Riverside accommodation is available on the Thai side. The Mekong and Mae Kok rivers offer numerous opportunities of rafting, boating and elephant trek adventures. The Mekong can be explored from Chiang Saen by in exhilarating 3-hour boat trip downstream to Chiang Khong, or, far more sedately, from Sop Ruak around the immediate environs. Trekking Popular trekking areas include hilltribe villages and elephant camps. Such treks customarily involve majestic mountain terrain, pristine jungle and rivers, photogenic waterfalls and unusual caves.
Visitors can journey to such places by foot or on elephant back.
Similar travel by longtail boats, motorcycles and jeeps is becoming increasingly popular. With its excellent choice of accommodation, ease of road and riverine communication its manifold historic and contemporary attractions, Chiang Rai offers the discerning traveler many opportunities for exploration, relaxation and pampered leisure. Moreover, Chiang Rai is the ideal spot from where to explore neighboring provinces,and to fully savor the mystique of northern Thailand in general and the fabled Golden Triangle in particular. Jan 15-17 Riverside area Chiang Rai. Feb 5-7 tea exhibition and demonstartion at Doi Mae Salong.