Cycling the Mae Hong Son Loop

The Mae Hong Son loop is the best multi-day ride in Thailand and one of the best in Southeast Asia: a circuit of roughly 600 to 660 kilometres from Chiang Mai, up over the Pai mountains, along the Burmese border and back down the Salween side through Mae Sariang. Give it six to ten days on a bicycle. Four is possible and miserable, three is a motorbike itinerary that people occasionally attempt on a bike and regret.

This is unambiguously a touring cyclist's article. It assumes you are comfortable with consecutive days of climbing, that you can fix a puncture at the roadside, and that you have gearing you have thought about. If you are looking at the loop as a holiday drive or a scooter trip, the version for you is the Mae Hong Son loop as a road trip.

• DistanceRoughly 600–660 km
• Days by bicycle6–10 realistically
• ClimbingWell over 10,000 m across the loop
• Best seasonNovember to February
• Main roads1095 via Pai, 108 via Mae Sariang

The shape of it

Two roads make the loop. Route 1095 runs north-west from Chiang Mai through Mae Malai, Pai and Soppong to Mae Hong Son — the mountain side, famous for a bend count usually given as 1,864, and the harder half by a distance. Route 108 runs south from Mae Hong Son through Khun Yuam and Mae Sariang, then east back to Chiang Mai through Hot — longer, less relentless, with a big central section of forest.

Which way round is a real decision. Anticlockwise (Pai first, on the 1095) front-loads the hardest riding while you are fresh and leaves the gentler 108 for the tired end. Most cyclists go anticlockwise; most motorcyclists go clockwise. If unsure, go anticlockwise — you want the easier riding when your legs are gone, not before.

A workable set of stages

There is nothing sacred about these breaks. Riders wanting shorter days split Chiang Mai–Pai at Mae Malai, and split the Mae Sariang stage on the ridge. Accommodation exists in most towns of any size; the genuinely thin stretch is between Mae Sariang and Hot.

Gearing: the thing to get right before you fly

This is the single most common equipment failure on the loop. Northern Thai roads are engineered for short distance rather than gentle gradient — they go straight up spurs where an Alpine road would traverse — and the result is pitches far steeper than the average suggests.

The commonly quoted target for the loop is a lowest gear of around 28 gear inches or lower, which is what a mountain bike or a touring triple gives you as a matter of course. On a road bike, a compact chainset with a wide-range cassette gets you close; a standard road setup does not, and no amount of fitness compensates for a 34 × 28 on a 20 per cent wall with panniers on. Sort this out at home, because you will not find the parts in Pai.

• Lowest gear around 28 gear inches or lower — check yours with an online calculator before you book
• Brake pads inspected before you start and spares carried; the descents are long and hot on the rims
• Tyres wide enough for occasional gravel from road repairs — the tarmac is generally excellent but patchy in places
• Pack light. Everyone says this and everyone ignores it. Leave the surplus in Chiang Mai and collect it at the end

Season

November to February. The cool season gives you the lowest temperatures, the clearest air and almost no rain, and mornings at altitude in the north are genuinely cold — a light jacket for descents is not optional in December and January.

March to May is the worst possible time: temperatures in the high thirties, plus agricultural burning that fills the northern valleys with smoke haze for weeks. There is nothing romantic about grinding up a 20 per cent ramp at 38 degrees in air you can taste. The heat problem is set out properly in how to cycle in Thailand's heat and humidity.

The wet season, roughly June to October, is greener and quieter and perfectly rideable, but northern mountain roads suffer landslips and washouts in August and September, and long descents on wet, leaf-covered mountain tarmac are a different proposition. See cycling in Thailand's rainy season.

Water, food and sleeping

Better than the terrain suggests. Every town on the loop has guesthouses, cheap and rarely needing a booking outside high season, and roadside shops appear regularly enough that carrying more than about two litres is usually unnecessary. The exceptions are the climbs themselves — there is nothing on the ascents between Soppong and Mae Hong Son — so fill up in the villages at the bottom.

Pai is a tourist town with everything. Mae Hong Son is a provincial capital with a hospital. Mae Sariang is the favourite stop of most people who ride the loop: quiet, on the river, with good food and nothing to do.

Traffic on the loop

Light, and mostly benign. The 1095 carries minivans between Chiang Mai and Pai that take the bends fast and wide, and pickups everywhere; the 108 is quieter still. For long stretches you will have the road to yourself.

The hazards are mountain hazards: blind hairpins with gravel washed across them, minivans cutting the apex, landslip debris, and long fast descents where a dog at the bottom becomes a serious problem rather than a nuisance. Both mountain roads and hairpin bends and dogs and cyclists in Thailand are worth reading before you go. Do not ride any of it after dark — dusk comes fast and the descents are unlit.

The Doi Inthanon question

The final stage from Mae Chaem back towards Chiang Mai passes the western approach to Doi Inthanon, and it is tempting. It is also a climb of about nine kilometres at around 12 per cent to the summit road, on legs that have done a week of this. If you want Inthanon, do it as a separate objective from Chiang Mai rather than as an add-on — the case for that is made in cycling northern Thailand: the hills and big climbs.

Bailing out

Buses run the loop in both directions and will generally take a bicycle in the luggage bay, though it is a negotiation rather than a policy and a bike box or bag helps. Songthaews will take a bike on the roof for a fee. If you break something serious, Mae Hong Son and Mae Sariang are the towns most likely to help, and Chiang Mai is the only place that will genuinely fix a modern bicycle. See taking a bike on Thai trains and buses and bike shops and repairs in Thailand.

Frequently asked questions