Chiang Mai-Chiang Rai : temple blanc + noir + bleu + triangle d'or + excursion en bateau

This is definitely worth the full day. No site is disappointing and more spectacular than the pictures.

If you want to visit the famous color temples without staying in Chiang Rai this is the better choice. All was perfectly planned, every stop in the day was incredible, we had time to visit each place and the lunch was delicious.

Apple was the best guide! Learned a lot of history about the golden triangle, the temples and Thailand as a whole. Visited a Karen Village. Highly recommended!

This was a superb tour, so much was squeezed into one very very long but enjoyable day. I picked this tour specifically as it included both the black house and boat trip, which many of the others only include one of. Our guide was excellent, really knowledgeable and friendly. I loved all the stops apart from the Karen village which is optional. It feels very ethically questionable, however information from the guide helped me understand why it happens. Personally I would have preferred to not go to the Karen village and have an extra 15 mins each at the black house and blue temple. My only negative is that the bus seats 12 in the back, we were really rammed in, and for a 15hr day it was a lot. My son is 6’3” and we had the back row with the least amount of space. It felt like 50hrs on the way back and was painful. On other trips we sat in 9 seater vans which was much more comfortable

As the other reviews mention, it is a long day. However, the tour was well organized and stuck to a schedule. The tour involved a stop at hotsprings, the Karen village, The White Temple, lunch at about 2 pm, the Blue Temple, The Black House Museum, then a boat ride at the Golden Triangle. We returned to our hotels at approximately 9-9:30 pm. Dinner consisted of a stop at a gas station, so you may wish to stock up on snacks for the long drive. Overall, although it is a long day, it is a tour that packs in a lot of sights. There was generally enough time to explore the temples and museum. The Karen village costs 300 baht extra and is optional (there are ethical considerations to this visit as although they benefit from selling crafts and want tourists to visit them, their position as refugees without land or many options outside of tourism makes them vulnerable). The van was in good condition with working AC and we were provided water throughout the day. As a whole, the tour was what I expected and Fern, the guide, was polite and organized.

Difficult to classify this trip as it was very good and bad at the same time. Overall I would recommend it but you need to be aware of the downsides. Guide and driver great and timekeeping was perfect. Virtually all the stops were worthwhile and interesting. You go from Chaing Mai to the most Northern point of Thailand in the Laos / Myanmar border. However, in order to make the trip work and the six stops worth seeing, it is a break neck drive to get to each venue on time. We had a 7.15am start and left the Golden Triangle at 1700. This meant a FOUR HOUR drive back to Chaing Mai, if, the driver could over and undertake every car in front of him on country winding or single and dual carriageways. This was Mad Max and Fast and Furious rolled into one. Be prepared for it and take neck cushions for comfort and headphones to drown out screeching tyres, horns and gasps within the van.

The guide was a bit spooky. He said a lot about the places he visited, sang and joked a bit. Food was great with dessert and you could also pick and take vegetarian from different bowls yourself.

Pick up between 7-7.30 this is a long day trip. Drove up to Chang Rai with stop at hot springs, don't put your feet in like I did, you can boil an egg in the water. White Temple, blue temple and black museum all fabulous and well worth although longer time would be good you have to run round as only got 30m at each place as nothing near each other. Stopped at Hill tribes place, they are colourful and lots of stuff to buy. Then trip on Mekong river golden triangle which was great. The only downfall was the long drive back. May be an idea to start there and work backwards so nearer to home. GuideS were good Aom was lovely, driver was very good but fast, however glad he was getting back. Only issue I had was it was a buffet lunch and salad two things my oncologist told me not to partake in so was starving. Didn't know till after I could have booked off of a menu which would have been ok if freshly cooked. So if you have medical issues take your own packed lunch or you will starve.

Yes, it is an extremely long day, (13-15 hours), and the drivers do hustle, but you get to see a lot of amazing things. All of these locations are a 3-4 hour drive from Chiang-Mai, and if you want to spend less time in the car, just see the White Temple, the Blue Temple, and the Black Temple, as the Golden Triangle boat trip and the Long Neck Village were nice, but not anything you can’t live without. As stated above, this trip is perfect for people who want to see a lot, and realize that Thailand is a big country where the sites are fairly spread out. If you want to see them all, you have to be willing to sit in a car for a bit, and, trust me, you don’t want your driver to be taking their time, as you’d probably complain more about that in your review. (Honestly, some people are just never happy!) Just download a book or a movie to watch on your phone, and you’ll be fine!

15 hour trip, the blue temple makes it worth it! I ended up in a mixed Chinese group, we were only three non-chinese and unfortunately we could not understand the guide's English. I don't know how to (or if possible) avoid getting in a Chinese group, but our smililibf guide could not provide us English speakers with the information you would expect on a guided tour.