flight, the suggested pick up time at 14:00. Your hotel room in Chiang Mai is at your disposal until noon.)

Upon your arrival at the Krabi airport, there will be a guide and driver waiting for you to take care of you and transfer you to the hotel. After check-in at the hotel, you have the rest of the day at your leisure.

 
Accommodation: Hotel in Krabi
Meal included: Breakfast

Private Speedboat Tour of the Phi Phi Islands
Pick up time: 8:30
Duration: 8:30 - 16:00

Board a speedboat on the emerald waters of the Andaman Sea, for a full-day excursion including a guided boat ride and lunch!

After being picked up at your hotel, hop on a speedboat for a short 45-minute ride. You'll arrive at the clear turquoise waters surrounding the Phi Phi Islands, where you can enjoy several stops for swimming, snorkeling, and sightseeing. We'll provide you with the life jacket and snorkeling equipment.

You will arrive at the first island, Koh Pai (Bamboo Island), where you will have time to relax on its beautiful white sandy beach or swim and snorkel with the multi-colored fish! In the lively village of Tonsai Bay, on Koh Phi Phi Don, your buffet lunch will be served at a lovely beachfront restaurant. Later, you will continue to the crystal-clear waters of Monkey Beach. Your boat will then head towards Viking Cave, a natural cavity located at the bottom of a tall limestone cliff. The place owes its name to 400-year-old paintings found there, representing boats, perhaps Chinese junks, that look like Scandinavian drakkars. You will notice the prominent bamboo scaffolding, sometimes stretching a hundred meters up to the roof of the cave, and built to reach the precious bird nests that some intrepid harvesters take to sell to Chinese restaurants.

Afterward, depending on the tides, your boat will take you to the pristine shore of Pileh Lagoon where you will witness in succession all of what the natural beauty of the Andaman Sea has to offer: paradisiacal white sandy beaches, clear waters, green jungle, and amazingly shaped rocks rising from the water. Your tour will end with a last stop at Koh Rang Yai, a peaceful island about 5 kilometers from Phuket, with a long golden sandy beach - the perfect place to end your day lounging around or swimming before the captain takes you back to Phuket for you to return to your hotel.

Accommodation: Hotel in Krabi
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch

Free day at leisure.

Accommodation: Hotel in Krabi
Meal included: Breakfast

This morning, you will transfer without a guide to the airport for your flight to Bangkok.
Suggested flight schedule: PG262 KBV-BKK 10:05 - 11:35 (with this flight, suggested pick up time around 7:00)

Upon arrival at the Bangkok airport, another guide and driver will be waiting for you and transfer to your hotel for check-in. You'll have couple of hours to rest before your afternoon activity.

Hidden Scenes of Bangkok Along the River of Life
Duration: 2 hours

Your guide will pick you up at your hotel for a boat trip on the 'khlongs' (canals), an absolute must-see when exploring the city that was once referred to as the ‘Venice of the East’!

A boat tour on the khlongs in Thonburi, the old Bangkok capital will unveil another one of the many faces of Bangkok. Far away from the skyscrapers and dense traffic jams of the new part of the city, Thonburi reveals a more traditional side of Bangkok with old wooden townhouses, improbable floating kitchens, charming and glittering temples, and a simpler way of life. The long-tail boat tour will culminate with a visit to the remarkable Wat Arun, which stands magnificently on the Chao Phraya River.

You will return to your hotel in the evening, and then have free time at your leisure. 

 
Accommodation: Hotel in Bangkok
Meal included: Breakfast

Bizarre Traditional Markets near Bangkok – Damnoen Saduak and Talad Rom Hoob

With an early morning departure (7:30 AM pick up), you will travel from Bangkok to Damnoen Saduak. (This transfer is about 60 miles/95 kilometers and will take about 1 hour and 50 minutes each way.) Here, local people sell their wares from boat to boat or boat to shore. You will be startled by the variety of goods and products that can be purchased and you may even put in some practice of your bargaining skills!

Continue to Talaad Rom Hoob, better known as the Train Market. This market is located along the railway tracks and, if you are lucky, you will get to see the train pass within inches of the goods and produce on sale! The train announces its arrival with great blows of its horn, leaving just seconds for the merchants to repack the goods and then reinstall them just as quickly once the train has passed.

Then, you will transfer to Nakhon Pathom for an experience fit for foodies where a homely restaurant nestled along the river awaits...

Encounter and Gastronomic Lunch Experience Along the River

Away from the noise and hustle and bustle of Bangkok in a peaceful tropical garden on the riverbank, you will have the chance to enjoy a unique gastronomic experience. What’s more, you will have a nice encounter with a unique character. Your chef and her friendly team, will welcome you to her universe of flavors, flowers, and fruit, and prepare for you a delicious meal worthy of the greatest chefs!

Telling stories and anecdotes about her life, her passion for food and yoga, your host will introduce you to a real journey through flavors, and also Thai culture. She will be more than happy to listen to stories of your homeland and learn about your customs too. You are sure to have some unique conversations between the laughs, emotional highs, and, of course, dishes that only she knows how to prepare.

You will arrive back at the hotel by the afternoon, and have the remainder of the day free at your leisure. 

Accommodation: Hotel in Bangkok
Meals included: Breakfast, lunch

Enjoy a free morning at your leisure.

A Feast in the Dragon Belly – Chinatown Walking Tour
Pick up time: 11:30
Duration: 12:00 - 16:00

Today, you will explore the hidden alleys of Bangkok's Chinatown. (Chinatown is only open from Tuesday to Saturday.) Restaurants owned by the same families for decades and streetcars will be bustling away, far from the attention of the popular guidebooks and tours. Queue with locals who dine there daily to try their signature dishes that are difficult to find anywhere else!

You will learn the difference between Buddhist and Chinese temples and discover traditional customs that are still preserved in the local neighborhood of Yaowarat - Bangkok’s Dragon Belly. You will conclude your tour with a last walk to an expected place with a magnificent view of the Chao Phraya River.

Accommodation: Hotel in Bangkok
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch (street food tasting)

Enjoy a free morning at your leisure. Your hotel room is at your disposal until noon. When it's time, a guide will transfer you to the airport for your onward flight.

Meal included: Breakfast

This trip was custom-designed for clients traveling together, each staying in private rooms at 4* accommodations during November 2024 for the Loy Krathong festival.

If you're interested in a similar itinerary with more or less time in each part of Thailand, different locations or activities, or a different accommodation type, contact us!