Ride to the Andaman - From Chiang Mai to Phuket

Nine nights from Chiang Mai to Phuket, guided, 2,000 kilometres over eight riding days down the length of Thailand.

Sukhothai and Kamphaeng Phet come first, both world heritage sites and both the remains of the kingdom that preceded Siam, with the ruins spread out among trees and water rather than fenced into a compound.

The Bridge over the River Kwai follows, with the museum beside it, which handles the Thai-Burma railway and the prisoners and conscripted labourers who died building it with the seriousness it requires rather than as a film location. The Chang Hua Man royal project, the Phraya Nakhon cave, where a pavilion stands in a shaft of light through the roof, and the chedi at Bang Saphan come next, then the Phang Nga elephant park, Koh Panyee, a village built on stilts over the water, and the Andaman coast at Phuket.

The tour is guided; the full inclusions are not itemised on the operator’s page and are worth confirming at booking. The riding is entirely on sealed road at 180 to 330 kilometres a day, which makes for some long days on a route this length. The cool dry season from November to February is the window for the north, and the Andaman coast is drier between November and April. Ten days to cross a country end to end is a genuine point-to-point ride rather than a loop, which means a transfer or a flight back north at the finish, and the one-way shape is what gives the route its variety: ruins, river, cave temples and then the islands. Finishing on a beach after two thousand kilometres is the right way round.