We are planning to go to Northern Thailand for 4-5 days and visit Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and Golden Triangle. Also we would like to visit the hilltribes (Karen and Akha especially) without being too obtrusive.
Can we do all of it on our own or shall we book a package?
Any recommendation for touring these places and going from one place to another?
Thanks!

renting a car might be good once you leave CM....not sure you would be able to get to the good hill tribe sites on your own...

note the report posted tonight about their trek to the hill tribe....very disappointing....

You are planning to cover a lot of territory in so few days. A package will let you see all of those areas, likely without experiencing any of it in the way you'd like to. Narrow down where you want to go.

Forget unobtrusive visiting. The Hill Tribes need tourist dollars. Your visit will be too important to them to go unnoticed.

I've been to hilltribes that really weren't touristy but it wasn;'t in the Chiang Mai/Chiang Rai area or at least not in the area most tourists go. I saw them around Doi Mae Salong and definitely near Mae Sarit and Mae Sot.

Thanks Gloria. How did you go about it? Did you hire a guide? Thanks a lot!

Yes I did because I wanted to be able to communicate with the people in the villages but it was part of a month long trip in northern thailand specifically to learn more about various ethnic groups and burmese refugees. I think if you are going for one or two days it will be hard to find a guide who will go off the beaten path.

Check out Chiang Dao Nest - http://nest.chiangdao.com/. They are low frills (hard beds, grass-walled cabins - $12/night) but really charming, hot showers, great gourmet food, and they work with the locals. I didn't do a trek but the people staying there who did raved about it. Stuart (owner, along with his wife Wicha, who both lived in London) arranged an elephant ride/bamboo rafting tour for us that was great. They also arranged transportation from Chiang Mai including sightseeing and shopping stops that worked perfectly. I thought it was a great arrangement because we got what we wanted to do in Chiang Mai done and then enjoyed the natural setting of Chiang Dao for the remainder of the northern Thailand part of our trip.

Forgot to mention this. The hilltribe people know you're coming - lots of calls of "shopping, shopping" and they all sell the same handwoven things, but they are friendly and it was fun. Just so you know that they know they're a tourist attraction and they play it up. We only stopped at one place between the elephant and the raft, it wasn't a trek, so I'm sure it was known to be a shopping stop for the elephant guy, but it was fine. The locals were all nice and honest - I gave the pickup driver my bag to keep during the bamboo rafting (with a little trepidation) but everything was in it when he gave it back.