Thailand Motorcycle Tours

Thailand is the easiest place in Asia to have a genuinely great motorcycle trip. The infrastructure works, fuel and food are everywhere, bikes are plentiful, and the north hides some of the finest mountain tarmac on the continent. It's also the best-organised touring market in the region. From Chiang Mai you can book a one-day ride or a three-week expedition to the Chinese border.

The north is the main event. The Mae Hong Son Loop runs roughly 600 kilometres out of Chiang Mai on Highways 108 and 1095, through Mae Sariang, Mae Hong Son and Pai. Its reputation rests on the 1,864 curves signposted on the mountain section, a number locals treat as gospel and riders treat as a challenge. Route 1095 does most of the work: the Chiang Mai to Pai stretch alone is credited with 762 bends. Nearby, Doi Inthanon takes you to 2,565 metres on Thailand's highest mountain, and the short Samoeng Loop makes a perfect half-day shakedown to test a rental bike before you commit to anything bigger.

The northern provinces keep giving beyond the loop. Chiang Rai and the Golden Triangle put you where Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet, with tea-terraced ridges and border markets on the way. The far northeast follows the Mekong through Isan, a region most visitors skip, where the riding is flatter, faster and threaded with Khmer temple ruins. West of Bangkok, Kanchanaburi pairs the River Kwai and the Erawan waterfalls with long forested roads towards the Myanmar frontier.

The south is a different animal: coastal rather than mountainous, hotter, busier, built around island hops towards Krabi, Phuket and the Andaman coast. The eastern seaboard around Pattaya and Koh Chang gives Bangkok riders quick weekends. Point-to-point runs from Chiang Mai to Phuket exist too, and they're long hot days on main highways with genuinely good sections in between.