Blue Temples

It was so complete! You get to see so many places, with stops for buying food and using the toilette. Also the guide was so kind and helpful.

Since the travel time was long and we had a flight coming up after the tour, we booked a private tour so we could relax. It was just us and the driver (no guide), and we exchanged contact information beforehand using a communication tool. This made it easy to communicate after the tour. It was also helpful that the driver was able to tell us the highlights of each sightseeing spot, using the translation function on his phone. We also went to a long-neck village, which was great.

The White Temple and Blue Temple are beautiful, but they are really far from Chiang Mai. With traffic jams, it takes 6-7 hours to go there and back in one day. Luckily, the driver was great, very good at driving and I didn't get carsick. Thumbs up!

Group tours can't always consider your own needs, but they also need to consider the needs of others, so those who aren't very tolerant might want to reconsider. Also, you might encounter tourists who are either participating in or not participating in the Long Neck Karen village tour. I participated and felt it was worthwhile to go inside and support the locals if you like any of their products; otherwise, you'll have to wait outside the village for other group members to finish their tour. The White Temple gets very crowded on the day of your visit, so getting a good photo opportunity might be difficult; simply seeing it for yourself is a great way to experience it. Also, the journey is quite long, so those prone to motion sickness or short sitting distances should consider this carefully. Our guide, Xiao Lan, was very attentive and friendly, and although the driver occasionally sped, the entire trip was very safe.