North Thailand — Where the Lanterns Meet the Mountains — Part-Time Traveller

✦ Part-Time Traveller · Group Trip

North Thailand
Where the Lanterns
Meet the Mountains

7 Days / 6 Nights · Small Group – Lantern Fest

✦ 7 Days / 6 Nights ✦ 22nd – 28th Nov ✦ Pai – Chiang Mai – Doi Inthanon – Chiang Dao

✦ Quick Overview

📅

Dates

22 – 28 Nov

✈️

Fly Into / Out of

BKK → CNX

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Accommodation

Double Sharing

🌙

Duration

7 Days / 6 Nights

🍳

Meals

Daily Breakfasts

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Highlights

Yi Peng · Pai · Doi Inthanon

✦ Day by Day

The Itinerary

Seven days. An overnight bus into the mountains, a river of tubes, the roof of Thailand, a sacred cave — and one night when thousands of lanterns rise over Chiang Mai.

Bangkok but Briefly

Land in Bangkok before 7pm, assemble as a group and board the overnight bus north. The road from Chiang Mai to Pai alone has 762 curves — trust the driver.

Highlight: The Bangkok skyline disappearing and the mountains beginning.

🌙 Overnight: Bus

Hello, Pai

Van from Chiang Mai to Pai, check in by noon and rest. Then Pai Canyon at sunset, and an evening on the walking street.

Highlight: Pai Canyon at sunset, the valley going gold.

🌙 Overnight: Pai

Pai River, All Day

Tipsy Tubing on the Pai River — riverside bars, DJ sets, foam parties. Fully included, and non-swimmers are fine. Khao Soi and the night market after.

Highlight: The last stretch of river, golden light, whole group together.

🌙 Overnight: Pai

The Festival Night

Drive to Chiang Mai, explore the old city temples, then a silver ring making class. In the evening, Yi Peng and Loy Krathong: lanterns in the sky, krathong on the river.

Option 1 — Public Event (Free): Chiang Mai’s streets and river, alive with lanterns and krathong.

Option 2 — Dutch Farm, Mae On (THB 2,999): Thai dinner, performances, workshops, curated lantern release and round-trip transfer from Pantip Plaza.

Highlight: Thousands of lanterns rising at once. The moment this trip was built around.

🌙 Overnight: Chiang Mai

The Roof of Thailand

Full day at Doi Inthanon National Park: the summit at 2,565 m, the twin royal pagodas and Wachirathan Waterfall. Back in Chiang Mai by evening.

Highlight: The twin pagodas with North Thailand spread out below.

🌙 Overnight: Chiang Mai

Chiang Dao, The Town Nobody Reaches

A short drive north to the sacred Chiang Dao Cave, then natural hot springs. A quiet last evening in the mountains.

Highlight: The cave, then the hot springs. In that order.

🌙 Overnight: Chiang Dao

That’s North Thailand

Transfer to Chiang Mai Airport and fly home. Try explaining Yi Peng to someone who wasn’t there.

✈️ Fly Home from Chiang Mai

✦ The Visuals

Trip Gallery

From the vault. Mountains, rivers, temples and a sky full of lanterns.

✦ What’s Covered

Inclusions & Exclusions

✦ What’s Included

Accommodation — double sharing throughout (overnight bus on Night 1)
Breakfast daily
Overnight bus from Bangkok to Pai
Van transfer from Chiang Mai to Pai on arrival
All ground transport in private vehicles throughout North Thailand
Airport transfer from Chiang Dao to Chiang Mai Airport on Day 7
Tipsy Tubing on the Pai River — fully included
Silver ring making class in Chiang Mai — included
Yi Peng Lantern Festival attendance — public event access included for all travellers
Doi Inthanon National Park entry — included
Scooter rentals in Chiang Dao — included
Chiang Dao Cave entry — included
Chiang Dao hot springs entry — included
PTT trip leader with you every step of the way
All local taxes — no hidden charges, ever

Optional Ticketed Add-On

Authentic Sky Lantern at the Dutch Farm, Mae On — THB 2,999 per person

Entry to the Authentic Sky Lantern ticketed event
Thai dinner at the event
Round-trip bus transfer from Pantip Plaza, Chiang Mai
Access to all cultural performances and activities

✕ Not Included

Flights — domestic & international
Lunches and dinners
Bangkok Airport to bus station transfer
Fuel for scooter
Airport transfer outside the PTT designated arrival window — if your flight is significantly delayed or cancelled, you’ll need to make your own way to the hotel. PTT will assist with guidance and recommendations but cannot guarantee a transfer outside the designated slot
Authentic Sky Lantern ticketed event (optional add-on)
Tips and personal expenses
TCS & GST

✦ Trip Pricing

What It Costs

Paid in INR at current exchange rate · GST + TCS as applicable

Trip Price

₹59,999

per person · all inclusions above

+ GST & TCS as applicable · paid in INR at current exchange rate

Optional · Lantern Festival Event Ticket

THB 2,999per person

🔒 Secure Your Spot

Message us on WhatsApp for the booking amount and payment link

✦ Trip Departs In

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22nd November, 2026 · Bangkok Assembly

💬 Book on WhatsApp

✦ The Journey

Route Map

Bangkok→ Pai→ Chiang Mai→ Doi Inthanon→ Chiang Mai→ Chiang Dao→ CNX Airport

✦ Questions

Frequently Asked

Indian passport holders get visa-free entry for tourism for up to 30 days — no advance application, no embassy visit. Carry a passport with at least 6 months’ validity and a return or onward ticket. Every traveller must also fill in the free Thailand Digital Arrival Card (TDAC) online within 3 days before landing. PTT shares a pre-departure checklist with all confirmed travellers so you arrive with everything in order.

Fly into Suvarnabhumi (BKK) or Don Mueang (DMK) — both are well connected from major Indian cities. The trip ends at Chiang Mai International Airport (CNX), so book a one-way in and a one-way out. IndiGo, Air India and Thai Airways all operate relevant routes. Book early — November is peak season and fares fill up fast. Flights are not included.

Yi Peng is a northern Thai festival of lights celebrated at the full moon of the second month of the Lanna lunar calendar, which falls in November. Combined with Loy Krathong, the nationwide festival of floating offerings on the river, Chiang Mai becomes one of the most visually extraordinary places on earth. Thousands of paper lanterns (khom loi) are released into the night sky while the river glows with floating krathong lit with candles and incense. We plan the entire trip around the festival.

The public event is free, real and genuinely beautiful — the streets of Chiang Mai alive with lanterns, the river lit with offerings and the whole city taking part. The ticketed Authentic Sky Lantern event at the Dutch Farm in Mae On (THB 2,999) adds a Thai dinner, cultural performances, handicraft workshops, a curated lantern release and round-trip transport. Both deliver Yi Peng. The ticketed event delivers more of the surrounding culture alongside it.

A modern, air-conditioned coach with reclining seats — the standard overnight bus between Bangkok and northern Thailand that locals and travellers use regularly. Bring a neck pillow, a light layer for the air conditioning and something to listen to. You’ll arrive in the mountains having slept through most of the journey. It’s genuinely the most efficient way to get from Bangkok to Pai.

Reasonably fit and genuinely up for it. Tipsy Tubing is low-effort and high-fun. Doi Inthanon involves walking but no serious trekking. Chiang Dao Cave needs comfortable walking on uneven ground. Pai Canyon has narrow ridgelines that call for basic sure-footedness. Nothing here needs athletic ability — just a willingness to move and a good pair of walking shoes.

Late November is one of the best times to visit North Thailand. The cool season is beginning — Chiang Mai sits around 18–28°C, Pai and Chiang Dao are cooler still at altitude, and the air is clear and dry. The lanterns need dry, calm air to rise properly, and November usually delivers exactly that.

Thailand is reasonably card-friendly in cities and hotels, but cash is king once you’re in Pai and Chiang Dao. Thai Baht is the currency and ATMs are available in Chiang Mai and Pai town. Withdraw enough Baht in Bangkok or Chiang Mai to cover meals, personal expenses and optional activities. Budget around ₹1,500–2,500 per day in local currency for personal expenses.

Good in Bangkok and Chiang Mai. Pai has reasonable coverage in town but patchy on the river and canyon trails. Chiang Dao is more limited. Pick up a Thai SIM at Bangkok Airport on arrival — cheap, fast to set up and worth it for maps and messaging.

No — same answer as every PTT group trip. The itinerary moves as a group and is built around logistics locked in well in advance, particularly the Yi Peng festival night, which has no flexibility on timing. If you want something fully tailored, we do private custom trips. If you’re on this one, trust the plan.

Because most North Thailand itineraries cover Chiang Mai, do a day trip to Doi Inthanon and call it done. PTT goes to Pai, the mountain town Thai people escape to, and to Chiang Dao, a cave temple and hot springs town most operators don’t reach. We build the whole trip around Yi Peng and give you both the raw public experience and the curated ticketed event, so you choose your own version of the night — led by a trip leader who has experienced North Thailand personally. There is a whole other Thailand above Chiang Mai. This is the trip that goes there.

North ThailandWhere the LanternsMeet the Mountains