ATV Adventure: 30-Minute Forest Trail Ride
A first ATV ride done properly: instruction and a training session, then 30 minutes on forest trails an hour from Chiang Mai. Helmets, lunch and transfer included.
- Duration
- Half day (approx. 3 hours door to door, of which 30 minutes riding)
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Max group
- 20 pax
- Minimum age
- 7 years
A short, well-run introduction to riding an ATV, in tropical rainforest about an hour outside Chiang Mai. This is the standalone version of the ATV session that is otherwise sold bundled with a zipline course — useful if you want the machines without the cables, or if you are travelling with someone who would rather not be thirty metres up a tree.
It starts with instruction rather than with the throttle. Before anyone rides, there is a full briefing and a training session on the vehicle: how the throttle and brakes behave, where to put your weight in a turn, how to handle a rut and what to do when the track gets muddy. Only once that is done do you follow a guide onto the trails. Thirty minutes of riding does not sound like much until you are doing it — on dirt, on a hillside, in the heat, it is a genuine workout and quite enough for a first time.
The trails run through the same hillside forest as the zipline course above them: packed dirt, ruts, mud in the green season and open stretches where you can actually get some speed up. Helmets are DOT and CE rated, guides lead every ride and the whole team is certified in CPR and first aid.
Transfer both ways is included from your hotel in Chiang Mai, with four pick-up windows to choose from, and so is lunch at the cafe and restaurant beside the course. Drivers must be at least fifteen; children between seven and fourteen can ride as passengers, and if the guide judges a driver not yet confident enough to carry someone, the passenger rides with the guide instead.
- 30 minutes of ATV riding on forest trails, guided throughout
- Full instruction and a training session before you set off — no experience needed
- DOT and CE-rated helmets provided
- Guides and staff certified in CPR and first aid
- Dirt, ruts, mud and open stretches through hillside rainforest
- Lunch included at the forest cafe and restaurant
- Round-trip hotel transfer by van, SUV, car or pick-up, four departure windows daily
- Can be combined with a zipline circuit as a longer package
What's included
- ✓ Round-trip hotel transfer by van, SUV, car or pick-up
- ✓ 30 minutes of guided ATV riding
- ✓ Instruction and training session before riding
- ✓ DOT and CE-rated helmet
- ✓ Lunch
- ✓ Guides trained in CPR and first aid
- Gratuities for guides (entirely optional)
- Professional photos and videos
- Additional food and drinks beyond the included lunch
- Alcoholic drinks
- Personal expenses
- Zipline activities (sold as separate or combined packages)
- 08:00
Hotel pick-up in Chiang Mai
One of four windows — 08:00-08:30, 09:30-10:00, 11:30-12:00 or 13:00-13:30 — by van, SUV, car or pick-up depending on group size. About an hour to the site.
- 09:00
Arrival and safety briefing
You are met at the office and cafe, fitted with a DOT/CE-rated helmet and briefed on the machine and the route.
- 09:15
Instruction and training session
A proper training run before the trails: throttle and brake feel, body position, cornering, and how to read a rutted or muddy track. Guides check everyone is comfortable before moving on.
- 09:35
30 minutes on the forest trails
Following a guide onto the tracks — dirt, ruts, mud in the green season and open stretches through hillside rainforest. Pace is set to the group.
- 10:10
Lunch at the forest cafe
The included meal at the on-site restaurant, looking out over the forest.
- 11:10
Return transfer to your hotel
About an hour back into Chiang Mai. Later departures follow the same sequence shifted by the pick-up time.
None. The session is built around a comprehensive instruction and training block before you go anywhere near the trails, and a guide leads the ride and sets the pace. This is the product for people who have never sat on an ATV.
Drivers must be at least 15 years old. Children between 7 and 14 can ride as passengers. If the training session suggests a driver is not yet confident enough to carry someone, the guide will take the passenger on their own machine instead.
For a first ride, yes — riding a machine like this on dirt in tropical heat is more physical than it looks, and half an hour is a full session. If you want a bigger day out, this ATV session is also sold combined with a zipline circuit: short course plus ATV, or the full course plus ATV with its 900-metre cable.
Clothes you do not mind ruining, closed shoes, and a long-sleeved layer if you burn easily. The trails are dirt and in the green season they are mud — expect to get dirty. Bring sunglasses if you have them and a phone in a zipped pocket rather than your hand.
Helmets are DOT and CE rated, riding is guided from the front at a pace set for the group, and every guide and staff member holds CPR and first aid certification. The training session exists precisely so that nobody meets a rut for the first time at speed.
Yes. Rain makes the trails muddier, which most riders enjoy, and the site is in rainforest so wet weather is routine. Rides are only held for lightning or genuinely dangerous conditions; a full cancellation is rescheduled or refunded.