Bangkok to Chiang Mai is roughly 700km by road and takes eight to ten hours of actual driving. Done in one day it is a long, hot, tiring slog on good but monotonous highways. Done in two or three, with a night in Sukhothai or Phitsanulok, it is a genuinely worthwhile trip through the middle of the country that almost no visitor bothers with.
Before you commit: a flight covers the same distance in an hour and often costs less than the fuel and tolls. The honest reason to drive it is that you want a vehicle at the far end, or that the places in between are the point. If neither applies, fly and rent in Chiang Mai.
- DistanceAbout 700km
- Driving time8-10 hours
- Sensible split2 days, night in Sukhothai or Phitsanulok
- Main roadsHighway 32, Highway 1, Highway 11
- VehicleCar. Not a scooter route.
The route
There is no single "the" road, but the spine is consistent: get north out of Bangkok, run up Highway 32 through the central plain, then work your way onto Highway 1 or Highway 11 for the last stretch into the Chiang Mai basin.
| Stage | Roads | Roughly | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bangkok - Bang Pa-in | Toll expressway or Highway 1 | 60km | Urban, slow, tolled |
| Bang Pa-in - Nakhon Sawan | Highway 32 | 190km | Fast four-lane, flat, dull |
| Nakhon Sawan - Phitsanulok | Highway 117 | 130km | Fast, straight, empty |
| Phitsanulok - Lampang | Highway 11 | 230km | Rolling, some hills |
| Lampang - Chiang Mai | Highway 11 | 100km | Mountain pass, then valley |
The alternative is to stay on Highway 1 (Phahonyothin) from Nakhon Sawan through Kamphaeng Phet and Tak to Lampang, which is a similar distance and takes you closer to Sukhothai. Both work. Highway 32 to Nakhon Sawan is the common section either way and is the fastest, straightest, least interesting 190km in Thailand.
Getting out of Bangkok is the hard part
The first hour is worse than the next seven. Leave before six in the morning or after ten, use the tolled expressway system rather than surface roads, and consider joining the network from the ring road rather than fighting through the centre. See the Bangkok outer ring road and Bangkok rush hour.
What the driving is actually like
Easy, and that is the danger. Highway 32 and Highway 117 are four-lane divided roads across flat agricultural land with almost no bends. You will hold a steady speed for hours. Fatigue on this kind of road builds without announcing itself, and the standard Thai hazards do not go away just because the road is good:
- Vehicles entering from the left without stopping, from field tracks and village roads that meet the highway with no slip lane.
- Farm machinery and modified tractors travelling at 20km/h in the left lane, sometimes without lights.
- Motorbikes on the hard shoulder, including against the direction of traffic.
- Long-distance coaches and lorries overtaking each other on a four-lane road, occupying both lanes for a considerable time. Buses and coaches on Thai roads covers how to give them space.
The final section into Chiang Mai is the only part with real terrain. Highway 11 crosses a pass between Lampang and Lamphun with long climbs, sweeping bends and heavy lorry traffic. It is not technically difficult, but after seven hours behind the wheel it is exactly where concentration fails.
Do not attempt this in one day if you land in Bangkok that morning. Ten hours of driving on the wrong side of the road, in unfamiliar traffic, on the back of a long-haul flight is the recipe behind a good proportion of foreign-driver crashes in Thailand. Read fatigue on long drives, and if you must do it in a day, share the driving.
Where to stop for the night
Sukhothai is the obvious choice and the right one. The historical park — the capital of the 13th and 14th century Sukhothai kingdom — is a UNESCO World Heritage site of ruined temples and Buddha images spread across a walled site you can cycle round in a morning. It is about two-thirds of the way and turns the drive into a proper trip. New Sukhothai town, where the hotels are, sits about 12km east of the park.
Phitsanulok is the practical alternative: a working provincial city on Highway 11 with plenty of hotels, a riverside night market and Wat Phra Si Rattana Mahathat, which houses one of the most revered Buddha images in the country. It is less charming than Sukhothai and easier to reach.
Ayutthaya, only an hour or so out of Bangkok, is too early to be a night stop on this drive but is worth an afternoon in its own right if you are starting late. The ruins of the old Siamese capital are spread across an island in the river and are best seen by bicycle or scooter — see renting a scooter in Ayutthaya.
Lampang is the last town before the final pass and a pleasant one: horse-drawn carriages, teak houses and a hill temple, Wat Phra That Lampang Luang, that is among the finest Lanna buildings in Thailand. If you left Bangkok late, this is where to stop.
A three-day version worth doing
If you have the days, this is much the best way to use them:
Day one: Bangkok to Sukhothai, about 430km and six hours. Stop at Ayutthaya if you left early. Arrive mid-afternoon, see the historical park at the end of the day when the light is good and the coaches have gone.
Day two: Sukhothai to Lampang the long way — east on Highway 12 towards Phitsanulok and then up, or north through Si Satchanalai, whose historical park is quieter and in some ways more atmospheric than Sukhothai's. About four hours plus stops.
Day three: Lampang to Chiang Mai, about 100km and two hours over the pass, arriving in time for lunch. Detour to Wat Phra That Lampang Luang on the way out.
Tolls, fuel and money
The expressway sections around Bangkok are tolled and take cash or an electronic tag; a rental car may or may not have one fitted. Read toll roads in Thailand and Easy Pass and M-Flow before you set off, because ending up in a barrier-free electronic lane in a hire car creates a problem that surfaces weeks later. Keep coins in the door pocket.
North of the Bangkok ring the road is toll-free. Fuel is never a concern: branded forecourts appear every few kilometres on Highway 32 and Highway 11, most with a coffee franchise, a convenience store and clean facilities. See service areas and rest stops.
Can you do it on a motorbike?
People do, and on a large bike it is a reasonable two-day ride. On a rented 125cc scooter it is a bad idea: seven hundred kilometres of highway at 80km/h among lorries, in full sun, on a machine designed for town use. Most Bangkok scooter rentals also forbid taking the bike out of the province, and the insurance position if you crash 500km from where you rented is not one you want to test — see what rental insurance does not cover.
If you want to ride in the north, rent in the north. Bangkok to Chiang Mai is a car journey or a flight.
One-way car hire between Bangkok and Chiang Mai is possible with the larger companies but attracts a substantial repositioning fee, and the small local firms will usually not do it at all. See one-way car rental in Thailand before you plan around it.
When to go
This route is drivable year round. The central plain floods in a bad wet season, most often in September and October, and Highway 32 has been closed in stretches in the worst years; check before setting off in those months. The northern end suffers the March and April burning season, so the last two hours of the drive can be through heavy haze.
Avoid the Songkran and New Year travel peaks entirely. This is the main north-south corridor and the whole of Bangkok appears to use it at once.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to drive from Bangkok to Chiang Mai?
Eight to ten hours of driving for about 700km, plus stops. Realistically that is a twelve-hour day if you do it in one go, which is why most people split it over two.
Is it worth driving rather than flying?
Only if you want the vehicle at the other end or you want to see Ayutthaya, Sukhothai and Lampang. Flights are frequent and cheap and take an hour. Driving is the choice for the journey, not the destination.
Which route is best?
Highway 32 to Nakhon Sawan is common to all versions. After that, Highway 117 to Phitsanulok and Highway 11 is the fastest; Highway 1 through Kamphaeng Phet and Tak is a similar length and passes closer to Sukhothai. Take Highway 1 if you are stopping at the ruins.
Is the road difficult?
No. It is mostly flat four-lane highway. The only real terrain is the pass on Highway 11 between Lampang and Chiang Mai. The difficulty is distance and fatigue, not the driving itself.
Are there tolls?
On the expressway sections around Bangkok, yes. The highways north of the ring road are free. Carry cash for the plazas and check whether your hire car has an electronic tag.
Can I do it on a motorbike?
On a large bike, yes, over two days. On a rented scooter it is unwise and usually not permitted by the rental agreement. Rent a bike in Chiang Mai instead — see renting a motorbike in Chiang Mai.
Once you are up there, the north is where the good driving is: the Mae Hong Son Loop, the Samoeng Loop and the road to Pai. If a week is all you have, the one-week driving itinerary suggests where to spend it.