The Hill Tribes tour was the highlight of my trip to Chiang Mai. Although I have to admit I have only been on four or five organized tours in Thailand, this was by far the best one I have been on so far.
This particular hill tribe tour visited several hill tribe villages in the vicinity of Chiang Mai and Chiang Dao. Most tours also take in 2 or 3 attractions besides the hill tribes, our tour also visited the Orchid Farm and Chiang Dao cave.
The highlight of our tour was definitely the Long Neck village. Although this particular Long Neck village is very commercialized, it is still a great way to see the Long Necks wearing their traditional dress and the famous neck rings and practicing traditional weaving methods. The Long Neck village is not large, but here the Long Neck people manufacture many souvenir items to sell to tourists. You are free to wander around the village and take photos of the Long Necks, and they are more than happy to pose with you for a photo.
The Akha and Lissu villages that our tour visited were much less commercial. These two villages were right next door to each other, only really distinguishable by the different styles of houses. The Akha and Lissu tribes were much less on show, just going about their daily business of growing crops of vegetables and cereal. There are still many great photo opportunities, though (see photos below), and the drive to the villages takes in some of the most fantastic scenery I have ever seen.
