Essential Thailand
6 days - Private Tour

Destinations: Chiang Mai, Bangkok

Discover the cultural delights from the capital Bangkok to Chieng Mai.  If Bangkok shines gracefully with Buddhist temples and skyscrapers, then Chieng Mai in the northern region is truly a treasure-trove filled with the most notable ancient wats, rich history, exotic market and full of adventures in wait. You will see the historic ruins of the Heritage Site Ayutthaya, experience elephant safari, ride ox-cart, float on bamboo raft along river and so much more.

 Itinerary Essential Thailand

DAY 1    Bangkok Arrival    Meals:
Welcome to Bangkok! When you're arrival at Bangkok international airport, your guide will greet you and escort you to the hotel. The driving distance is approximately 45 minutes. Check in hotel and leisure  

DAY 2    Bangkok Full Day Hightlights    Meals: B    
Today, enjoy a full day city tour including the Royal Grand Palace, the nation’s landmark and most praised royal monument in Thailand, the enclosed and dazzling Wat Phra Keo with its revered Emerald Buddha, the Golden Chedi, the Pantheon of the Chakri Kings and the Eight Coloured Towers, all are must-see highlights in Bangkok. It is considered to be a living example of classical Siamese Court, being the former residence of the kings of Thailand.
Next, you’ll visit Wat Pho – the first centre of public education and ‘Thailand’s first university’ where you will find mural paintings, inscriptions, and statues placed in the temple-educated people on different subjects such as literature, warfare, archaeology, astronomy, geology, meditation. You’re then offered the Thai traditional massage with a 30-minutes treatment as an excellent break after a morning tour.
 
In the afternoon, experience a trip along the bustling Chao Phya River and the quiet Klongs (canals) in a long tail boat. The tour shows you more scenes of life by water, more local traditional way of living that totally away from all the high-rise and modern buildings of Bangkok City. As we gently pass Thonburi residential areas, a stop will be made at the “Temple of Dawn” (officially named Wat Arun). Next, visit the Flower and vegetable market that closed to the Chao Phraya River, this part brings you to a rural piece of Bangkok where there is a vast selection of all kinds of flowers, orchids and tropical flowers. You also see how the merchants create very special flower garlands. This Bangkok day ends at the Golden Mountain. Photography is permitted in the Royal Palace Grounds and in the compounds of the Emerald Buddha Temple, but not inside the buildings.
 
Note: Please dress respectfully by not wearing sleeveless, shorts or sandals, when visiting the Grand Palace and temple complex.

DAY 3    Bangkok Full Day Ayuthaya By Coach & Cruise    Meals: B    
Morning, visit the former capital of Thailand, Ayuthaya, located approximately 75km north of Bangkok. The mixing cultures in Ayuthaya began in the mid-16th century when ships from Ayuthaya plied the Asian seas and traded with neighboring countries. Ayuthaya became a port city and trading routes extended to China, Japan, Indonesia, Portugal, Holland and France and up to the Scandinavian when the Dutch showed up in the 17th century.
 
Although the ancient villages of foreign traders lining the Chao Phraya riverbanks were abandoned when the city was sacked by Burmese troops in 1767, some remnants survive to showcase the cities past glory. Arrival, start at the Summer Palace of the late King Rama V, commonly known as “Bang Pa-In”. Move on to the magnificent ruins of early splendor that Ayuthaya is famous for all over the world. We will pass all the most impressive ruins of this World Heritage Site for taking sufficient pictures. We then return to Bangkok by cruising down the Chao Phraya River on a comfortable, air-conditioned cruise ship, while enjoying a sumptuous buffet lunch on board. Upon arrival at the disembarkation point in Bangkok in the late afternoon, we drive you back to your hotel.
 
Note: Kindly be aware that proper attire is required to enter the Summer Palace compounds; staff will be pleased to advise you accordingly

DAY 4    Bangkok - Chiang Mai    Meals: B    
After breakfast, you will check out the hotel and then transfer to the airport for flight to Chiang Mai. The flight time is approximately 1hour and 15 minutes.
Arrival Chiang Mai, our guide will meet you & escort you to the hotel.
When you arrive Chieng Mai, meet our local guide at the airport then this amazing sightseeing tour takes guests around the famous city for an up-close and personal look at some of its most notable temples, as well as stops at its old city walls, gates and moat, and the local market and Tapae Gate. Highlight of this trip include Wat Chiang Man, the city’s oldest temple and famed for a Chedi supported by rows of elephantine buttresses; Wat Phrasing home of the beautiful Lai Kham chapel with its exquisite woodcarving and northern style murals; Wat Chedi Luang and its enormous Pagoda (which was partially destroyed by an earthquake in 1545); and Wat Suan Dok, which dates back to the 14th century when it served as the pleasure gardens to the Thai monarchy. Nowadays it houses several white Chedi’s, containing the ashes of Chiang Mai’s former Royal family. The last temple also houses one of the most famous Monk Schools in the whole of Chiang Mai.

DAY 5    Chiang Mai Full Day Elephant Safari & Rafting    Meals: B    
Moring, have breakfast at hotel then we will get experience the beauty of the north. Our first stop will be made at a beautiful orchid nursery & next door butterfly farm in the Mae Rim District. Then, we continue our journey through the hilly, and forest area, just north of the city to see the elephants at work at Mae Taman camp a lovely place behind the hills. Here, we will give you the chance to make a journey through the forest on the back of these gentle animals; you will be crossing the river and get up and close with the jungle (approximately half an hour). The ox and cart is another traditional means of transportation and you will experience this; a 30-minutes’ ox-drawn cart brings you at a leisurely pace past rural villages. This journey gives you a direct insight into of how the inhabitants life and dwell in the northern part of Thailand. Lunch will be provided during the day.
 
The afternoon is reserved for a 5 kilometers’ long bamboo rafting along the beautiful Mae Taeng river to the raft station before heading back into Chiangmai. Pure adventure all the way.

Note: during some parts of the rainy season, this tour may not be operational subject to high water levels.

DAY 6    Chiang Mai - Bangkok Departure    Meals: B    
Morning, check out hotel then transfer to airport for flight back to Bangkok and you then connect your international departure flight back home or extend tour with us.