China & Laos: Kunming to Bangkok by Rail

Reviews from other tours by Intrepid Travel

• Danièle

  March 2nd, 2026
  4
  Except for the hotel in Bangkok, good balance of sites to visit, activities, transportation, good hotels. Bike is an...
  Except for the hotel in Bangkok, good balance of sites to visit, activities, transportation, good hotels. Bike is an excellent way of visiting Sukhotai, and excellent cooking class there. Very good guide. English needs improvement but she is working hard. The hotel in Bangkok is far from everything no restaurant close by except a couple of Western ones, no public transportation, no time really to enjoy the facilities and no alternative but dinner in the restaurant which is always expensive. So this needs to be changed.Show more
• James

  March 2nd, 2026
  4
  Thailand & Laos Adventure was overall a really good trip, the itinerary up to day 8, one of if not the best...
  Thailand & Laos Adventure was overall a really good trip, the itinerary up to day 8, one of if not the best itineraries I've ever done. However the writers of the itinerary seemed to just phone it in with free days after that except Vientiane on day 12 where you as a group actually do things together again. With free days if you're solo on a tour that has couples (or people travelling together) when there's free time couples either do there own thing or team up with one or two other couples. So there's not really any benefit to not just catching public transport and doing your own thing not on a tour for much cheaper. I liked how Intrepid has finally got with the times and introduced a chat room on their app for the group to use prior to the tour. Unfortunately most people on tour didn't know about it, hence they didn't communicate with others before the tour so more promotion is needed. Rival companies where this has been an established thing for years, if you arrive early you meet up before the tour and explore the city together, you can also plan stuff to do after the tour is over to make sure everyone books with the same companies. On the negative side Intrepid still has this odd thing where even though two strangers are sharing a hotel room, each hotel only has one key for them. Even traveling solo to hotels not on an Intrepid tour I rarely get just one key, so not sure why this happens with Intrepid. This means you've got to drop the key at reception and whoever gets back to the hotel first takes the key (usually just given by the receptionist who has never seen you before, so not great for security) , but if they want to go to sleep they've got to leave the door unlocked or get woken up with knocking on the door. G Adventure also has this issue, but no other tour company other than them has this issue. Also on this and the previous tour I did in Morocco. Even though I spent time filling out insurance, next or kin and all the other details here on Tourradar. On night one the guide does not have this information. Yet prior to those two tours, they always had it and you were just confirming it was correct at the meeting. But on the positives the tour is non stop (for the non free days parts) and you see a lot. You see some fun temples from a speedboat, and visit one after in Bangkok before boarding the overnight train. It's a pretty comfortable sleep, but if you get a top bunk, the hallway ceiling lights are always on and the guy who is changing sheets on beds at other stops is constantly storing them on the hallway roof next to your head. Chiang Mai itself isn't that interesting, but it was the first of our guide Lady Jane (Arjan is her real name) dinner choice to eat at a food court at the night bazaar instead of a an expensive restaurant where we could each grab what we wanted from street food and bring it back to the tables to eat together. I really wish other guides would do this on other Intrepid trips. Lady Jane was always excellent at translating with the ordering of food and when needed for other things. The elephant sanctuary has four female elephants, you just walk around looking for them (not hard to find) and then chop up some sugarcane and put it in some feeders and they come down and eat it. Not really an in the wild experience, but passes the time and the included lunch is okay too. My favouritefor the whole trip was the White Temple in Northern Thailand. If you're a horror fan you'll want to go there. The detail in the architecture is amazing! Two days on the Mekong River is a slow paced journey proceeded by riding in the back of utes from the Thai border. We had a replacement boat on the second day. They didn't have an alternative to fish even though obviously Intrepid knew I was allergic to it. But both boats are a laid back experience. Bring a book or something to do. The lower cave is a better viewing experience than the upper on the second day if you don't want to do both. Kuang Si Falls near Luang Prabang are amazing, and you can swim there. Lots of temples in the town itself, but really you don't need an extra free day there. However it is in the itinerary. Don't pay the ridiculously high $60 AUD transport fee from the airport to the starting point hotel. Train from airport is only $1.60 AUD to the Metro. Metro to the station next to hotel is 5c. Both you can tap on and off with your credit card. Also don't waste time and money staying extra days in Vientiane, Laos. There isn't much there and what is you see on day 12. Day trips go to Van Vieng (where you just were) and all the caves and stuff you can do there. Plus most of your tour group are likely continuing onto Vietnam and Cambodia since this tour is also leg one, in a three leg tour. I highly recommend this Intrepid tour though, best way to see Laos for sure.Show more
• Michael

  February 16th, 2026
  5
  Our tour leader Tuk was excellent in coordinating the details of the trip and its many experiences. She always took...
  Our tour leader Tuk was excellent in coordinating the details of the trip and its many experiences. She always took the time to explain the significance of the many customs as well as the history of Thailand. The pace of the trip was excellent with a reasonable amount of time given to the needed rest stops at intervals throughout the travel. We liked the great variety of experiences offered on this trip which included a top notch cooking class, long boat rides on the canals of Bangkok, and Sukothai night market. The visit to the Elephant preserve was a highlight since you were able to get up close to see them. We would recommend this trip as part of the immersion into the unique history of Thailand.Show more