Doi Inthanon National Park including Lunch from Chiang Mai

It pains me to write this review of this tour as it began and ended in the same attitude – unhappy. Initially we were told to meet at the hotel at 08:30 and when we got down to the lobby at 08:30 we saw this woman pacing outside the doors asking people passing showing them her phone and then walking in and walking back out again. We sat for 10 minutes before seeing her go to the desk finally and asking them a question to which they pointed at us. She asked us our names and began stating that we were late. I asked if we were late why didn’t she have the front desk call our room to let us know she was there … no answer. With this fiasco over, we thought it was, we were ushered to our van and found that the driver along with our tour guide was sick. Sniffing, coughing, we took off. I began to think this tour should have been canceled if the tour guide and driver were sick; or get another set of two. Our drive to the pagodas continued with the lateness of meeting, and once at the pagodas – which were nice to see, the lateness remark continued. We only saw the Queen pagoda as our tour guide stated that she was hungry and we should make our way to the Karen tribe and eat. We did not see the King pagoda, and the tribe could have been passed up with more time spent at the pagodas or later waterfalls. We were shown to a shop for buying stuff and then a coffee plantation, which were a few trees with Arabica beans. We were driven to get food, which was good, but at this time we noticed our guide was showing more illness with stuffed nose and sniffling. The driver was coughing more. After lunch we moved on to the waterfall and this was genuinely nice to see. But again the lateness was brought up to us both and it was becoming annoying. We left the waterfalls and headed to some shops where wood artifacts were sold. This could have been left out on this tour, as the tribe visit, as if we wanted to shop, we would have signed up for a shopping tour. More time at the waterfall, or seeing the other waterfall would have been more prudent for the tour. I have to say, with all the other Viator tours we have signed up for, this was by far the least favorite. If you are going to be sick, do not come and give a tour. We both got sick the following day with headaches, running noses, sore throats. With the coronavirus going around we were both a bit skeptical of the sickness had by the tour guide.

The pagodas were splendid and the drive through the country side and the park was beautiful. The stop was not at a hill side Karen village but a road side stand with fruits, vegetables and crafts from the local area. The last stop was not a place to see skilled craftsmen but an area to buy furniture and crafts. Since we are not shoppers we didn't need this stop. Our guide was just average so the day was just average.

We really enjoyed the private tour by guide We Chian and our driver Niphon was very good too. We highly recommend this tour for people interested in seeing a lot of what Doi Inthanon has to offer in a short amount of time as the trip to and from will take 3.5 hours in total. The tour guide is extremely engaged and intelligent about what is being seen and experienced. The lunch was also very good.