Thailand Road Trip with Your Bike Or Car
Thailand is a medium size country by its area and very wide in geographic. The country is very long distance from the north to the south. Driving from the north to the south or vice versa will take around 1 day 3 hours. The total distance from the north to south is around 2,053 kms.
Of course, no one would drive 2,053 kms pass Thailand without stop for leisure.
That is why I aim to write about this article about “Plan for Thailand Road Trip”.
Why Driving in Thailand is interesting?
The distance from north to the south of Thailand or from the west to the east of Thailand is very long distance. It is long enough to see the beauty of nature, cultural diversity, various cities to stopover and lots of attractions to enjoy. I will get into the detail of how to plan the routing later.
Know before plan the trip and mode of travel for the Thailand road trip
There are a couple ways that I can think off to manage the Thailand road trip. Let’s see what choices available.
1. Buying a tour package with offer road trip package. Basically, Thailand tour operator will call this package as “AROUND TOUR”. The famous route will go from Bangkok to Chiang mai or Chiang rai. It will take 4-6 days. You do not need to drive, just pack your bags and go to enjoy the trip with your family and friends.
2. Rent a car and drive around on your own. Now a day, google provides a very smart. Google maps can help a lot with navigation. The only concern is diving in Bangkok which may not a good idea even google maps can help but finding parking spot or time management are a very critical issue.
3. Bring your lovely vehicle to drive here… That means you can drive in many countries or Thailand or ship your vehicle here and ship it back……
…. Drive around with your car or motorbikes are more comfortable …
Lately, LJ Biz is partner with Asiasense that manage the trip across the borders. So in this article, we would like to share the interesting information for those who want to plan to visit Thailand this way.
Apply the permit of temporary driving in Thailand
DTL , Department of Land Transport t , is issued permit that allows foreign cars to drive in Thailand. I highly recommend to understand the rules and regulation before planning the trip.
https://www.dlt.go.th/th/public-news/view.php?_did=1224
The information from the link above is in Thai language. You may use google translate to English language.
This is an importance summary of the regulation
A Vehicle that allows to drive temporary in Thailand is included
- Motorcycle
- A car that can accommodate passenger not over 9 seats
- Truck with weight not over 3,500 kilograms
A vehicle such as a van, recreational vehicle, bus or big truck are not allowed to apply the service
Who can apply the permit?
Thailand inbound tour operator is being able to submit the permit at DTL in each province. Visitors must apply permit 15 days before travel date.
It means you have to contact with an inbound tour operator and work with them.
Conditions of applying the permit
Foreign car must leaded by local car and tour operator all trip long.
- Less than 5 vehicles need 1 car and 1 local leader
- 5-15 vehicles need 2 cars and 2 local leaders
- Less than 16 vehicles need 3 cars and 3 local leaders
The local leader must be Thai citizen and at least 1 car navigator must be registered in Thailand. In any case that travel more than 5 vehicles, visitor can use the foreign car as a car leader by letting the local guide sit in that car.
It sounds complicated, but this is a new law that DTL enforced and you should know this regulation to make your visit smooth. You can start to deal with a reliable travel agent who can apply the permissions.
Once this done, you can start to plan what you want to do. Later on, either you plan to travel around the country, , take Thailand road trip from one border to another end, join Bangkok day tours, stop over at Chiang mai , or relaxing on the beach , you can also talk to your travel planner.
I will write more about this issue regarding to routing, shipping your car back …Promise… Thank you for reading.
If you find this information useful, please share this page to your social media or anything that you curious to know , please contact us at sales1@lets-tour-bangkok.com
Have a nice day https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQZTwGd-JuU
Cr : picture and youtube from Narisorn L. : https://www.facebook.com/narisornl and Guide Phill and Guide Gene
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