Chasing Dragons: The Infamous Golden Triangle Tour

Most visitors to northern Thailand ride the Mae Hong Son loop and go home. This seven-day tour heads the other way, into Phayao, Nan and Chiang Rai, where the traffic thins out and the asphalt is often better than it has any right to be. Day one leaves the Chiang Mai base and clears the city before the good roads start, with lunch beside the lake at Phayao and a scenic approach into Nan. The second day stays in Nan province, looping around routes that see almost no traffic. Day three is the one riders come for: around a hundred kilometres of twisties on route 1148, through the Phu Chi Fah national park with a waterfall lunch stop, finishing at Chiang Khong on the Mekong. From Chiang Khong the route traces the river north to the official Golden Triangle marker and the opium museum, with an optional hop across the Myanmar border at Mae Sai before settling in Chiang Rai. The fifth day is given over to Chiang Rai province itself, which the operator sums up as temples, asphalt, dirt and soul. Day six works west toward Fang through a tea plantation and some technical riding, with lunch in a village settled by Kuomintang refugees and a boat trip to a Karen long neck village. The last leg crosses the Doi Ang Khang royal project area and returns to Chiang Mai by four. The riding is road riding on mid-capacity machines. The operator asks for a prior time on large-capacity machines and speeds averaging 80 to 120 kph, which matches a route built around sustained cornering rather than technical difficulty. Bikes are a Suzuki V-Strom 650, a Honda CB500X or a Honda CB500F, all with crash bars and top boxes. Groups of five or more get a support vehicle and driver, and the tour leader speaks English, French and Dutch. Departures run through the year and custom dates are available to groups. The price includes mandatory Tourism Authority of Thailand travel insurance and a TAT-licensed guide, but not the international policy riders need for machines of 500cc and above.

Seven days and six nights covering the eastern half of northern Thailand, from the quiet green province of Nan up to the point on the Mekong where Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet. The centrepiece is route 1148, a hundred kilometres of low-traffic ridgeline tarmac that regulars rate above the better-known Mae Hong Son roads, followed by the Phu Chi Fah national park and a run along the Mekong to the Golden Triangle proper and its opium museum. A rest-paced fifth day in Chiang Rai mixes temples with dirt, and the final leg climbs through the Doi Ang Khang royal project area before dropping back into Chiang Mai. Thai Bespoke Bike Tours runs it all year round and prices it at 67,000 baht per rider, with pillions at 22,000 baht. The figure covers six nights of private accommodation, the motorcycle, fuel, gear, breakfast and lunch, and a TAT-licensed guide.