The Road to Mae Hong Son and Pai Tour

The Road to Mae Hong Son and Pai Tour

Day 1: Chiang Mai to Pai

129 km, total driving time 3,5 hours

Drive through the mountains to Pai

This is a private tour. Your guide and driver meet you at the hotel for your “The Road to Mae Hong Son and Pai Tour”. The market of Mae Malai is a great local market where we will stop briefly. The road from Mae Malai to Pai is a winding route through the mountains. There is time for photo stops along the way to catch the magnificent views. The next stop is the Mork Fah Waterfall in the Doi Suthep-Pui National Park. If you want you can have a refreshing swim in the pool below the falls. After this, it is time for lunch in a local restaurant. We pass through the Huai Nam Dang National Park, one of the classic trekking areas of North Thailand.

Our next stop is the Pong Duad Hot Springs, nestled in the deep, pristine forest of the park. A scenic drive will take us to Pai, which has become one of the most popular destinations in the north of Thailand. Enjoy the relaxed atmosphere of this small town. We will spend the night at the centrally located Rim Pai Cottage.

Day 2: Pai

Explore the highlights of Pai

After breakfast, we will embark on a Pai tour. First, we will visit Wat Phra That Mae Yen, a temple that offers a great view of Pai. We continue to Wat Thung Pong, a Shan-style temple housing the Buddha image, regarded as the “patron-saint” of Pai. Pai Canyon is an eroded landscape that also offers great views of the surrounding mountains. We will make a short walk here. Be careful because the trail is tricky. Our next stop is the steel Pai Memorial Bridge over the Pai River. According to information at the bridge, Japanese engineers constructed this bridge during World War Two. Retired American engineer Hak Hakanson argued convincingly that Thai authorities constructed the bridge after World War Two.

After this, we continue to the Yunnan Chinese village of Santichol. The villagers of this community are descendants of the Kuomintang forces that were allowed to stay in Thailand by the government. They have transformed their community into an interesting tourist attraction. We will visit the Yun Lai Tea house which offers fantastic views over Pai and surrounding mountains. This is a popular spot to watch the sunrise and sunset. We can continue to tour Pai based on your interests or return to Rim Pai Cottages to enjoy some free time.
We will spend another night at the Rim Pai Cottage.

Day 3: Pai to Mae Hong Son

107 km, Total driving time about 2,5 hours

Cave Lodge and a fantastic cave adventure

After breakfast, we will drive to the village of Pang Ma Pha. Enjoy another spectacular drive through the mountain of Mae Hong Son province. We have time to stop at some nice viewpoints, amongs others at the Black Lahu village of Ban Jabo. Here we will visit one of the coffee shops, the offer great views. After having reached Pang Ma Pha it is only a short drive to Tham Lot, a fantastic limestone cave. We take our time to explore this wonder of nature on foot and by bamboo raft. We will have lunch at the nearby Cave Lodge. In 1978 Australian caving expert John Spies founded Cave Lodge, which has not changed much in 45 years.

A spectacular bamboo bridge

After lunch, we will continue to the town of Mae Hong Son. We will stop briefly at the Fish Cave to feed the fish and enjoy the scenery. Before we reach Mae Hong Son, we visit the Su Tong Pae Bridge, the longest bamboo bridge in Thailand! Local people constructed this bridge to connect their village to the temple. The bridge passes through rice fields to Wat Phu Samanaram, an extensive and impressive Shan temple complex with some wonderful views. From here it is not far to the Fern Resort, one of our favorite resorts in Thailand. We spend the night here.

Day 4: Mae Hong Son

40 km, about an hour of driving

Visit the morning market of Mae Hong Son

After breakfast, we drive a short distance to Mae Hong Son where will visit the local morning market. Most people in Mae Hong Son are Shan or indigenous people such as the Karen. Next to the market is a lovely little temple called Wat Hua Wiang where we will chat with a local monk. Next, we will visit the Mae Hong Son Living Museum, which contains interesting exhibits related to the Shan culture and old pictures of Mae Hong Son.

The  amazing Shan temples of Mae Hong Son

After this, we will drive up to Wat Phra That Doi Kong Mu, on top of Doi Kong Mu Hill. This Shan-style temple offers a spectacular view of the town of Mae Hong Son, the runway of the airport and the surrounding mountains. We recommend an early visit to watch the sunrise. We walk down the Naga staircase and visit Wat Phra Non, a temple that houses a reclining Buddha statue, and Wat Kam Ko. After that, we continue to Mae Hong Son’s most famous temples, Wat Jong Klang and Wat Jong Kham, located next to each other on the lake. It is time for lunch!

Visit the Padaung people of Huay Pu Keng

After lunch, we will drive to the boat landing to take a local boat to the village of Huay Pu Keng, a community of the Padaung people, aka the Long Neck Karen. Many of the Padaung people moved to Thailand from Myanmar in the 1980s. We will spend some time with these fascinating people to hear their stories. Huay Pu Keng is a lovely village on the Pai river. It is the best place in North Thailand to meet the gentle Padaung people. Then it is time to drive back to the resort to wind down after an exciting and enriching day. Overnight will be again at the wonderful Fern Resort.

Day 5: Departure from Mae Hong Son

The end of the tour

At this moment there are no flights from Mae Hong Son to Chiang Mai or to Bangkok so you have to join our guide and driver back to Chiang Mai.  This drive will take about 5 hours and we follows the same road back to Chiang Mai as we came on. You can also continue your trip from Mae Hong Son to another destination such as Mae Sariang.

We hope you enjoyed our trip “The Road to Mae Hong Son and Pai Tour“.