ドイインタノン国立公園ネイチャートレイルトレッキング1日ツアー

Where do I start with this review?? This tour has been the highlight of my holiday so far. We got picked up on time by Nort and his friendly driver in a very comfortable mini bus with 9 other lovely people. The 2 hour drive was amazing up and down the mountains taking in beautiful scenery. .. a short stop for coffee and pastries after 1 hour incase you don’t have time for breakfast due to the early start. We arrived at the elephant sanctuary to be greeted by 4 beautiful elephants. After a very interesting talk about the elephants and what to do and not to do around them we spent 2 hours feeding them and bathing them. Their carers take very good care of them and all the elephants seemed very happy to be there. A really lovely pad Thai was served up for lunch then into the pergodas. The time there was just perfect and the weather was on our side too with breath taking views. Another drive up into the mountains to start the trek through the national park. Our guided walk was absolutely amazing, I loved every minute of it. It’s quite steep in some parts but having the bamboo walking cane was a massive help on the steeper/ slippery parts. The waterfalls are breathtaking too… as is the whole trek. A quick stop off at the end for coffee/ tea and gifts was just the perfect end to what was a truly wonderful day. This tour was so well organised from start to finish and I cannot find one fault it in at all. Thank you Nort for being our fantastic guide for the day, you’ve left us with some very special memories.

Ginnie and Lek (Alex) were great company along the way. Appreciate keeping me up to date on timings and taking care of us. Trek was fun too! Easy to do even with slippers! Jk. Just hope it doesn’t rain when on the trail.

My favourite parts of the trip was the Wachirathan Waterfall and the hike through the beautiful rainforest where we saw more waterfalls along with rice fields and a variety of flora and fauna. However, I found that the guide was not helpful at all because we could not understand what he was saying and he had very limited command over english. I understand that english is their second language, but the guide lacked the detailed knowledge of the places he showed us. For example, he just dropped us off at the pagoda and just let us do the exploring without giving us a tour of the place. He rushed us through places we wanted to stay at like the highest point at Doi Inthanon where we hardly spent 5 mins. At Karen village we only spent 15 minutes tasting coffee and other teas. There was only surface level information given about the coffee making process. When we asked about the animals and plants in the national park he just made a joke about it. It seemed like he was not at all interested in guiding us through the history of Chiang Mai and the villages around it. If you call it nature trekking, at least supply a tour guide who knows “nature” The tour guide ran the entire tour like a drill sergeant sticking to a very strict and tight schedule. The moment we reached somewhere he would give us a set time to return back so we were unable to stay at places for long. Probably the tour operator needs to reduce some places like the shopping stop which was just a roadside line of stalls and reduce the extended time (45mins) spent at the pagoda. Additionally, The van did not have proper air conditioning because it was broken. The so called lunch was a just a tiny roadside restaurant where the quality of food was mediocre and not up to the mark. After starting the day early at 7am, we were looking forward to a good lunch. In the end we were hungry, tired and he just dropped us outside our hotel in the middle of the road and hurriedly drove off. This was the cherry on the top and I do not recommend this trip to anyone.

Such an amazing experience! Choo our guide was incredibly knowledgeable, funny, friendly and really took the time to talk to us about Thailand's culture and history. The nature was spectacular and we enjoyed meeting members of the Karen community. Overall a wonderful day which we would thoroughly recommend if you are visiting Chiang Mai!

+1

The tour was amazing despite the weather. It was cloudy at only one stop after we arrived, but we were still able to see the monuments and take great photos. We visited many beautiful places, and lunch was included. All entrance tickets were covered in the price as well. This was a great example of money well spent and excellent value for what was included. I highly recommend this tour to anyone visiting Chiang Mai.

+6

Pick up was from our hotel was great Our guide was very friendly and enthusiastic The trail was well managed and guide told us about the local tribe We visited the local hill village During our lunch which was well catered for the weather turned bad. We continued our tour despite poor visibility and soaked to our skins Only found out this was normal and not told prior to the tour

Superb experience, very friendly guide who accompanied us during this day. Well-paced day! Some very beautiful discoveries, especially during the trekking in a magical environment!

Tour according to plan. Our guide Jack was super - he answered every question and was interested in us understanding the history and background. An absolutely great experience. Thanks for that!

With rain and fog, we didn’t see much at the pagodas but Choo was great in helping us understand the history of the area and made some great jokes along the way! The trek was the best part! The beautiful landscape and generosity of the locals was magnificent. Ending with a tea/coffee tasting topped off a great trip!

+1

Overall, we are glad we did this tour because it did hit the highlights of Doi Inthanon National Park. However, be forewarned that this tour was more like 12 hours and you don’t eat lunch until about 3/3:30 so it is a very long day. I think if the timing and organization were improved, the overall experience would be much better!