GS Trophy Experience (Dual Terrain)

Six nights in a loop from Chiang Mai, guided, 1,200 kilometres on large adventure bikes across paved road and dirt.

The route follows the trail laid out for the 2016 International GS Trophy in south-east Asia, BMW’s own global off-road competition, so the terrain was selected by people looking for difficulty: small trails, gravel roads and the subtropical mountain forest they run through.

The 1,864-curve Mae Hong Son loop is on it, with Pai, then Ban Rak Thai, the Chinese village near the Myanmar border, the border road itself, a Long Neck Karen village and Doi Inthanon, the highest point in Thailand. The food along the way is treated as part of the trip rather than a refuelling stop, which is fair enough: northern Thai cooking is not what gets exported, and a guided group gets fed in places a solo rider would ride straight past.

The tour is guided; the full inclusions are not itemised on the operator’s page and are worth confirming at booking, and quality off-road gear is required but not supplied. The riding is 150 to 300 kilometres a day across sealed and unsealed sections, and real off-road experience is assumed rather than taught. The cool dry season from November to February is the window, since the wet turns the trails to mud. This is the premium version of the operator’s dual-terrain route: the same GS Trophy trail, a longer schedule and the larger adventure bikes, which handle the gravel better and are considerably more work to pick up. Anyone who wants the same route more cheaply should look at the shorter off-road tour instead.