Motorcycle Tours, Maps & Touring Information – Northern Thailand
General Overview:
North Thailand is an exotic motorcycle touring holiday destination in Southeast Asia. Just ask the riders from Singapore and Malaysia where they like to ride the most. Up north in the Golden Triangle, the home of colorful hill tribes, magic, endless deserted winding mountain roads, warm weather, and superb Thai food.
North Thailand is a motorcycle paradise. It has a comprehensive network of roads—asphalt and dirt. It’s got scores of attractions: lovely forests, spectacular mountain scenery, pretty waterfalls, steaming hot springs, and many different friendly ethnic hill tribe people, all concentrated in a relatively small area.
Distances: The distances in North Thailand are not that great. From Chiang Mai to the northernmost point of Thailand, the Burma border is only 250 km, and to the Laos border (entry port of Huay Sai), it is 320 km.
With only a maximum of 150 km between the main towns, you are never far from civilization, so there’s no need to load up with mountains of equipment and luggage (you can leave the kitchen sink at home). Indeed, wherever you are in North Thailand, you only have a few hours (maximum 6 hours) ride from Chiang Mai.
INFRASTRUCTURE
Fuel: North Thailand has fuel every 60 km. Laos has fuel every 80 km.
Food & water: You can get it every 30 km.
Banks/ ATMs are in all the main district centres. ATM cash machines are at most 7-11 24 hr mini marts nationwide in Thailand. In Laos, ATMs are in all the main towns.
Accommodation: you can find a comfortable, clean guesthouse/hotel / resort every 70 km.
Mobile Phone: There is good mobile phone service all over Thailand, and in Laos, there is excellent service everywhere—better than in Thailand.
The main up-country towns have clean, hot water accommodation and good restaurants. The restaurants are often open-air, in lush garden settings, serving delicious Thai food. Thai cuisine is one of the most popular in the world nowadays, and where better to get real home cooking than up-country in the Golden Triangle.
Hospitals: Almost every district centre has a medical or small hospital, and most hospitals have X-ray facilities, so medical help is available at least every 90 km.
Hospitality: North Thailand’s people are justifiably famous for their warmth, hospitality, and beauty.
With so many positive attributes, you can’t help but enjoy yourself touring North Thailand. Do yourself a favour then, and come for some easy bike riding in a pleasant warm tropical environment. The “cold” season is dry, the wet season warm, and the hot season hot. It’s never cold & wet! The perfect two-wheel holiday is waiting for you in North Thailand. It is easy, fun, and safe.
WHERE TO GO:
The best place to go is where you enjoy yourself the most – you can only decide this after you’ve come back. Wherever you go the first time, you will enjoy yourself, and there’s something wrong with you if you don’t. So don’t hesitate – get out there and go.
For bikers, North Thailand can be conveniently divided into two areas
(1) the Mae Hong Son Loop and
(2) the Golden Triangle / Laos border area.
But before heading up-country, try some of the excellent day rides & overnight loops from Chiang Mai.
Look at the GT Rider Thailand photo gallery for photos of Thailand’s great motorcycle roads and attractions or the GT Rider Laos photo gallery for hundreds of photos.
THE MAE HONG SON LOOP
The MHS Loop to the west-northwest of Chiang Mai has the best forest cover, narrower, more winding roads, less traffic, and is less developed than the immediate Golden Triangle area. Check the GT Rider message board for the latest road and trip reports.
For off-road fans, it also has North Thailand’s best trail riding. Look here Checking Dirt Trails on The Mae Hong Son Loop
For on-roads fans who like to take their time, look at these Pottering around the Mae Hong Son Loop or Re-mapping towns on the Mae Hong Son Loop or Mae Chaem a meander.
THE GOLDEN TRIANGLE / LAOS BORDER
This area to the north and east of Chiang Mai has more hill tribe villages, more loops and choices of places to go, and is more developed than the Mae Hong Son loop. The Laos border region has the best riding on a road bike and is the least touristed area in the North.
Sport riders don’t hesitate to go to Nan. The roads are awesome, and you can’t claim to have ridden North Thailand until you have done either of the Doi Phukha loops in Nan.
Check out the GT Rider Motorcycle Forum for the latest road & trip reports.
Check out the Top Ten Roads in North Thailand.
Some highlights of touring the Golden Triangle / top North
A Top End Meander
Doi Pha Tang
The Big Dipper
Phu Chi Fah
Fossicking Around The Top North
Waterfalls
Some dirt ride options: a GTR directory of dirt rides in the North of Thailand.
OTHER THAILAND AREAS
The attractions of the North East
The attractions of the South
The attractions of the West & Kanchanburi
LAOS: the new exciting motorcycle touring destination in S E Asia. Indeed, Highway 13 North, the Vientiane – Vang Vieng – Luang Prabang – Boten road, is arguably S E Asia’s greatest motorcycle ride. Getting into Laos is relatively straight forward if you have your own legal registered bike, or you can rent in either Vientiane or Luang Prabang. See Border Crossings & the GT Rider message board for more info. Look at the GT Rider Laos photo gallery for hundreds of photos. Use the GT Rider Laos Trip Planner for a general guide to routes / loops / destinations. Dirt fans check out the GTR Dirt Rides Directory.
VIETNAM: if you want to ride in Vietnam, we recommend flying in, renting a bike there & riding around. Use the GT Rider Vietnam Trip Planner for a guide on when / where to go.
GUIDE MAPS
There aren’t many accurate guide maps available for this part of the world, and to find your way around North Thailand / the Golden Triangle / Laos, the best maps are from the GT Rider.
All GT Rider maps have been surveyed using a GPS, so they are accurate, reliable, and detailed. Don’t ride without one, or you will miss out on all the good stuff.
- Golden Triangle Loop Guide map – Two two years in the making, this map covers the heart of & best of the Golden Triangle. It has enough detail, tracks & back roads to keep any rider busy for 7 – 10 days exploring the Golden Triangle’s best bike riding & secrets. 2nd edition 2016.
- Mae Hong Son Loop Guide map – has enough accurate dirt trails for at least a week’s dirt riding to satisfy any dirt fan. Covers the legendary road of a thousand bends. 5th edition 2015.
- Mae Sa Valley Samoeng Loop – is Chiang Mai’s best day trip & has hours of loops & side roads to explore for both novice & experienced riders. The map to start your time in & around Chiang Mai. 2nd edition 2014.
- Laos Guide Map – was the first & still is the only accurate guide map to the country. Surveyed by the GT Rider himself, this map took hundreds of hours & thousands of km to survey to make sure it is detailed & accurate. Now in it’s 5th edition April 2012.
Maps vs GPS – Why you need a map
- With a map you get the big picture. You can see the network of roads. With a GPS you can only look at a small area on the screen.
- You can plan your trip with a map.
- You can open your map out & discuss your route & options with friends over beer.
- A GPS actually isolates you from other people & interacting more with the locals. It takes a lot of the fun & adventure out of touring.
- With a map you can interact with locals, checking directions & suggested routes.
- With a map you can learn something as you go, looking out for landmarks or kms as you go. With a GPS you watch the screen to navigate & don’t necessarily look out for landmarks or kms, route numbers as you go.
- Navigating with a map is part of the excitement of travel. Blindly following your GPS, letting it lead you round by the nose is no adventure.
- A map doesn’t have a power failure of lose the GPS signal – it works with you all the time.
- Lose your way with a GPS; but with a map you can least see the big picture & road network to work out where to go – what the options are.
Always take a GT Rider guide map with you, even just for a backup.
MINIMUM TIME
You need a minimum of 2 nights 3 days to see either the Mae Hong Son loop or the Golden Triangle. If you have less, don’t go to Mae Hong Son, but go to the Golden Triangle area, as you will be able to do this area more justice with your time than by riding non-stop to Mae Hong Son and back again the next day.
You can easily spend 3 weeks touring North Thailand (and still not see it all.) Your best bet is to base yourself in Chiang Mai and make easy 4-5 loops.
Start with one or two-day trips/loops from Chiang Mai to acclimatize, then head off on the Mae Hong Son Loop for a few days, return to Chiang Mai for a break, then head North to the Golden Triangle and a run along the Laos border. Do it like this and you’ll get to know and remember North Thailand well. Come for a ride soon………….you won’t be disappointed.
Go here for more touring tips.
