Bangkok to Hua Hin Beach

Bangkok is not the obvious base for a motorcycle tour of Thailand, which is precisely what makes this route interesting. Instead of the northern mountains, it follows the Gulf coast south to Hua Hin, the beach town Thai royalty made fashionable, and comes back up the same shore on a different set of roads. The tour starts at the Ride in Asia office, with riders asked to arrive by quarter past eight for a nine o'clock departure. The morning is given to coffee, introductions to the guides, a briefing on road conditions and the bikes, and the safety equipment. The group then leaves the city together. The first stop is the Ao Mahachai Mangrove Forest Study Centre about an hour out, a research and education site with a nature trail along the mangroves. From there it is around 113 kilometres to Models Beach for a longer break before the hotel at Chaosamran Beach. Day two is short at 78 kilometres and heavy on stops. Pran Buri Forest Park sits where the Pranburi River meets the Gulf, with mangroves, deciduous trees and coastal pines. Khao Chong Krachok is a hill with a small pagoda, a resident troop of monkeys and a panorama over the coast. The day ends at the Hua Hin night market, which comes alive after half past six. The final day heads back north over 199 kilometres. Phra Nakhon Khiri, better known as Khao Wang, is a hilltop palace complex whose highest peak carries a temple the operator rates alongside the Grand Palace's Wat Phra Kaeo. Wat Khok Kham follows, with its old ordination hall and boundary markers and a restored Ayutthaya-style stupa, before the last 36 kilometres into the office and an arrival around ten past five. The guided price covers the bike, guide, third party insurance, accommodation, breakfast and dinner, fuel, gear, GPS and an anti-theft padlock. Lunches and side activities are not included, and several of the stops carry their own entrance fees. Riders must be over 18, hold an international motorcycle licence and a valid Thai visa, and leave a security deposit.

A three-day, two-night run down the western shore of the Gulf of Thailand and back, 459 kilometres in total and the shortest guided tour in the Ride in Asia range. Day one is the longest at 182 kilometres, leaving the Bangkok office at nine and working south through the Ao Mahachai mangrove study centre to a beach hotel at Chaosamran in Phetchaburi. Day two is a gentle 78 kilometres taking in Pran Buri Forest Park, the monkey-covered hill at Khao Chong Krachok and the Hua Hin night market. Day three returns 199 kilometres to Bangkok by way of the hilltop palace at Phra Nakhon Khiri and the Ayutthaya-style stupa at Wat Khok Kham. Guided, the price is 39,200 baht per rider; the same trip self-guided is 23,200 and a pillion seat is 8,600.