Leisure cycling tour around Chiang Mai

After a short safety briefing, we cycle down narrow lanes through some of Chiang Mai’s interesting neighborhoods, past beautiful houses and through areas rarely seen by tourists. Once we leave Chiang Mai behind us we will cycle on country roads through a beautiful and ever changing scenery. You will see orchards, rice fields, irrigation canals, pass through small villages and witness the farmer’s daily life activities. We pass a Chinese cemetery and glimpse tantalizing views of a temple on top of a hill. We will visit this beautiful temple, which is also an important social centre and school for the area. After a visit to the local market we continue through small villages and paddy fields. Your first accommodation is a small boutique resort with a nice swimming pool, located in a lush, natural surrounding. In the restaurant a rich menu of Thai, Malaysian, Singaporian and Western food is served.

Today’s cycling will give us further insight into the Thai way of life. We will continue cycling through rice fields, orchards, and small villages, taking regular breaks. Along the way, we will visit some local hot springs, caves and a most interesting and quite unique temple. Part of this trip has some rolling hills and some climbing needs to be done but this shouldn't be a problem since we are using bicycles with 24 gears. Today’s accommodation is a small lodge in a local village. It has only a couple nicely decorated rooms available. The lodge has a nice swimming pool with bar where excellent cocktails are served. The restaurant has a very good choice of delicious Thai food. Thai massage is available.

This is the longest day of the tour but we feel fit to tackle the challenge. After a short warm up, the road goes up hill for some kilometers. Then the country flattens out and we are back into an area of paddy fields and local villages. Today's scenery is completely different again. We cycle along irrigation channels, orchards, rice fields, traditional farms and typical Thai villages. We pass a 29 metre high standing Buddha protruding from the flat countryside. Next, we are heading towards Lamphun where we will visit Wat Phrathat Haripunchai, one of the most revered temples in Northern Thailand. Avoiding the traffic, we cross Lamphun and continue the ride on quiet back roads. The last part is through a village where time has stood still. On either side we discover chedis and ruins, some of which are over seven centuries old. Our overnight accommodation is a resort, converted from old tobacco barns, with nicely and tastefully decorated rooms. It has a large swimming pool and is located in the quiet and peaceful surroundings of a park.

During the first part of today you will ride through mainly longan orchards. Families in this area make sa paper still using traditional methods. Via nice routes, we cycle to Ban Tawai, a small village famous for its wood carving artisans. We have enough time to look around the various stalls. Afterwards, we join the Ping River with its lush green banks throughout the year. A visit to a former leper colony, now a rehabilitation center, gives some insight into the activities of the missionaries in days gone bye. A visit to ancient ruins of the former site of Chiang Mai rounds off the day. With pleasure you will look back and remember the highlights of this cycling adventure.