Chiang Mai to the Mekong by Gravel Bike

We ride a total of 629 km over 9 cycling days. The journey takes us across valley floors, rolling hills, mountain passes, and rice field plains as we travel from Chiang Mai to the Mekong River. The cycling takes place on a variety of road surfaces, with a carefully calibrated ratio of paved and unpaved sections to optimize time spent on gravel/dirt tracks while covering longer distances on asphalt and concrete roads. Whether you’re a roadie at heart looking to expand your horizons or a gravel connoisseur in search of the crunchiest trails Thailand has to offer, you will find plenty of variety to suit your taste on this tour.

Other than a transfer from Chiang Mai to the cycling start point on Day 2, from the White Temple to Chiang Rai on day 7, and from the Golden Triangle to Chiang Saen on day 9, all of our rides are point-to-point. If you choose to cycle to the Chiang Dao Caves on Day 3, there will be a short transfer to get back to the hotel after our visit. None of the transfers are more than 30 - 45 minutes. The tour’s end point is Chiang Khong which, located just 30 minutes from an international border crossing with Laos, is the perfect transition point if you plan on travelling further to Luang Prabang via a Mekong River cruise.

Beyond fabulous cycling, tour highlights include iconic sites like the White Temple and Golden Triangle, as well as lesser visited locales such as a tea plantation in the Chiang Dao hills and a Lahu hilltribe village. For many, the most memorable moments are encounters with Thailand’s incredibly welcoming locals, always eager to wave hello and cheer us on!

The trip is fully supported, and your guide’s expert knowledge of the area and terrain means that you always know what is coming up in terms of distance and difficulty. This makes a tremendous difference, as does the constant supply of water and refreshments along the way.

Suitability: The tour is suitable for cyclists with good physical fitness, comfortable tackling daily distances of more than 70 km on mixed surfaces and average elevation gains of more than 700 metres. Overall, the terrain is hilly and changeable, with flat sections and a lot of climbs and descents. Some climbs can be gradual while others are short but steep. Fitness will be a huge asset on those long days and challenging climbs.You should be comfortable on a gravel bike and have experience navigating on dirt paths and gravel tracks for extended periods. There are no overly technical sections but good handling skills are required, especially on some bumpy descents. We have one rest day in Chiang Rai (Day 8). A support vehicle follows the group throughout the journey but be aware that it cannot always follow directly, instead meeting the group at intervals.

Biking Conditions: The overall split of paved and unpaved roads on this tour is roughly 75% / 25%. Paved surfaces are either asphalt or concrete with conditions ranging from very smooth to bumpy and cratered. Unpaved surfaces are predominantly farmer trails which range from hard-packed soil to loose but still grippy gravel. There are a few short sections of singletrack and rocky forest paths. Although much of the route is on quiet countryside roads with minimal traffic, we will regularly share the roads with cars, motorbikes, and buses. There are a handful of unavoidable sections along main provincial roads but these are few and far between. Although we’ve scheduled our departures to avoid the wettest times of the year, rainfall can occur at any time. We generally ride rain or shine, but based on the guide’s discretion or your comfort level, modifications to the planned route can be made. Additionally, from March through April, northern Thailand experiences its annual burning season, when smoke from agricultural field clearings causes smog. While we avoid this period entirely, the exact start date varies each year, and some early burnings may occur in February, impacting air quality on parts of the route.

Hotels: Accommodations on this tour are predominantly character-filled, well-regarded hotels at the 3 to 4 star level. Expect clean, spacious rooms with air-conditioning, professional service, and swimming pools (available at all properties with the exception of our stay in Fang on day 4). Many of the tour hotels are located in scenic areas with beautiful views of mountains, countryside and rivers. Our chosen hotels also feature hygienic restaurants offering Thai and, occasionally, Western options. Please be aware that some older properties, while charming, may show signs of wear and tear, and the service pace in Thailand can generally be more relaxed than you might be accustomed to. Don’t expect all hotel staff to speak English. For larger groups, we may need to use more than one accommodation and, in case of limited availability, switch to an alternative property from the one listed in the itinerary.

Bikes

Because some people can't imagine going on a trip without their own beloved bicycle, we do not include them in the price as part of this tour. However, we offer high-quality TREK Domane AL5 Gen 4 endurance road bikes for hire, fitted with 38c width tires, at the price listed in the tour pricing section. Depending on the size required and availability, a different model of equal quality may be used. While not purpose-built gravel bikes, this configuration is ideally suited to the road surfaces encountered on this tour. If you bring your own bike, please make sure it is a similarly fitted road bike or gravel bike in good mechanical order.

Bike Repairs

Basic spares and tools are carried by the guide and on the support vehicle, though we cannot guarantee having spares for every conceivable problem. Carrying a basic tool kit, a spare tube and a pump while riding is recommended.

Safety

Wearing a helmet is required on all our biking adventures and is non negotiable. If you do not wear a helmet you will not be allowed to cycle. Your tour leader is trained in first aid and emergency rescue, but to a large degree you must be responsible for your own safety while riding. It is therefore compulsory that you take out travel insurance that will cover you for a mountain biking tour.

Guides

You will be led by a local English-speaking guide and if the group is 9 people or more we will add another guide to the tour. All our guides are well informed in the history, culture and religions of the area where you are biking and are skilled at passing that knowledge on to you. Your guide is also medically trained and an experienced cyclist, able to handle most minor repairs en route.

If this is the tour for you here's what you need to do to confirm your place:

FLEXIBLE BOOKING CONDITIONS

CONFIRMING YOUR BOOKING

Just complete our online booking form or send your booking details offline (email or post), and we will confirm your participation. No deposit is needed to confirm your place on a SpiceRoads tour.

You are advised to read our Booking Conditions in full before you make your payment and should you require further clarifications of any of the conditions below, please email us or call our office.

TRIP STATUS

There is a minimum number of participants (usually 2) required to enable the trip to go ahead. Once the minimum number is reached, the trip status will change from 'Available' to 'Guaranteed to Depart'. Once a trip is guaranteed to depart you are free to book your flights and make other travel arrangements. If the trip status is ‘Limited’ will mean we have only a small number of spaces available for booking. If you are unsure about the trip status, please email us or call our office.

BOOKING ONLINE

From the tour page, click the 'Book Now' link. All departures for this tour will appear, just select the date you'd like to travel. For the next steps, you'll need to know the names of the people travelling. If you wish you can also provide extra details such as passport numbers, height (for bike hire), or you can add that later by logging into Manage My Trip (we'll set up an account for you automatically if you don't already have one). Our system will contact you from time to time to fill in the missing information, as it will be required before departure. However, if the trip that you are booking offers a child discount, you will have to fill out the date of birth of each rider (so we can calculate the appropriate discount).

If you are having any problems please send us an email, or give us a call (+66 026 3295) and one of our travel specialists will assist you with your booking.

BOOKING OFFLINE

Just call us or send an email indicating which trip you want to join and we will happily send you a list of questions and process your booking for you.

DEPOSITS AND PAYMENTS

We do not require a deposit or full payment to book a place for you on a tour.

The balance of the tour’s cost (final invoice) will need to be paid 60 days before the departure date with fees for any bicycle rental(s), single supplement(s) and extra hotel nights.

In the case where a booking is made when there are less than 60 days until the tour departure date, the tour’s cost should be paid in full within 72 hours of receiving an invoice from SpiceRoads. Payment can be made by credit card using our online payment gateway or by bank transfer. When making payment online you will need to confirm that you have read these booking conditions during the "checkout" process, which equates to agreeing to the terms of services and stipulations as indicated in this document.

In all cases, tour fees need to be paid “in full” before participation in a tour. No person(s) will be allowed to join a tour without fully settling their invoice and receiving a confirmation number from SpiceRoads.

The exception can be made for last-minute miscellaneous fees that can be paid locally (visas, additional local hotel bookings, etc.) can be settled on the day of arrival.

FULL FLEXIBILITY FOR TOUR CANCELATIONS

If the tour is cancelled or postponed by SpiceRoads because we didn't make the trip numbers and the tour can’t run, we will make a full cash refund (by bank transfer or on your credit card).

If the tour is cancelled for any other reason, including due to Covid related travel restrictions, we will give you a full credit (with no deductions for admin or any other small-print item) to use on any SpiceRoads tour with no time limit. (Exceptions being flights, special permits and other non-refundable items and these will be advised when booking the trip).

Before paying for your tour, you can cancel your booking with no charge and up until 40 days before departure, you can change your booking to another travel date or move your booking onto another SpiceRoads tour with no charges.

If you need to cancel after you have made full payment, please see our cancellation policy.

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The information in this document is given in good faith, and covers the average range of conditions likely to be found on this trip. Please note that the itinerary is subject to change due to unforeseen circumstances, however, we will always do our best to adhere to this original itinerary