Thailand Active outdoor Trips

We loved this tour of Northern Thailand. There was lots of variety in places and things to do going from city to rural settings. Highlights included River Kwai/raft house, Elephant Nature Park, homestay, Maeklong railway market and temples in Bangkok. Our guide Wit was brilliant throughout. He made the trip really enjoyable - we learnt so much from him about Thailand including history, Buddhism, food and Royalty - and he took really good care of us, always keen to ensure we having a good time. He also adapted the tour when we couldn’t visit the royal palace taking us instead to an attraction we had talked about going to ourselves. Our driver was also really friendly and helpful throughout. The accommodation was also good value for the cost of the trip Thanks so much for such a great tour and would highly recommend.

Explore leader (Wit) was a fabulous, beautiful soul and had a great deal of knowledge. Very caring and went out of his way to help. Elephant sanctuary was a highlight as we didn't think we would get so close to the elephants. Homestay was rustic but very interesting. The raft hotel was different and it was lovely to be gently rocked to sleep at night. Beautiful temples with lots of history, some great eating places and lovely Thai people. We were there for Sonkran which was fun and we joined in with the locals soaking everyone with buckets and water pistols. Would recommend it for a full on experience but prepare for the heat if you go in spring.

This is a full on tour with very little downtime. There is a lot of time spent in a private minibus to get from Chiang Mai down to Bangkok, however all of the stops on the way are interesting historical sites such as Si Satchalanai, Sukhothai and Ayuthaya. A lot of the hotels are basic, with the exception of the Boutique Rafthouse on the River Kwai which provided a real treat for 2 nights. The highlights of this trip were the Elephant Nature Park, where the elephants truly roam free and are not there to entertain us tourists and the beautiful Erawan Waterfalls. I would ideally like to see this tour reversed to begin in Bangkok and end in Chiang Mai. I felt that there wasn’t enough time spent exploring Chiang Mai. Our tour leader, Wit, was the best tour leader I have expedited on the 10+ tours. I have done with Explore. One word of caution if you are planning to travel on this trip in April the pollution, smoke and smog were very high in the north.

An outstanding holiday, enjoyed by all our family (aged 11 to 76). Every day was action packed from morning till night. In fact, we would quite often find ourselves at dinner remembering something earlier in the day and saying "Was that only this morning? It feels as if we have done so much since then!" Top memories were being chased by an elephant (not really as it turnedout but still pretty exciting, floating down the river Kwai, night time safaris, cookery classes, snorkelling and Muai Thai martial art training. Our guide, Champ, was absolutely outstanding. He paid attention to the individual needs of each of our family members, was endlessly patient but kept the pace of the adventure going from beginning to the end. The accommodation was varied; often good four stars but remember this is an adventure holiday so a hotel floating on a lake or deep in the jungle may not have all mod cons but is even more wonderful and memorable. Thank you Explore, the local agents and particularly our guide for creating a really great holiday

Pok was an excellent leader. Always very helpful and attentive to everyone's needs. He is super organized and cares about the people on the trip. Pok was the reason the holiday went so well.

A first for me. I enjoyed the experience although Bangkok was far from impressive !! Once we left there after a few days the trip started to improve !!! If you like a busy on the move holiday then this the one for you with varied accommodation and travel arrangements including buses and trains. Overall a very good trip made better by the fellow holiday makers we travelled with !!