137 Pillars House Chiang Mai has launched a private sidecar excursion through the Old City’s back lanes, tracing the hotel’s teak-trade origins.
Perched on the cusp of the Old City, historic 137 Pillars House Chiang Mai now offers guests the chance to slip back in time with its new 90-minute Royal Enfield sidecar tour. This thrilling Ride Through Time excursion whisks guests through the Old City’s back lanes, trading the city’s main tourist circuit for its quieter edges.
Booked for one or two guests only, the ride winds through hidden lanes away from the standard temple-and-market loop, stopping first at Wat Duang Dee, a modest historic temple removed from the busier Old City routes, before continuing to Kalm Village, a creative cultural space where guests pause for refreshments before the return leg to the hotel.
What sets the excursion apart is its framing. Rather than covering the history of Chiang Mai, it traces the heritage of the boutique property (above), which occupies the former headquarters of the Borneo Company, the trading house whose European “teak wallahs” ran Northern Thailand’s teak industry through the late nineteenth century.
The Royal Enfield sidecar — a design rooted in the same early 20th-century British engineering era — was chosen specifically to echo that colonial-era history, giving the ride a narrative thread rather than a fixed sightseeing checklist.
For travellers based in Hong Kong, Singapore or Bangkok, Chiang Mai remains one of the region’s easiest luxury short breaks, and this new private, story-led excursion is perfect for repeat visitors who’ve already covered Chiang Mai’s Old City’s main temples and want a slower, more personal way back into the city.
The experience runs at THB 3,500++ (US$105) per person for the full 90 minutes, with advance booking recommended given the two-guest limit. It concludes back at 137 Pillars House, returning guests to the same teak residence where the journey began.
