Chiang Rai Exploration: Discover White, Black, and Blue Temples along with Local Culture
3.8
145 Ratings
Tambon Chang Khlan
Embark on an unforgettable exploration of Chiang Rai, Thailand. Discover the mesmerizing White, Black, and Blue Temples, immerse in the local culture, and be amazed by the unique Baan Dam Museum.
Duration:
14 hours
Cancellation:
1 day
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Highlights
- Chiang Mai - Picked up from your hotel in Chiang Mai’s Old Town/Nimman area and then direct to Chiang Rai. After transportation, around 50 minutes, you will arrive at Mae Khachan Hotspring.
- Mae Khachan Hot Spring - One of the few natural hot springs in northern Thailand, the Mae Kachan Hot Spring (Mae Ka Chan is so hot—reaching temperatures of 194˚F (90˚C)—it can boil an egg in minutes, a feat that locals are more than happy to demonstrate. The hot springs are too hot for bathing. You can only dip your feet briefly.
- Wat Rong Khun - Wat Rong Khun, perhaps better known to foreigners as the White Temple, is a privately owned art exhibit in the style of a Buddhist temple in Chiang Rai Province, Thailand. It is owned by Chalermchai Kositpipat, who designed, constructed, and opened it to visitors in 1997.
- Wat Rong Seur Ten (Blue Temple) - Monumental, modern Buddhist temple distinguished by its vivid blue coloring & elaborate carvings.
- Baan Dam Museum - Baan Dam Museum, also known to foreigners as the Black House Museum, is a mixture of traditional northern Thai buildings with unconventional and contemporary architecture, created by Thawan Duchanee.
- Longneck Karen Village - Optional visit to the Karen Long-neck tribe(admission fee 300 THB/PAX). A tribal village whose women wear stacked brass rings on their necks & sell handmade crafts. For those who do not visit Karen Long-neck Village, the tour guide will ask you to wait for others for around 1 hour. You can spend your time at the nearby market.
- Chiang Mai - Way back to Chiang Mai. It will take around 3 hours 20:30pm-21:00pm. You will arrive in Chiang Mai, and reach your hotel safely.
What's Included
- Round-trip transportation by air-conditioned car/minivan from Chiang Mai’s Old Town and Nimman area
- Temple admission fee
- Tour guide, life Insurance
- Lunch, drinking water & seasonal fruits
What's Not Included
- Karen Long-neck tribe admission fee(300 THB/PAX)
Additional Information
Be captivated by the incredible sights of Chiang Rai in this day’s exploration. Learn the history and top landmarks of one of Thailand’s overlooked cities yet worth the extra mile. Complete with round trip transfers on your way to each destination, discover Chiang Rai Province through its rich culture kept in the White and Blue Temples (Wat Rong Khun and Wat Rong Sear Tean, respectively), its notable design a significant shift from the traditional Thai golden temples. Venture further into the sleepy town’s prominent architecture in the form of wooden artistry at the Baan Dam Museum (The Black House). Built by nationally renowned artist Thawan Duchanee, a visit to The Black House property is guaranteed an extraordinary experience \
- Child ticket age between 3-6 years
- For visiting the Wat Rong Khun Temple, You must honor the place by dressing in a casual dress code (or better). No flipper shoes (sneakers, sports shoes, or cut shoes are OK), No tank top (T-Shirt is OK), No short pants (long pair of jeans is OK)
- You can choose to finish the program at Central Plaza at Chiang Rai to stay there, but your bag should be small
- Please note that Chiang Rai is far from Chiang Mai, so this trip involves a long drive in the minivan. The trip duration can reach a maximum of 13-14 hours, depending on the traffic along the way and the road conditions.
- This is a joint tour, the operator will be picking up each guest in order, so please kindly wait patiently at your hotel. If waiting for too long, please contact the operator immediately
- In any case, if your booking isn’t matched with reality when you show upfront (such as child’s age, child’s height, the number of people and etc), you are responsible to pay the additional charge upfront for the tour
- On the rare occasion that we should be required to cancel a tour, we will inform you in advance and offer a different tour date, an alternative tour or provide a full refund
- For those who do not visit Karen Long-neck Village, the tour guide will ask you to wait for others around 1 hour. You can spend your time at the near by market.
Location
Tha Phae Gate
Tha Phae Road
Or, you can also get picked up from your hotel in Chiang Mai's Old Town and Nimman area.
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
3.8
(145 Ratings)
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Tudorel_t
Apr 20, 2024
Black house is an amazing... - Black house is an amazing place certain requiring a longer visit at least 3 hours. White temple and blue temple are very crowded places.
Review provided by Viator
Fibroluminique
Jan 10, 2024
Tun is your best guide - Toon is AMAZING, and has a good heart. Best guide ever!
Ban Dann Museum was a great surprise. My favorite
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Shaqingw
Apr 16, 2024
Great places to go but can organize better - White Temple, Black House and Blue Temple is definitely worth to see. I love the Blue Temple the best. But the tour can be organized better.
I was picked up doubt 1 hour late. Then we stopped by hot spring, then the van had issue with the brake and drove to repair store about 1.5 hours. We started White Temple after 12:30pm, which was really hot.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
X9746ajtimh
Apr 3, 2024
Long day but plenty of things to see - This was our 5th guided tour during our holiday in Thailand and although we knew it was to be a long day it turned out better than expected.
We were collected from our hotel in Chiang Mai Old Town by Peter our tour guide. Lovely and friendly and gave us plenty of historical facts and stories in the minivan before arriving at the various venues which then enabled us to spend our own time exploring. Other reviews have highlighted issues with comfort on the minivan and I totally agree. Considering the large amount of time travelling and in comparison to all our other minivan tours this was the most cramped and uncomfortable. The tour operator needs to upgrade transportation to avoid any further negative comments.
First stop - Hot Springs where we dabbled our feet (very relaxing) whilst drinking a very nice local Cappuccino Frappe.
We chose not to visit the long neck tribe (optional). Those who did go said to us that it felt a bit staged - purely there for tourist basis. The white temple was a thing to behold, amazing sight and a bonus for our family (being animal lovers) was seeing some random white bunnies on Easter Sunday there! The Blue Temple was also impressive (worth trying the blue coconut ice cream) and the Black House Museum had some amazing pieces to see.
So plenty of places ticked off and a nice amount of time spent at each one. Unfortunately the tour (through no fault of Peter our guide) was marred by the dangerous driving on our return. We had already acclimatised to Thai minivan and Tuk Tuk drivers however this guy took it to the next level. Several people in our group commented on his lack of consideration to passengers as he weaved his way in and out of traffic. His heavy foot on the throttle did not help and to top it all he ran over a dog!
Great tour (thanks Peter) but upgrade the minivan and either instruct the driver to slow down or find someone else.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Paulobiamino
Mar 7, 2024
Wonderful temples deserve better transportation - The temples and the museum are fantastic and worth the visit, the only drawback is the transport, it's a 6 hour journey (round trip) in a packed van without any comfort. The guide, despite being friendly and helpful, almost ruins everything by talking much more than necessary
A small observation that also shows the lack of concern with the level of service, on the way back we were dropped off 200 meters from the hotel and walked back, so as not to have to walk around the block
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Thanhh991
Dec 28, 2023
Overall Tour Experience in Chiang Rai - This tour was great! A mini van will pick you up from your hotel, if it is not listed in the drop down menu, you can always email them your location later. Our tour guide name was "Holly" I believe and she was fantastic! She had the energy to perk you up throughout the all day tour. All tour listed was well worth it! Wish the white temple portion was longer though. We got there right before the rush to take pitches at the bridge portion of the temple. The area compound is big and there was a lot to see so cramming 45-50mins was not fun. The free lunch that they give you is okay. The typical pad Thai and then some but it is free lunch so nothing to really complain about. Make sure to get the blue coconut ice cream and the blue temple! it was yummy! Also, the long neck tribe is interesting and learning about them is cool. Just note that the village is optional to attend so if you don't pay the fee, you are literally just standing around the van for like 30-40 minutes. Overall, great experience!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Allan
Jan 7, 2024
Good, but could be better - The journey to Chang Rai is tiring, very long and the driver was driving recklessly. The included lunch had few options and was not much to our liking. But it had the positive point of seeing many places such as visiting the Karen tribe - of the “giraffe women” - and the temples of Chang Rai. By the way, it said that tickets were included for the temple, but at least when we went, we were only charged for entry to the white temple.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
575dead
Feb 14, 2024
Nice tour but…. - Positive:
The tour per se is nice and you manage to see a lot of things during the day (white temple, blue temple, black house, hot springs, giraffe neck women’s village) and the convenience of being driven around without having to worry makes the difference when you’re trying to see as much as you can in a day, particularly if you are not planning to spend a long time in Chiang Mai.
Negative:
The van was small and crammed, seats were uncomfortable considering the amount of time you sit in the van you need to sit on something comfier than that, the food included in the price was not remarkable, it was just edible.
The main issue I had was the tour guide: he was probably unwell as he spent the whole journey there and back coughing and sniffling, the noise was extremely annoying and to be honest a bit gross.
Throughout the whole day he never wore a mask once.
The people sat behind me noticed it too and commented on it.
He gave us info about each place we visited showing us pictures of the places we were about to visit prior to arriving ultimately defeating the purpose of going to see them.
I also found him absolutely disrespectful towards the giraffe women’s culture as he blatantly lied saying that one of little long neck girls at the village was his daughter when the guide was clearly Chinese. Absolutely disgusting.
In conclusion I would recommend a similar tour if you don’t have a lot of time to see things but if you do, book it with someone else.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Rebecca_k
Feb 7, 2024
Group of 4 - I’ve used Viator tour service all over the world. This tour was very disappointing from start to finish. Our group of 4 picked up at 7:15. Guide was rude never said hi very pushy. Van was dirty van was crowded no leg room for one of my guests. . Enjoyed the white temple black house. Very interesting. Was returned to our hotel at 8:10pm. Very long day and not enjoyable. I’d make sure if you do this tour, make sure it is private.
Review provided by Viator
Guide54889252308
Dec 28, 2023
Worst ever, never again. - Worst tour ever. Not about the attraction spot, but the minivan was awful. Very uncomfortable with the long ride. Minivan stopped with no explanation. Bad food.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
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