Bangkok Northeast Loop Through Isaan

Isaan is the part of Thailand that most visitors never see: a plateau in the northeast bordered by the Mekong, with its own language, its own food and roads that carry a fraction of the traffic found anywhere near the coasts. Ride in Asia builds a five-day loop out of Bangkok that gets properly into it. Day one covers 259 kilometres and starts, as all their tours do, at the Bangkok office with coffee, introductions and a briefing before a nine o'clock departure. Khao Yai National Park comes early, with a 400 baht entrance fee and an hour and a half set aside, and the day finishes at the Sai One night market near Nakhon Ratchasima. Day two runs 203 kilometres to the Khon Kaen National Museum, which costs 100 baht and gets fifty minutes, then a further 102 kilometres to a coffee stop at the Dose Factory. Day three is 59.7 kilometres to Wat Santi Wanaram, free to enter, then a long 249 kilometre run north to Chiang Khan on the Mekong. Day four is the biggest at 185 kilometres to Phu Hin Rong Kla National Park, where the 500 baht entrance buys an hour and twenty minutes, and then 336 kilometres south to Lop Buri. Day five is the run home: the Phra Kan Shrine, the Ayutthaya Elephant Place and Royal Kraal, both free, and 81 kilometres back to the office for around ten past five. The guided price covers the motorcycle, an English-speaking guide, third party insurance, accommodation, breakfast and dinner, fuel, protective equipment, GPS and an anti-theft padlock. Lunches, side activities and personal insurance are not included, and the national park fees quoted in the itinerary are the rider's own. A pick-up support truck, 24-hour roadside assistance, a BMW upgrade and airport transfers are all available as extras. Riders need to be over 18 with an international motorcycle licence, a valid Thai visa and a security deposit.

Five days, four nights and 1,452 kilometres in a loop out of Bangkok into Isaan, the northeastern region most motorcycle tours in Thailand skip entirely. The route runs through Khao Yai National Park to Nakhon Ratchasima, up through Khon Kaen to the Mekong town of Chiang Khan, back south through Phu Hin Rong Kla National Park to Lop Buri, and home via Ayutthaya. Distances are substantial, with day four covering more than 500 kilometres across two legs, but the payoff is a stretch of Thailand where the roads are quiet and the tourist traffic thins to almost nothing. Ride in Asia publishes the guided price at 82,200 baht per rider, with a self-guided version at 50,100 and pillion seats at 10,700. Several national parks along the way charge their own entrance fees, which are not included.