Golden Triangle Thailand

The Burma Discovery Tour

Discover Burma and its fascinating culture on a half-day visit to the border town of Takilek. Depart the Tented Camp by boat and then transfer by private car to the town of Mae Sai, the northernmost point of Thailand. Visit Wat Pradhat Doi Wao, also known as the Scorpion Temple, located on a hilltop with views of Thailand and Burma, before walking across the bridge that forms the border. Pass through Thai and Burmese immigration, and enter the town of Takilek, where you will begin your Burmese discovery. Then, take a walk to the Temple of the Jade Buddha, where you will learn about Burmese Buddhist traditions. From there you'll be driven to the Shwedagon Pagoda and learn about the animal corresponding to your birthday, make temple offerings, and enjoy the stunning views over the town, the surrounding mountains, and back into Thailand. Head back down into Takilek to visit the bustling Chinese Market, full of produce from the countries bordering the Mekong River, including antiques and artefacts from Burma and products from Thailand and China.

Time: Approximately 4 hours
Price: THB 10,890

Tailor-Made Chiang Rai City Tour

Explore the city of Chiang Rai on a customized tour. Let us know your interests – whether you’d like to visit ancient temples, discover the culture of the region in the local museums, shop for delicate textiles and hilltribe handicrafts, sample cuisine unique to northern Thailand, or shop till you drop at the night market. 

Time: Approximately 5 hours
Price: THB 8,500
Note: Prices are subject to tax and service charge.

Doi Tung Royal Villa & Mae Fah Luang Garden and Arboretum

This beautiful royal residence, built in 1990 to mark the 90th birthday of Her Royal Highness, the Princess Mother of Thailand, is a two-storey building designed in northern Thai and Swiss chalet style. Open for visitors to enjoy its beautiful gardens and clear mountain air, it's located next to Mae Fah Luang Garden and consists of 10 square kilometres (3.8 square miles) of breathtaking parkland. The garden blooms year round, forming a splendid hillside tapestry that changes with the seasons. Guided tours are offered throughout the day. Nearby is Mae Fah Luang Arboretum, offering spectacular views of the Nang Non mountain range and presenting a wealth of plant species, including wild orchids and other epiphytic plants, and many native birds and mammals.

Time: Approximately 5 hours
Price: THB 12,320

The Craft Route

Northern Thailand has long been famous for its local crafts, including textiles, weavings, carvings, silverwork and paper-making, as well as more contemporary ceramics and artworks. This tour includes visits to the Doi Tung Cottage Industries Centre, a handicrafts training and job-creation centre. Guests can gain hands-on experience at the centre, where products are made by more than 300 skilled workers from ethnic minorities. Handicrafts including weavings, mulberry paper and ceramics are produced here, and locally grown coffee is also roasted on site. The tour also includes visits to the Doi Ding Daeng ceramics centre, where beautiful contemporary ceramics are produced by a local Thai artist, and a stop at a local shop renowned for the high quality of its antique textiles, hill-tribe artefacts, beadwork and carvings.

Time: Approximately 5 hours
Price: THB 8,030
Note: Prices are subject to tax and service charge.

Doi Mae Salong Chinese Village & Tea Plantation

This trip to Doi Mae Salong in the northern mountains of Chiang Rai province offers an insight into the unique way of life of the communities who settled here after the Chinese Civil War, after living nomadic lives in neighbouring Burma for a number of years. The main language spoken here is still Mandarin, and Chinese customs are retained in areas such as tea cultivation, particularly with regard to the high-quality High Mountain Oolong, perfectly suited to the high altitude and cool climate of the Doi Mae Salong Mountains. Your guide will offer insight into the fascinating political history of the area as you drive through beautiful mountain scenery and discovery why this area of often called “Little Switzerland.”

Time: Approximately 5 hours
Price: THB 11,500

Houi Mak Leim National Park & Hot Spring Trail

After an early breakfast, depart the Tented Camp by boat, and drive past Chiang Rai city to Houi Mak Leim National Park and Hot Springs. Hike uphill through beautiful natural surroundings to visit Ban Ja Jor, a Lahu hill-tribe village, where women are highly skilled in embroidery and men are highly skilled hunters. Hike for an hour through the countryside to Ban A-Pae, an Akha hill-tribe village, entering through the spirit gate revered by the Akha tribe, and pass by the Akha giant swing, used for new year celebrations, harvest festivals and other ceremonies. Next, a short hike through the village takes you to the Huay Keaw waterfall, and on through groves of towering bamboo and tea plantations to a Chinese village where you will rest at a tea terrace and try the local brew. After all this activity, take a soothing dip in the natural hot spring waters close to the banks of the Kok River before settling in for a private long-tail boat ride down the river back to the city of Chiang Rai, where a car will be waiting to drive you back to the Tented Camp.

Time: Approximately 6 to 8 hours
Price: THB 13,200

Doi Sa Ngo Trail

Enjoy the fantastic view of Doi Sa Ngo, formerly an opium market but now the home of the Akha hill tribe. The village, built in traditional Akha style, is an approximately 90-minute hike up through the foothills and along a dirt road. Enter the village through the spirit gate, and stop to admire the giant swing used for special celebrations. From a height of 760 metres (2,493 feet), the stunning view of the Mekong River, paddy fields and surrounding valleys will take your breath away. Doi Sa Ngo is a 30-minute drive from the Tented Camp and is a great way to gain an insight into the simple yet beautiful lifestyle of the local communities.

Time: Approximately 3 hours
Price: THB 7,150
Note: Prices are subject to tax and service charge.

Golden Horse Monastery

Making merit, part of the Thai way of life, means doing good to achieve happiness and a peaceful life. Visit the Golden Horse Monastery to make merit (or tamboon) by offering food, fruit, drinks and flowers to the monks who make this very special monastery their home. The monks here include young orphaned boys, who learn Buddhist philosophy and a traditional form of muay thai (Thai kick-boxing) typical of the Lanna region of northern Thailand. You can walk to the top of the hill and enjoy beautiful views of the surrounding countryside before returning back to the Tented Camp via your waiting car.

Time: Approximately 3 to 4 hours
Price: THB 7,800

Phra That Chom Kitti

Another opportunity to make merit, this trip takes you to Wat Pra That Chom Kitti, where a sacred relic of the Buddha’s forehead is contained in a golden pagoda, part of an ancient monastery built around the 10th century. Wat Phra That Chom Kitti is a favourite temple of Thais from all over the country, who visit from far and wide to make merit. There are different ways to tamboon, or make merit, but we will offer food, fruit, drinks and flowers to the monks, who will bless and tie cotton yarn around your wrists, symbolizing the removal of sin. Meditate for a while at the peaceful preaching hall on the hilltop, where you can enjoy stunning views of the Mekong River and the mountains of Laos. Finally, release a fish or turtle into the water, and return to the camp feeling purified and full of merit.

Time: Approximately 2 hours
Price: THB 6,500
Note: Prices are subject to tax and service charge.

Elephant Research Program

Become an elephant researcher and learn about elephant intelligence with the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation (GTAEF), and help better protect these creatures in the wild. Guests participating in the program will have the opportunity to be involved in running a research session, acting as researchers themselves. They will be involved in the discussion that goes on during each study about the elephants’ progress and thought processes during the research, and will also take part in recording the different types of behaviour displayed by each of the participating elephants. The program is overseen by John Roberts, director of elephants at Four Seasons Tented Camp and founder of the GTAEF, and Joshua Plotnik, PhD, a Newton Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Cambridge, head of research at the GTAEF and founder of Think Elephants International (TEI). All funds will go to support the works of the GTAEF and TEI.

Time: Approximately 3 hours
Price: THB 11,000

Learn the Basics of Elephant Polo

How about getting into the swing of a new sport, one that will dazzle and impress friends and colleagues and supply hours of dinner party conversation for years to come? After completing basic elephant training, take your mahout training one step further by learning the basics of elephant polo, and get the chance to swing your mallet in a real elephant polo match. Once you’ve learned the golden rules of safety when interacting with elephants – and you can tell your pai (go straight) from your baen (turn) and your how (stop) from your map lung (sit down) – elephant polo training can begin in earnest. Our mahouts will teach you the rules created by the World Elephant Polo Association based in Nepal. You will learn the technicalities, techniques, and rules of the game – for example, no elephants may lie down in front of the goal mouth; to do so will constitute a foul – before taking part in a match to test your new skills.

Time: Approximately 3 hours
Price: THB 19,800
Note: Prices are subject to tax and service charge.

Elephant Trekking AT FOUR SEASONS TENTED CAMP GOLDEN TRIANGLE

Suffering from elephant withdrawal? We would be delighted to arrange an additional elephant trek on one of three nearby routes.

Time: Approximately 2 hours
Price: THB 7,920
Note: Prices are subject to tax and service charge.

Sunrise Elephant Trek

Start your day with a sunrise elephant trek and watch the sun rise from behind the mountains of Laos, casting a warm light over the Mekong River. Setting off at 6:00 am, the trek is offered during the winter season, when the mornings are cool, the skies are clear and a beautiful sunrise is pretty much guaranteed. It is the ideal next adventure for those who have already completed basic mahout training. To an accompaniment of the dawn chorus of birdsong, the trek takes guests up to the Camp Peak, the highest point of the Camp, where you can welcome the new day from atop you elephant, or from the viewpoint sala with a cup of freshly-brewed local coffee in hand.

 

After taking time to enjoy the sunrise, and perhaps a second cup of coffee and a pastry or some fruit, the elephant trek heads back down the hill to the bathing pool, where the gentle giants (and guests, should they be willing to get wet) enjoy some much-deserved playtime in the water. Truly an unforgettable way to start the day.

 

Price: THB 7,920
Note: Prices are subject to tax and service charge.