Guide · Overnight treks

Chiang Mai trekking for 3 days or 2, with a hill tribe stay

Chiang Mai trekking for 3 days, or for 2, means sleeping where the trail ends: a bamboo hut, a family cottage, a forest camp. Here is what each night out involves.

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Editorial team, trekkingtourchiangmai.comUpdated October 27, 2026Read time: 6 min25 sources

The tour behind this guide 2-day jungle trek with a Karen village night from Chiang Mai 4.7 (1,001 reviews) 2 daysAll meals and a night in a Karen villagePickup available in Chiang Mai from$96per person Check availabilityCancel at no cost until 24 hrs before you set off

Quick answer, by nights

01One night: The 2-day trek sleeps in a Karen village and ends on a bamboo raft.
02Two nights: A 3-day trek with Karen families, 5 to 7 hours on foot a day.
03Price range: From $89 for 2 days to $148 for 3.
04Beds: Basic: shared rooms, mosquito nets, often no electricity.
05Best for: Walkers who want an evening in a village, not just a view.

Why sleep out on a trek

A day hike shows you the forest; a night out shows you how people live in it. On an overnight trek the walking stops in the afternoon, dinner is cooked over a fire, and the hills go quiet long before you would sleep in the city. The next morning starts in cool air, and you walk on before the heat builds. That evening is often the part of a trek that stays with you longest.

The 2-day trek this site recommends is built around that night. Its first day crosses paddy fields and bamboo forest with a waterfall swim, then stops in a Karen hill tribe village, where you have dinner, sleep in basic accommodation and eat breakfast the next morning. It runs with a small group of up to 12 and guides in English and Thai.

Day two walks 2 hours to an elephant sanctuary home to rescued elephants, where you feed and bathe them, then a bamboo raft and a 1-hour drive bring you back to your hotel at around 4:30 pm. All meals are included, counted as 2 lunches, 1 dinner and 1 breakfast; drinking water is not. It starts from $96 with 1,001 reviews averaging 4.74.

The 2-day trek, step by step

A night in a Karen village

Morning

Old town meeting point

Baan Meesuk, with pickup available.
Day 1

Market and trail

A market visit, paddy fields, bamboo forest and a waterfall swim.
Evening

Karen village

Dinner and basic accommodation for the night.
Day 2

Breakfast, then 2 hours on foot

To a sanctuary with rescued elephants.
Afternoon

Bamboo raft and drive

Back at your hotel around 4:30 pm.

Chiang Mai trekking for 2 days: the options

Chiang Mai trekking for 2 days is the most common format, and the listings differ in where you sleep and how far you walk. The Mae Win trek, in the Mae Wang area, plans about 5 to 6 hours on foot on the first day, lunch at a waterfall and a night in a White Karen cottage. It limits groups to 15 and starts from $89.

Its listing is unusually frank about comfort: rooms are basic and shared, with pillows, blankets and mosquito nets, nights from November to February can be cold, and you carry all your things in a small backpack. Another 2-day trek, limited to 14, adds an elephant camp, walks 3 to 4 hours on day one and 2 to 3 on day two, and sleeps in a cottage with a hill tribe family.

A third 2-day trip from a base camp in Mae Taeng mixes a 2.5-hour trek to Tard Mok Waterfall with river tubing and a dormitory night, with elephant observation as an add-on. It puts the whole trip at 24 to 27 hours including transfers. Compared with the trek this site recommends, it trades the village stay for a camp with more water activities.

Group size

Largest group on each overnight trek

people

Group limits as each GetYourGuide listing states them.

Overnight treks

Nights out from Chiang Mai compared

Trek	Nights	On foot	Sleep	Price
2-day village trek	1	Day 1 and 2 hrs on day 2	Karen village	from $96
Mae Win trek	1	5 to 6 hrs on day 1	White Karen cottage	from $89
Family hut trek	1	3 to 4 hrs, then 2 to 3	Hill tribe cottage	from $135
Mae Taeng camp	1	2.5 hrs	Dormitory	from $96
Karen family trek	2	5 to 7 hrs a day	Basic camps	from $148

Nights, walking times and beds as each listing states them; prices are starting prices on GetYourGuide and change by date.

Three overnight treks

One night, one night further out, or two

Chiang Mai: 2-Day Jungle Trek with Elephant Farm & Raft Ride

This page's pick

2-day village trek

Karen village, sanctuary, raft

Nights: 1 night
Group: Up to 12
Price: from $96

See dates

Chiang Mai: 2-Days Jungle Trek, Waterfalls and Karen Village

Longer first day

Mae Win overnight

White Karen cottage

Nights: 1 night
Group: Up to 15
Price: from $89

See dates

Chiang Mai: 3-Day Karen Hill Tribe Immersion with Trekking

Deepest in

Karen family trek

Two nights, basic camps

Nights: 2 nights
Group: Up to 15
Price: from $148

See dates

Decision helper

One night or two?

Match your plans to a trek, then read its listing.

I want a village night and elephants I want long walking days I want water fun more than a village I have three days to spare I travel with a small child

The 2-day trek

A Karen village stay, a sanctuary visit and a bamboo raft.

The Mae Win trek

About 5 to 6 hours on foot on day 1, with lunch at a waterfall.

Mae Taeng camp

A trek to a waterfall, river tubing and a dormitory night.

The Karen family trek

Two nights with Karen families and 5 to 7 hours a day on foot.

A day hike instead

The 2-day trek lists itself as not suitable for children under 2.

In Thailand, the term Hill Tribe is used to describe populations whose members traditionally practice slash and burn agriculture and reside in the mountains.

Listman et al., American Journal of Physical Anthropology (2011), via PubMed CentralSource 1

Three days in the hills

A 3-day trek adds a second night and pushes further from the road. The Karen family trek in the Doi Inthanon area is run with Karen hill tribe families, limits groups to 15 and includes pickup. Its listing asks for moderate fitness and plans 5 to 7 hours of trekking a day on uneven ground, with basic camps that have bedding but no electricity and limited mobile signal.

It starts from $148 and has 16 reviews averaging 5.0. A second 3-day trek combines hill tribe trekking with an elephant experience and rafting, limits groups to 12 and states that there is no elephant riding. It has only 6 reviews so far. Small review counts are not a warning in themselves, but they give you less to go on than the 2-day trek this site recommends.

The extra day is worth it if you want distance from roads and day-trippers and are comfortable walking most of each day. It is less suited to a first trek in the hot months, when a full day on foot in the heat is a real effort. If you are unsure, the 2-day format lets you find out how you feel after a full day on the trail and a night on a thin mattress.

Map

From the old city to the roof of Thailand

First the hills around Chiang Mai where the treks and hikes go, then Doi Inthanon with its summit, pagodas, trails and falls.

Map of the hills around Chiang Mai with Doi Suthep, Doi Inthanon, Mae Wang and Mae Kampong — Around Chiang Mai

Map of Doi Inthanon National Park with the summit, the twin pagodas, the trails and the main waterfalls — Doi Inthanon

1
Chiang Mai old city
Start of the site tour: the meeting point is Baan Meesuk in the old town, with pickup available.
In Google Maps ↗
3
Doi Suthep temple
Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep stands at 1,056 metres, an easy half hour drive from downtown.²
5
Thailand's highest summit
The top of Doi Inthanon, at 2,565 meters.³
In Google Maps ↗
6
Mae Wang
Mae Wang District is one of the districts Doi Inthanon National Park covers.⁴
In Google Maps ↗
7
Mae Kampong
Ban Mae Kampong, a village in Mae On District, won the PATA Gold Award 2010 in the culture category.⁵
In Google Maps ↗
8
Summit stupa
The stupa of King Inthawichayanon stands at the summit, linked to the visitor center by an elevated walkway.⁶ ⁷
In Google Maps ↗
9
Twin pagodas and Kew Mae Pan
The Great Holy Relics Pagodas near the top; TAT lists give the nearby Kio Mae Pan Nature Trail as closed from 1 June to 31 October.⁸ ⁹ ¹⁰
In Google Maps ↗
11
Pha Dok Siew
Pha Dok Siao Waterfall has 10 tiers and lies about 1 kilometer on foot from the park headquarters.¹¹ ¹²
In Google Maps ↗
12
Mae Klang Luang
Ban Mae Klang Luang, a hill tribe village on several Doi Inthanon day trips.
In Google Maps ↗
13
Siriphum Waterfall
Twin falls reached on foot through the flower plots of the Inthanon Royal Project.¹³
In Google Maps ↗
14
Wachirathan Waterfall
About 70 to 80 meters high, at milestone 20 of Highway 1009.¹⁴ ¹⁵
In Google Maps ↗
15
Mae Klang Waterfall
Flows all year into large pools; rainy-season currents make swimming perilous.¹⁶
In Google Maps ↗
16
Mae Ya Waterfall
Thirty tiers and approximately 260 meters in height.¹⁷
In Google Maps ↗
17
Mae Pan Waterfall
Four tiers and over 100 meters tall, about 400 meters on foot from the ranger station.¹⁸
In Google Maps ↗

Open the map in Google Maps

Packing list

What goes in the daypack

On the trail

Hiking shoes and long pants
Sun hat, sunglasses and sunscreen
Rain gear in the wet months
Your own drinking water

For the night

A jacket for cold evenings
Toiletries and insect repellent
Swimwear, towel and dry clothes
Flip-flops for the village

Cost calculator

What the trek costs for your group

How many are trekking, and which trek? The total follows.

2-day village trek1 nightfrom $96 Mae Win overnight1 nightfrom $89 Family hut trek1 nightfrom $135 Karen family trek2 nightsfrom $148

People 2

Total from$192

each from $96

Check availabilityfree cancellation

Starting prices come from GetYourGuide, converted with European Central Bank rates; booking reveals the exact figure.

Video

Hiking to a Karen village and rafting back down the river

The video loads only when you tap play.

Hill tribe trekking in Chiang Mai, with respect

Hill tribe trekking in Chiang Mai means walking to and sleeping in villages of peoples who have their own languages and traditions. A genetic study of Thailand's hill tribes notes that the term describes populations who traditionally practise slash-and-burn farming and live in the mountains.¹ The same study sampled five of them, the Akha, Hmong, Karen, Lahu and Lisu, and notes that their languages are not mutually intelligible.¹⁹ ²⁰

The village on the trek this site recommends is Karen. You will also see Karen words in the landscape itself: the national park service explains that Ang Ka, an old name for Doi Inthanon, comes from the Karen language and means big.²¹ Some treks are run by Karen families on their own land, and their listings ask you to dress modestly in villages and always ask before photographing people.

Treat a village night as a stay in someone's home. Greet people, accept what is cooked, keep music and torches low at night, and buy anything offered for sale at the asking price rather than haggling hard. Do not hand out sweets to children. If your guide is from the village, ask him about the crops on the slopes and the rhythm of the year; most of what makes the stay memorable comes from those conversations.

Health and what to pack

Rural northern Thailand has a few health points worth raising with a doctor before an overnight trek. The CDC suggests considering vaccination against Japanese encephalitis for shorter trips that include rural areas, hiking, camping or nights without screens or bed nets.²² It lists malaria transmission mainly in provinces bordering Burma, Cambodia and Malaysia, especially in forest areas, with rare to few cases in Chiang Mai city.²³

Ask your doctor whether your route needs any malaria medicine, as the CDC advises.²⁴ The CDC also warns that leptospirosis risk is higher after floods or heavy rain, which is worth knowing on treks that wade streams in the wet months.²⁵ Insect repellent and long trousers in the evening cover most of the everyday risk.

For the 2-day trek, the listing's own packing list is a good base: hiking shoes, long pants and shorts, clothes that can get dirty, swimwear, a change of clothes, a towel, flip-flops, rain gear, a jacket, a sun hat, sunglasses, sunscreen, insect repellent, toiletries and a daypack. Keep it light. Everything you bring, you carry up and down the hills.

Who should not book an overnight trek

Be honest about fitness before you book. The 2-day trek lists itself as unsuitable for people with a low level of fitness, heart or breathing problems, vertigo or epilepsy, for pregnant women and wheelchair users, and for children under 2. Its listing asks guests to be ready for a physical tour. Expect real climbs on forest paths, not a stroll to a waterfall, and pace yourself on the first morning.

Weather is the other variable. The trek this site recommends warns that the itinerary can change in bad weather. In the rainy months paths turn muddy and rivers run high; in the cool months the nights in a hut can be cold enough that the jacket on the packing list earns its place. Our page on the Doi Inthanon weather explains the seasons the park service describes for the mountains.

Finally, think about what you want from the elephants on a combined trek. The 2-day trek's sanctuary stop includes feeding and bathing the elephants, and riding is not allowed. If you would rather only watch elephants, a camp trip with an observation add-on, such as the Mae Taeng base camp, may suit you better.

Your trek