Need suggestions of places to visit in CM & CR for parents

Hi,

I am visiting CM %26amp; CR in September 2009. As I am bringing my parents there....both around age of 64 - 67......I am thinking whether to travel from CM to CR in a day would be tiring for them? As I know the travel time from CM to CR is around 4 hours. (both ways would be 8 hrs....)

Besides, I also read lots of comments on things to avoid during visit CM and CR i.e. Monkey Show, Mix Hill Tribes etc. As I am planning to book the tour through a local tour agent, I would like to get some advices on what are the tourist places which I can give a miss. These are the places suggested in the itenaries I gathered from different tour agents:

Day 1: Doi Suthep Temple

San Kham Pang Village (Home Industries)

Khantoke Dinner %26amp; Thai Culture Dance Show

Day 2: To Chiang Rai - Visit Hot Spring

- Golden Triangle

- Maesai

- Wat Rong Kun (White Temple)

Transfer back to Chiang Mai

Day 3: Elephant Camp

Monkey Show

Butterfly %26amp; Orchid Farm

Mix Hill Tribes village (Ban Tong Luang)

Queen Sirikit Botanical Garden

Local Handicraft Centre

Please advise which of the tourist places I can drop as I hope my parents will enjoy the trip.

Thanks.

Need suggestions of places to visit in CM %26amp; CR for parents

I would say the 1 day trip CM-CR is always tiring, you spend more time in the car than actually seeing things. If you have time break this up with an overnight stay in Chiang Rai?

Please note that the hilltribe villages as part of these package tours, are constructed for tourists so if you%26#39;re looking for something authentic you won%26#39;t find this in these villages.

I%26#39;ve never heard of anyone getting overly excited about the Butterfly %26amp; Orchid farm, so this is a potential miss, unless you have a special interest in butterflies/orchids.

All depends what your parents are interested in? Nature? Culture? Handicrafts? Shopping?

Need suggestions of places to visit in CM %26amp; CR for parents

Hi,

A few suggestions.

It seems that you only have three days in Chiang Mai. If this is the case - please don%26#39;t try to do a day trip into Chiang Rai. I love Chiang Rai - but you really need to be able to stay a night or two to make the trip worth it. You will be sitting in the car for a great part of the day and end up exhausted.

There is so much to see and do around Chiang Mai - you can easily fill your three days and not even touch the surface.

Instead of the Chiang Rai day - consider hiring a driver for a half day and visiting some of the small villages around Chiang Mai. Northern Thailand is well known for Arts and Crafts - Chiang Mai is surrounded by small villages where you can see the handicrafts being made. Particular favorites are the umbrella village (Bor Sang), the paper village (Ban Ton Po), there are silverware villages, silk weaving displays etc. All of these villages are only a short drive from Chiang Mai. You don%26#39;t need to stay long at each place very long.

One other thing to make sure you include is time to wander around the old city. The enclosed moat area is 2km square and is filled with beautiful old temples, interesting book shops, coffee shops and handicraft shops. Buy a Nancy Chandler map that has all of the eating, shopping places marked on the map and spend a couple of hours exploring. Find somewhere nice for lunch along the way. You could do this directly after Doi Suthep. Just get your driver to drop you back to the Tha Pae Gate of the old city.

You could also include dinner at one of the riverside restaurants. The Gallery is part art gallery and part restaurant, right on the river banks. Very ambient at night and great food. The Pink Tea House (Vin Joom On) is just up the road from The Gallery and has wonderful lunches and afternoon teas. I think your parents would really enjoy it. Also on the river. You can search both of these places on the internet - they have a web page.

Hope this helps. Send through any more questions. Also - you might like to post this question on the Chiang Mai forum. It is read by more people - so you will get more responses.

Caroline.