A rider coming out of a cloud of smoke on a dirt track near Mae Sariang
Self-guided tour

The Best of Mae Hong Son

Four days of ridge roads, Karen villages and pine forest on the quiet side of Mae Hong Son.

4
days
805
km
502
km dirt
Intermediate
grade
Route map of The Best of Mae Hong Son, 4 days

© OpenStreetMap contributors · © OpenMapTiles · Copernicus DEM © ESA

Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4

The loop

A four-day dirt loop through the back country most Mae Hong Son riders never see. You leave Chiang Mai for Om Koi, a remote Karen district, and ride the long ridge west to Mae Sariang. Then you work north through the Mae La Noi villages and along the Mae Hong Son River Run, and come home over the Tail of the Elephant through the pine forest at Ban Wat Chan. Every day pairs published chiangmaidirt.bike dirt routes with the paved links between them: one GPX per day, with hotel, lunch and fuel suggestions, so you can ride it without a guide.

Day by day

805 km total
  1. A dirt road climbing through deciduous forest into Om Koi district
    Day 1

    Chiang Mai to Om Koi

    192 km103 dirt

    An easy opener on paper, but leave Chiang Mai by 8:30: the second half is slow. Run south on the 108 past Chom Thong to Hot, about two hours of easy road. Eat and fill up in Hot; it is the last real town before 100 km of dirt. From Hot the dirt starts gently, with wide gravel forestry roads and packed double track, a good place to settle into loose surfaces. Then it climbs into deciduous forest and opens onto broad rice-paddy valleys as you enter Om Koi district, one of the largest Karen districts in Thailand. Arrive in Om Koi town in the late afternoon.

    • Wat Phra That Si Chom Thong
    • The first gravel south of Hot
    • The climb into Om Koi district
    In the tour pack

    3 places to stay · 11 stops and things to do

    Rides Hot To Om Koi On Dirt Roads

  2. Layered mountain ridges from a viewpoint on the Om Koi ridge
    Day 2

    Om Koi to Mae Sariang

    173 km171 dirt

    The big day, and the slowest of the trip despite its distance: almost none of it is sealed. Be riding by 8:00. The route climbs onto the long ridge between Chiang Mai and Mae Hong Son provinces and stays on it for hours, dropping into Karen villages and climbing back out, with views into Myanmar on a clear day. The surface keeps changing: fresh red dirt and new earthworks, washed-out concrete steeps, rocky descents into stream crossings. Walk the bike across if the rocks are slick. About halfway along, a dirt climb leads to a hilltop golden chedi with a three-way panorama and a white Buddha on the next hill; a cliff-edge viewpoint follows a few corners later. The villages sell water and snacks but full shops are rare, so carry 1.5 L each and refill whenever you can. Eat at Na Kian (km 66) and top up the tank at Sop Moei (km 126), the only proper station, before the valley run north into Mae Sariang.

    • The Om Koi ridge
    • The hilltop golden chedi and white Buddha
    • Karen ridge villages
    In the tour pack

    3 places to stay · 12 stops and things to do

    Rides Om Koi To Mae Sariang Off Road

  3. Two dirt bikes at the foot of a long pedestrian suspension bridge in Mae La Noi
    Day 3

    Mae Sariang to Mae Hong Son via Khun Yuam and the River Run

    218 km169 dirt

    Leave Mae Sariang north and turn off the 1095 onto the Mae La Noi village tracks: banana plantations, stilt rice huts, cattle with right of way. The morning includes a long pedestrian suspension bridge just wide enough for one bike (cross slowly, single file) and a string of shallow stream crossings. Drop into Khun Yuam for lunch and fuel, then ride north on the Mae Hong Son River Run: narrower and more rutted, onto an orange-dirt road between tall trees, then concrete fords, a wooden footbridge and a climb to a hilltop with a single dead tree, before the run into Mae Hong Son town.

    • The Mae La Noi suspension bridge
    • Stream crossings between Mae La Noi and Khun Yuam
    • The Mae Hong Son River Run
    In the tour pack

    3 places to stay · 10 stops and things to do

    Rides Mae Sariang To Khun Yuam Off Road, The Mae Hong Son River Run

  4. Orange dirt through tall pines on the Tail of the Elephant near Ban Wat Chan
    Day 4

    Mae Hong Son to Chiang Mai on the Tail of the Elephant

    222 km59 dirtBack in Chiang Mai

    Leave full and ride south on the 108 for about 40 km, past the Pha Bong viewpoint, to the start of the Tail of the Elephant. It starts in oak forest and turns into the pine forest Ban Wat Chan is known for: orange dirt, tall pines, long views across the ridges. Partway along, a plank bridge over a river looks worse in photos than it rides. Near the end, one stretch of fresh bulldozed cutting is soft and deep, the one place today that needs real attention. Then it's paddy and bamboo lanes into Ban Wat Chan for lunch and fuel. From there the old Elephant Trail is paved all the way home through Samoeng: about 125 km of small mountain roads into Chiang Mai. Leave time to return the bike.

    • Ban Wat Chan's pine forest
    • The plank bridge
    • Small roads home through Samoeng
    In the tour pack

    6 stops and things to do

    Rides The Tail Of The Elephant, The Elephant Trail

Riders stopped at a cliff-edge viewpoint over layered mountain ridges

What the week gives you

  • An overnight in Om Koi, the Karen district almost nobody includes in the loop
  • The Om Koi ridge: 170 km of dirt along the Chiang Mai–Mae Hong Son border
  • A suspension bridge and stream crossings in the Mae La Noi valley
  • The Mae Hong Son River Run
  • Pine forest and orange dirt on the Tail of the Elephant to Ban Wat Chan
Bike

Honda CRF250L or CRF250 Rally, CRF300L or CRF300 Rally, Suzuki DRZ400 or equivalent. Heavy adventure bikes are not recommended. Fit knobby tires; 50/50 tires are not recommended.

When

November to February. Doable October and March; from late February to April expect smoke from field burning. Avoid June to September (mud, river crossings, washouts).