Welcome to Chiang Rai and the Golden Triangle

Chiang Rai is located 829 km north of Bangkok, in the deep North of Thailand, between the burman border in the West and the lao border in the East. This is a mostly farming area, with ricefields to the horizon and mountains hosting the famous Hill Tribes.

Chiang Rai and its area are mostly visited by nature lovers who come to enjoy some Jungle Trecking in the mountain and their tropical jungle or come to practice rafting on the many rivers.

Chiang Rai is also interesting for its numerous temples like the Wat Phra That Doi Tung, on the top of the Doi Tung mountain, and which is hosting the collarbone of the Buddha, or the Wat Rong Khun, unconventional piece of art of the artist Chalermchai Kositpipat as a tribute to the King Rama IX, the actual King.

But you will also find many other temples like the Wat Ngam Muang, near Doi Tung mountain, or the Wat Phra Kaeo, the temple of the emerald Buddha, just to name a few.

But Chiang Rai is mostly renowned for its access to the famous Golden Triangle, which formerly was a place of opium farming and heroin processing in the 1970s-1990s and then spread all over the world. Nowadays the Heroin addicts and the drug smugglers are replaced by nature lovers who can enjoy trecking and discover the Hill Tribes still living in their villages in the same way since centuries. Many agencies offer tours in the Golden Triangle, in the area close to Chiang Saen, the South gate of the Golden Triangle, where, if you won't see illegal laboraties, you will find a gigantic opium museum of 40 hectares, where you will have the opportunity to see a guenine opium field and visit a very interesting museum on opium culture and the successfull crop-substitution program in Thailand.

And here again, like in many places in Thailand, golf players will have the opportunity to practice on high class courses, as there are four different golf courses close to Chiang Rai or Around, the most renowned being the Santiburi Golf Club, located just few kilometers South-East of Chiang Rai.