Last weekend, we had the opportunity to take a tour through Voyagin to visit Doi Inthanon National Park just outside of Chiang Mai.
The tour consisted of 12 people from around the world, including ourselves, and our guide Patty spoke both English + Thai.
Our day started at 8:30 am and we drove for about 1.5-2 hours to reach the highest peak in Thailand. It was a gray, cloudy day in Chiang Mai, but as we wound our way up the mountain, we emerged from clouds and were greeted by sunny, blue skies high above the clouds.
The view was breathtaking.
We arrived at the highest point in Thailand and walked along a short nature trail to the true summit of the mountain. Despite being crowded with tourists, it was quite peaceful. We were able to hear the sounds of nature around us, and breathe in the clean fresh air. Ryan and I have spent the last 2 years living on and off in the Canadian Rocky mountains, and we’ve learned to thoroughly appreciate crisp, clean air.
Doi Inthanon – Thailand’s highest peak
Temple at the top of Doi Inthanon
We snapped a few photos at the top, and observed the long line of people waiting to take photos with the sign that said “5 degrees Celsius”. For a native Thailandian, these temperatures are pretty cold, but for us Canadians, they feel like a nice spring day. Patty informed us that people get up in the wee hours of the morning to come up to Doi Inthanon peak to just to see the frost on the leaves before the sun comes up!
After visiting the highest peak, we made our way about 10 minutes back down the mountain to the King + Queen Pagodas. We arrived below them and had to gaze up to see them sitting beside each other, but separated by a small valley. We walked up to the King Pagoda first, observed the beautiful Buddhist temple, and took in the breathtaking views above the clouds. We were feeling on top of the world at that point, and both of us agreed that we could have stayed there all day!
View from the top of the King + Queen Pagoda
We wandered through the garden and over to the Queen Pagoda where we enjoyed more spectacular views and another garden, before making our way back down to meet our group. One of the things we enjoyed most about this tour was that we had the opportunity to be with a group, yet to explore freely on our own. With each new stop, Patty would tell us the history of the place and then give us free time to explore.
View from inside the King Pagoda
When we were finished at the Pagodas, we slowly wound back down the mountain to see the King’s Royal Projects. It was explained to us that the project is to education local hill tribes people on entrepreneurship and agriculture and to provide an alternative to entering into the illegal opium trade.
The project that we visited was a beautiful, expansive garden that we explored for about 30 minutes. It was peaceful to walk amongst the trees and the flowers + reflect on life. A day like this does wonders for my mental health, and constantly reminds me how much I love nature.
King’s Royal Projects
By this point, it was well into the afternoon and we were starving, so we were excited to arrive at Wachiratarn Waterfalls, where we were served a traditional Northern Thai meal of soup, curry, mixed vegetables, steamed rice, and omelet. The food was good (but not great), but it hit the spot, and they catered for my non-meat eating ways!
Following lunch, we explored the Wachiratarn Waterfall. We had plenty of time to take photos, take in the view and get sprayed by the mist. From there, we made our way down the road to the Siritarn Waterfalls, which was nice, although not nearly as impressive as the Wachiratarn Waterfall.
Finally, we made our last stop to a local Karen hill tribe village where we saw the way these people lived. We weren’t told a lot about the history of these people, but it was pretty clear from the way that they live that they don’t have a lot of resources. The local women were selling homemade coffee and handwoven goods, and many people on the tour purchased a souvenir to take home.
After our visit to the hill tribe village, we began our journey back to Chiang Mai, which took about 1-1.5 hours. We arrived back at our condo at about 5:30pm, exhausted from a day of exploring. Overall, we enjoyed this tour, and we would highly recommend a visit to Doi Inthanon, either on your own or with a group. If you are interested in a group tour, we had a great experience with Voyagin, from customer service to communication, through to a great day of exploring.
To book your tour with Voyagin, click here.
For more photos of our Voyagin tour, check us out on Instagram!
*This tour was sponsored by Voyagin, but all opinions are our own.
If you enjoy this post, please share it on Pinterest using this image:
