Bangkok to the Burmese border by night train and local bus — Chiang Mai, the Mae Hong Son loop, and the hill country that the beach itineraries never reach.
Bangkok
One day, not four. The old city on foot in the morning, a canal boat rather than a taxi, and the night train out. Bangkok deserves longer but it is not what this route is for.
Night train north
Second-class sleeper from Krung Thep Aphiwat, booked a few days ahead. Beds are made up after dinner and you wake in the hills. The fan carriages are cheaper and better ventilated than the aircon ones.
Chiang Mai, old city
Inside the moat on foot: Wat Chedi Luang, Wat Phra Singh, and the small wooden temples nobody queues for. Eat at Chang Phueak north gate after dark.
Doi Suthep and cooking
Songthaew up to the temple early, then a cooking course in the afternoon — the good ones start at a market and explain what you are buying rather than handing you pre-measured bowls.
Elephants, carefully
Visit a project where elephants are observed rather than ridden, bathed or painted with. Ask what happens to the animals in low season and who owns them; a straight answer is the test.
To Pai
The minibus climbs 762 curves in three hours. Sit at the front, take the tablet if you get travel sick, and do not eat first. Pai is small, hippyish and surrounded by good country.
Pai valley
Hot springs, the canyon at sunset, Shan villages in the fields. Rent a scooter only if you have ridden one before — the local hospital has a ward for people who had not.
To Mae Hong Son
Deeper into the loop, close to the Burmese border. The town sits round a lake with a Shan temple on it and feels a long way from anywhere.
Border country
Mountain villages, Karen and Shan, and the refugee history of this frontier. Go with someone local rather than on a "hill tribe tour"; the difference is whether the village is paid.
The southern arc
Complete the loop through Mae Sariang, the quietest stretch, along the Salween river country back east.
Back to Chiang Mai
The loop closes. A day off, laundry, and the Sunday walking street if the timing lands right.
To Chiang Rai
Bus north-east. Wat Rong Khun — the white temple — is a contemporary artwork rather than an ancient site, and is more interesting once you know that.
The Golden Triangle
Where Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet on the Mekong. The opium museum at Sop Ruak is honest about a trade that funded armies here into the 1990s.
Out
Fly home from Chiang Rai or Chiang Mai, or cross to Laos at Chiang Khong and take the slow boat down the Mekong to Luang Prabang.
Good to know
November to February is dry and cool and is the season. March and April are burning season — agricultural fires make the air in the north genuinely unhealthy for weeks, and this is the one thing that should move your dates. Trains book out days ahead in high season; buy at the station or through the state railway site. Minibuses on the Mae Hong Son loop are cramped and fast; the big buses are slower and much more comfortable where they run.
Shorter or longer?
Fly south from Chiang Mai to Krabi or Surat Thani for a week. It is a different holiday bolted onto this one, and that is fine.
Cross at Chiang Khong and take the two-day slow boat to Luang Prabang. Add five days and a visa.