3 Day Mae Hong Son Motorcycle Tour

Three days is the shortest honest way to ride the Mae Hong Son loop, and Let's Ride structures its version to make the numbers work: a big first day, a bigger second day, and a shorter third one that happens to be the best road of the trip. Riders meet at the Chiang Mai office at nine for the briefing and gear fitting and leave at ten. The first leg is about 230 kilometres and heads straight for Doi Inthanon National Park, stopping at Wachirathan Waterfall and climbing to the Twin Royal Pagodas near the summit of Thailand's highest mountain for the viewpoints. The afternoon is a long descent through forest and countryside on sweeping bends into Mae Sariang, a quiet town on the river where the night is spent in a Thai-style hotel. Day two runs about 260 kilometres north along the Burmese border. The sunflower viewpoint at Doi Mae U Kho is a late-October to early-December affair; the twisting tarmac that follows is available all year. Lunch is in Mae Hong Son with time to walk the lakeside temples and the town centre, and the afternoon crosses the mountains to Pai, where the group stays in a three- or four-star resort and the evening belongs to the walking street. The final day is only about 140 kilometres, because the road from Pai back toward Chiang Mai packs more than 700 curves into its first hundred kilometres and there is no sense rushing it. Chiang Dao Cave gets a guided walk through its chambers, lunch happens in the Chiang Dao area, and the group is back at the office around half past four for a celebratory drink and a transfer to the hotel. The default bike is a Honda CB500X, which suits the route; alternatives including a CB650F are available for a supplement. The price covers bike hire, accommodation, breakfast and Thai lunch, fuel and oil, all entrance fees, safety gear and an English-speaking guide. Dinner is deliberately left out so riders can choose where and what they eat. Road tours carry built-in bike insurance with liability capped at 25,000 baht.

The Mae Hong Son loop compressed into three riding days and roughly 630 kilometres, run clockwise from Chiang Mai through Mae Sariang and Pai. Day one climbs into Doi Inthanon National Park for Wachirathan Waterfall and the Twin Royal Pagodas on Thailand's highest peak before descending to the riverside town of Mae Sariang. Day two is the long one at about 260 kilometres, taking in the sunflower viewpoint at Doi Mae U Kho and the lakeside temples of Mae Hong Son on the way to Pai. The last day is the famous Pai to Chiang Mai road, more than 700 bends in the first hundred kilometres, with a guided walk through Chiang Dao Cave before the return. Let's Ride aims it at road riders of any experience level and prices it at 24,000 baht per rider, with pillions at 12,000 and support car seats at 10,000.