Mae Hong Son Loop, North Thailand – 2. Route & Motorcycle

Posted on April 5, 2009 by atticus

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)

171 thoughts on “Mae Hong Son Loop, North Thailand – 2. Route & Motorcycle”

atticus on January 13, 2012 at 1:24 pm said:

Hi siang nam,

Link sent.

Do post back on your experience. I might be interested in driving in the future as well.

Thanks.
austin on January 15, 2012 at 12:59 pm said:

hi. im interested about your file too. thanx a lot!
atticus on January 15, 2012 at 9:09 pm said:

Hi austin,

Link sent to your email. Hope you do not mind but I will remove your email address from your comment.

Have a great trip!
wong siang nam on January 19, 2012 at 9:03 am said:

how is the route from khun yuam to mae chaem?
can drive with suzuki carribean?
atticus on January 22, 2012 at 2:08 pm said:

Hi Siang Nam,

The roads were good when I was there. So shouldn’t be a problem for 4 wheelers.
John F on January 24, 2012 at 6:02 am said:

Some mention going through Hot and Mae Sariang, but your map shows that you cut through Mae Chaem instead. How do you compare the two? I imagine it’s more scenic cutting through Mae Chaem, but others have said the road from Hot to Mae Sariang is also beautiful. Please also send track file if possible. We’ll be departing from Chiang Mai on Jan 26. Thanks.
atticus on January 24, 2012 at 5:22 pm said:

Hi John,

I hadn’t tried the road from Hot to Mae Sariang. It seems like a major highway on the map. Anyhow, going via Mae Chaem should be faster. 🙂

File sent to your email. Have a great trip!
Kevin on February 3, 2012 at 11:19 pm said:

Hi atticus, I had a mistake with my mail box, can you send me again your route ?
I’ll be in Thailand next monday ;o)
Thanks a lot
atticus on February 4, 2012 at 7:33 am said:

Hi Kevin,

Link sent. Have fun!
sarah on February 10, 2012 at 10:10 am said:

could you please send me the link and are there plenty of places to stay overnoght along the way
atticus on February 10, 2012 at 4:37 pm said:

Hi Sarah,

Link sent.

There are definitely places to stay but you get more options in major towns such as Khun Yuam, Mae Hong Son, Pai, Chiangmai.

Do refer to a guidebook for more lodgings information.

Have a great trip!
Ville on February 14, 2012 at 4:48 pm said:

Hello!
Thank you so much for intresting story about Mae Hong Song loop.
Because of that i am waiting so much that i can go do that also.
Could you send your route for me also.
Thanks and nice driving moments to the future 🙂
atticus on February 14, 2012 at 8:12 pm said:

Hi Ville,

Thanks for your kind words, link sent to your email. 🙂
tropical holiday paradise on February 24, 2012 at 3:11 pm said:

Hey There Atticus,
Interesting Post, The Mae Hong Son Loop is a marvelous journey for those based in Chiang Mai with 4 or added days to spare who want to get out of the tourist bubble of Chiang Mai and examine the wilderness and mountains of the North. The Loop is a 600km circuit that begins and finishes in Chiang Mai using you through the Mae Hong Son province via Mae Sariang, Mae Hong Son city and Pai. Its the finest route to take to cover the province and proposed for nature lovers, trekkers, motorcyclists, off-highway adventures and in individuals wanting to delve deeper into Northern Thailand to knowledge a regular and authentic community.
I look forward to your next post
Frankie Ng on May 18, 2012 at 10:08 am said:

Can I have the routes and waypoints for the Mae Hong Son loop? Thank you…
atticus on May 18, 2012 at 5:19 pm said:

Hi Frankie,

Link sent to your email.
wwwbkkaptcom on May 21, 2012 at 4:16 pm said:

Riding motorcycles in Thailand, the best way to die during your vacation…
Tiffany on June 6, 2012 at 6:50 am said:

Hey,
Planning to do the loop this summer. Please send me your waypoints. Thanks a lot!!
atticus on June 6, 2012 at 1:30 pm said:

Hi Tiffany,

Link sent to your email.

Have a great trip!
Andrew on June 22, 2012 at 7:02 am said:

Hey,
I was planning on doing the loop this Christmas with a buddy and would love to have your waypoint link!
atticus on June 23, 2012 at 8:17 am said:

Hi Andrew,

Link sent!
Steve on July 20, 2012 at 10:29 pm said:

Hey there Atticus

Great tips there. Could you please send me the link too? 🙂

Thanks
Steve
atticus on July 21, 2012 at 4:55 am said:

Hi Steve,

Link sent to you. 🙂
G. Karuna on August 8, 2012 at 4:18 pm said:

Hi Buddy. please do send me the GPS route on MHS as I do intend to ride in Oct 12.
Thanks.
atticus on August 8, 2012 at 5:36 pm said:

Hi Karuna,

Download link sent to your email.

Have a great trip!
G. Karuna on August 9, 2012 at 2:54 pm said:

Thanks , got your link, unable to open but will sort it out.
Thanks again buddy and all be well with you.
Cherlye on August 15, 2012 at 10:37 am said:

Hi Atticus,
Could you please send me the link too. Thanks! =)
atticus on August 15, 2012 at 8:15 pm said:

Hi Karuna,

You would need Garmin’s Mapsource to open the file.
atticus on August 15, 2012 at 8:32 pm said:

Hi Cherlye,

Link sent to your email.
brett on August 22, 2012 at 9:08 pm said:

hi Brett and Bruce will be trying out this loop in September. We are coming over from Cebu Philippines and looking forward to it
Tsuyoshi Teitei on October 1, 2012 at 11:33 pm said:

Hi, can you send me the route and waypoint files for the route. Thanks.
atticus on October 2, 2012 at 9:58 am said:

Hello Tsuyoshi Teitei,

Link sent!
Robert Cumming on October 12, 2012 at 4:10 am said:

Hi – sounds like a good trip – thinking about it for december.

can you send link please?

Did you also take your own gear or hire in Chiang Mai?
atticus on October 12, 2012 at 7:57 am said:

Hi Robert,

Link sent to your email.

I only brought my own helmet and gloves to Chiang Mai. At Mr Mechanic, I only hired the motorbike without additional accessories.
kim on October 19, 2012 at 9:48 pm said:

i plan to drive ard the loop with my husband and 4 kids, pls send me yr link, thanks!
atticus on October 20, 2012 at 10:00 am said:

Hi Kim,

Link sent to your email.
Dominique on November 25, 2012 at 9:13 pm said:

Hi,
Nice blog !!
We (a friend and I) go to Thailand, Cambodia and Laos from the beginning of January to half of February. We will hire motorbikes to travel.
Is it possible to send me your tracks in .gdb of your trip?
I would appreciate this very much.
Kind regards.
Dominique
I
atticus on November 25, 2012 at 11:44 pm said:

Hi Dominique,

Link sent to your email! 🙂
krece on June 7, 2013 at 4:19 pm said:

could you please send me the link, plan to go there and have a ride in Nov
atticus on June 7, 2013 at 4:26 pm said:

Hi krece,

Link sent to your email, have a good trip.
Hester on September 14, 2013 at 5:13 am said:

Hai Atticus,

Can you sent me the file please. We like tot do the MHS loop in november.

Thanks!
atticus on September 14, 2013 at 8:17 am said:

Hi Hester,

Link sent!
Jamie on November 19, 2013 at 12:37 am said:

Please send me the links, ive been planning to do this ride for years and finally will get round to it this month. Thanks.
atticus on November 19, 2013 at 10:15 am said:

Hi Jamie,

Link sent to your email, have a good trip!
Kasia on November 19, 2013 at 7:43 pm said:

Can I have the routes and waypoints for the Mae Hong Son loop? Thank you…
atticus on November 21, 2013 at 9:15 am said:

Hi Kasia,

Link sent to your email.
tom aerts on November 24, 2013 at 3:20 pm said:

will do th MHS loop in february-march,any info regarding routes and waypoints greatly appreciated,thanks
Hp on December 9, 2013 at 10:02 am said:

Gday mate, wondering if you are still sending out this map to people. Would love to do it.
atticus on December 10, 2013 at 1:01 pm said:

Hi all,

Sorry for the late reply, was out of country.

Link sent to your email addresses, have a good trip.
Ben on December 18, 2013 at 2:19 pm said:

I am making the loop starting this weekend, and would appreciate any good map you have. Thanks

Adventure Vacation Trip

Off the Beaten Track Adventure Travel in Asia

Mae Hong Son Loop, North Thailand – 2. Route & Motorcycle

171 thoughts on “Mae Hong Son Loop, North Thailand – 2. Route & Motorcycle”

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