Route
The Mae Hong Son Loop of North Thailand takes us from Chiang Mai through Doi Inthanon to Khun Yuam and finally to Mae Hong Son. From Mae Hong Son, the route continues to Pai before taking us back to Chiang Mai. As a short weekend ride, there is not enough time for adequate sight seeing. The time is just about enough to finish the loop with minimal stops. More days are certainly advised for Chiang Mai, Mae Hong Son and Pai. The total distance we traveled was around 640km.
Map of North Thailand and route taken
The roads are twisty but well-paved. There is no off-road riding if you keep to the main routes. The only non-tarmac roads we encountered are the junction before Mae Ya Waterfall and the junction before Tham Lot. Even then, any motorcycle should be able to handle these roads easily.
This is about as bad as the road goes
If you have rode in Vietnam, Cambodia or Laos before, you should not have any problems navigating the roads in North Thailand. Road signs are available through out the loop, especially at major junctions. Petrol should not be a problem as well. If you do not see petrol stations, you can still find stalls by the road sides selling bottled petrol. Remember to top up your tank whenever you can, especially if you are not sure of the distance to the next town/village.
Since I brought along my Garmin GPS receiver during this trip, I tracked my routes and took down my waypoints. If you would like a copy of the file in Garmin GDB format, just post a comment and I will send the download link to your email. The size of the file is around 712KB.
Motorcycle
The bike rental scene is well-established in Chiangmai. You would find a great variety of bikes from Honda waves, Honda Phantoms, Honda Super 4, Honda scramblers to BMW tourers. We decided to go for scramblers at the most popular bike rental shop in Chiangmai – Mr Mechanic. Mr Mechanic is located at 4 Soi 5, Moonmuang Rd. T.Sri Phum, A.Muang, Chiangmai. They can be contacted at (+66)53-214708 (tel), (+66)53-41837 (fax), (+66)1-8824402 (mobile) or mrm@yahoo.com. Because of our tight schedule, we booked three honda scramblers in advance at 600B per day for each bike. Upon arrival, we received 2 Honda Degrees and 1 Honda AX-1. Both models are quite similar but Honda AX-1 is much more fuel efficient.
Mr Mechanic (Photo taken from Mr Mechanic website)
Hi Ben,
Link sent!
I want to cycle this route so a GPS data file would be great to have.
Thanks
Hi Daniel,
Sent to your email. 🙂
Hi,
I would like to get a copy of the GPS route if possible?
Hi Daniel,
Link sent.
Hi!
We like to ride the loop in the next week, would you send us the link?
Thanks, Helmut from Germany
Hi Helmut,
File sent to you via email. Have a good trip. 🙂
I will be riding the loop in a couple weeks – would you please send me the GPS route? Many thanks!
Hi,
Planning to do the loop in 2 weeks’ time. Could you please share the GPS route?
Many thanks in advance.
Can I have the track for the Mae Hong Son loop? Thanks
Dear atticus, can you please also provide me with your gps track.
Thanks in advance and kind regards Jan
Sent route to all.
Hey!
I am planning the same trip very soon! Could you send me the link please?
Thanks in advance 😉
Hi Romain,
Sent to your email. Have a good trip!
Hello can I receive a copy of that garmin route pls?
Hope its still alive hehe
Hi,
Great route! Could you please send me the link?
Thanx!
Hello, we want do the Mae Hong son loop , we started from Chiang mai and go to hang dong etc…
Your maps will be great for me if I can download it. Thanks for your help
Hello, please can we have a copy of your route. Thanks
Hi would really appreciate the GPS link too please
Hday Mate, me too please thank you
Hi there, can I still get your gps track file thru email? If it’s still available, can I get one too please? Thank you in advance!
Jack.