Thailand's cities are best without a car and its north is best with one. The Mae Hong Son loop out of Chiang Mai is one of the great drives in Asia, and the main decision is what you drive it in.
The Mae Hong Son loop
Roughly 600 kilometres, four days at a sensible pace, through mountains near the Myanmar border. The road has 1,864 marked curves and there is a sign at the start counting them.
Day 1 — Chiang Mai to Pai, 130 km, about three hours. Constant switchbacks; motion sickness is common on the minibuses that run this route. Pai is a small town in a valley that became a backpacker fixture — hot springs, a canyon, and a slow pace.
Day 2 — Pai to Mae Hong Son, 110 km. The quietest and prettiest section, through Soppong with its caves and the Lod Cave river system.
Day 3 — Mae Hong Son to Mae Sariang, 160 km. Longer, emptier, following the border.
Day 4 — Mae Sariang back to Chiang Mai, 190 km through Doi Inthanon National Park if you want the highest point in Thailand on the way.
Fill up in Pai and Mae Hong Son. Fuel stations thin out substantially on the middle sections.
Car or motorbike
This is the real question, and the honest answer surprises people who came for the ride.
Motorbike accidents are the leading cause of serious injury to foreign visitors in Thailand. Most travel insurance excludes motorbike accidents unless you hold a licence valid for that engine size in your home country and were wearing a helmet. Rental shops hand over 150cc bikes to anyone with a passport, which tells you who is carrying the risk.
A car costs roughly 800–1,300 baht a day against 250 for a bike. Split between two people, that difference buys away the entire exposure. For an experienced rider with the correct licence the bike is genuinely better; for everyone else, take the car.
The paperwork
Thailand requires an International Driving Permit alongside your home licence, and checkpoints on the roads out of Chiang Mai do ask. Get it at home; it cannot be issued in Thailand.
Rent from an international agency or a well-reviewed local firm at the airport. Never leave your passport as a deposit — offer cash or a card instead. Photograph the vehicle at all four corners before driving away.
Where else driving works
Krabi and the mainland south. Beaches, hot springs, the Tiger Cave temple and viewpoints spread over an area with thin public transport. A car turns three separate day tours into one flexible day.
Hua Hin and the gulf coast, for the same reason.
Not the islands. On Samui, Lanta or Phuket the distances are short and songthaews and Grab are easy; a car is mostly a parking problem.
Emphatically not Bangkok. The traffic is among the worst in the world and the BTS, MRT and river boats are fast, cheap and air conditioned.
Conditions and costs
| Item | Typical |
|---|---|
| Compact car per day | 800–1,300 THB |
| Fuel per litre | 35–42 THB |
| Full loop fuel | ~1,200 THB |
| Motorbike per day | 200–350 THB |
Thailand drives on the left. Main roads are well surfaced and signed in Thai and English. Two local habits to expect: motorbikes filter constantly from both sides, so mirror checks matter more than at home, and overtaking on two-lane rural roads happens optimistically — leave room rather than contesting it.
When to go
November to February is the cool dry season and the right window for the north. Avoid March and April: agricultural burning pushes air quality in Chiang Mai and along the loop to genuinely unhealthy levels, and the mountain views disappear into haze. June to October brings rain and the mountain roads get slippery, though the landscape is at its greenest.