Amazing Land of Lanna (Self-Guided)

Seven nights in a loop from Chiang Mai, self-guided with GPS navigation, 1,700 kilometres across the old Lanna kingdom over eight riding days.

Nan comes first, a province that was a secluded kingdom in its own right and stayed isolated for centuries, with the traditional salt village of Bo Kluea in the mountains above it, where brine has been drawn from inland wells for a thousand years.

Highway 1081 follows, which the operator reports has been voted the most beautiful road in Thailand, then Chiang Rai and the White Temple, and the Mekong to the Golden Triangle where three countries meet. Mae Sai, Doi Tung, Mae Salong and Doi Angkhang come next in sequence, which is a run of four mountain roads and the densest stretch of high riding in the itinerary, then Mae Sariang on the Myanmar border road, a Long Neck Karen village and the summit of Doi Inthanon to close the loop.

GPS navigation, pre-booked hotels and support when it is needed are included; the full inclusions are not itemised on the operator’s page and are worth confirming at booking. The riding is a hundred per cent paved at 180 to 300 kilometres a day. The cool dry season from November to February is the window. Eight days is the longest self-guided tour in the range short of the complete one, and the shape of it is unusual: it takes in Nan and the salt wells in the east as well as the famous roads in the west, which most itineraries have to choose between. The navigation files and the booked hotels remove the two things that make independent riding in Thailand tiresome.