Sample days from trips we plan

One day from each stop of a trip, not the whole trip. Enough to see the hotel, the tables, the pace, and what we skip on purpose. The full plan is what we build with you on the call.

Thailand

9-day trip · friends trip of 6 · November

Northern Thailand loop

Chiang Mai to Pai, Ban Rak Thai, and Mae Hong Son, then back by the southern road. A private van and one driver the whole way, in daylight.

Day 2 of 9

A day in Chiang Mai

You will have the terrace at Doi Suthep while the city is still under haze, before the tour groups arrive. Then you walk down through the forest to a temple most visitors drive straight past.

Day 4 of 9

A day in Pai

In the mornings, fog carpets the valley. The van creeps up the mountain and you are rewarded with a view that is hard to improve on. Though a hot cup of coffee helps.

Day 6 of 9

A day in Ban Rak Thai

By tonight you are in a cottage on a hill above a lake near the Myanmar border, and the bathtub faces the water. The day starts with noodle soup and a valley falling away below the table.

Day 7 of 9

A day in Mae Hong Son

First light on a lake in a pine forest, coffee from a stall on the bank, and by six you are in a town small enough to walk across for dinner. This is the day the loop slows down.

Vietnam

13-day trip · family of 4, teens 15 and 17 · April

Hanoi, the Ha Giang loop, Hoi An

Three nights in Hanoi, four on the Ha Giang loop by van, then a flight south and four nights in Hoi An to end slow.

Day 2 of 13

A day in Hanoi

The first thing you do in Hanoi is cross the street, with a guide walking you across the hard one once. The last thing you do tonight is watch a light show on the walls of Vietnam's first university.

Day 5 of 13

A day in Dong Van

An hour out of Ha Giang the valley opens at Quan Ba pass and the grey karst starts. This is the moment the trip stops being a city trip.

Day 6 of 13

A day in Meo Vac

From the top of Ma Pi Leng the river below runs a green you will not believe until you are standing over it. By afternoon you are on it, in a boat, with the cliffs going straight up on both sides.

Day 10 of 13

A day in Hoi An

By six the day-trippers are gone and the lanterns come on over the river, and you are already at a table by the water. Before that, a beach morning, a lantern workshop, and a tailor.

Japan

12-day trip · family of 4, boys 8 and 10 · spring

Tokyo to Kanazawa

Four nights in Tokyo, the Japan Alps by train and a one-way rental car, Kanazawa instead of Kyoto, and one last night in Tokyo on points.

Day 2 of 12

A day in Tokyo

At six in the morning the arcade is open, the boys are awake, and Tokyo is not. Dev takes them. Maya sleeps.

Day 7 of 12

A day in Takayama

Tonight is thirty-three cuts of Hida beef cooked at your table, and the boys run the grill. Everything before it is there to earn it.

Day 9 of 12

A day in Kanazawa

You get one of Japan's great gardens almost to yourselves, because we get you there before the buses do. Then gold leaf on ice cream, a museum with a fake swimming pool, and the knife Dev has waited all trip to buy.