Loop from Chiang Mai
The Mae Hong Son Loop
5 days · 800 km · Thailand
Route Chiang Mai → Doi Inthanon → Mae Sariang → Mae Hong Son → Ban Rak Thai → Soppong → Pai → Chiang Mai Distance 800 km and 1,864 curves
The province counts them on a sign Duration 5 days Best Months November to February, cool and clear
February to May is burning season – smoke kills the views World Heritage None on the route Parks & Protected Areas Doi Inthanon National Park
Ob Luang gorge, Huai Nam Dang Signature Roads Route 108's long southern arc
Route 1095's 762 curves to Pai
The summit road up Doi Inthanon


Route Map


Open in Google Maps The Plan

Mae Hong Son province put up a sign counting the curves between here and Chiang Mai: 1,864. Riders come for the number and stay for what is between them – Thailand's highest road, teak forests, Burmese-roofed temples, a Yunnanese tea village pressed against the Myanmar border, and a river town full of travellers who came for two days in 2004 and are still there. Five days anticlockwise, taking the big mountain first and saving the famous 762 bends of Route 1095 for the ride home.


Day Route Distance Highlights Night stay
01 Chiang Mai → Doi Inthanon summit → Mae Chaem 160 km
5 h		 Thailand's roof at 2565 m, the twin royal chedis in the cloud forest Mae Chaem
02 Mae Chaem → Ob Luang → Mae Sariang 150 km
4 h		 The Ob Luang gorge, teak country falling to the Salween basin Mae Sariang
03 Mae Sariang → Khun Yuam → Mae Hong Son 170 km
4.5 h		 Route 108's empty bends, Burmese-roofed wats on the lake Mae Hong Son
04 Mae Hong Son → Ban Rak Thai → Su Tong Pae → Soppong 150 km
5 h		 Yunnanese tea on the Myanmar border, the bamboo bridge, Lod cave Soppong
05 Soppong → Pai → the 762 curves → Chiang Mai 170 km
5.5 h		 Pai canyon in the morning light, then Route 1095 doing its best work Chiang Mai
Notes

Thailand runs on the 1949 licence convention, so an Indian IDP with the motorcycle category is actually legal here – the ride Vietnam's Ha Giang cannot lawfully offer, this loop can. Checkpoints are relaxed; carry the papers anyway.

Timing is everything. November to February is cool, clear and green; from late February the hills burn for planting and the famous views vanish into smoke until the May rains wash it out. Do not ride this loop in April at any price.

Proper bikes rent in Chiang Mai – CB500X and 300-class machines, around 1500 baht a day – and the roads are Thai-smooth throughout; this is a tarmac ride with mountain manners. Day 5 saves the best: the 1095's curve count is Route 1095's own legend, and Pai's canyon at first light beats Pai's bars at midnight.

© 2001-26 Zishaan Hayath