Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai is northern Thailand's base for jungle adventure — ethical elephant sanctuaries here let visitors spend a full day with rescued elephants (bathing and feeding them, not riding them), often combined with jungle trekking, bamboo rafting and zip-lining through the rainforest canopy at spots like Flight of the Gibbon in Mae Kampong.

November–February is the cool season and the most comfortable stretch for all of it — noticeably less humid than the rest of the year, with easier trekking conditions. The Monk's Trail hike up to Wat Pha Lat is a gentler, moss-covered rainforest walk worth doing regardless of season.

What to do there

• Ethical elephant sanctuaries — bathing, feeding and trekking alongside rescued elephants
• Zip-lining through the rainforest canopy at Flight of the Gibbon, Mae Kampong
• The Monk's Trail hike to Wat Pha Lat, through moss-covered jungle
• Bamboo rafting combined with sanctuary and zip-line day tours