Greater Mae Hong Son Loop

Three nights in a loop from Chiang Mai, self-guided and customisable, 830 kilometres over four riding days round the greater Mae Hong Son loop.

The greater loop is the longer version of the classic: the same 1,864 bends along the famous 300-kilometre stretch in the southern end of the Himalayan chain, with an extra day added to reach Mae Sariang by the road that runs along the Myanmar border.

Pai comes first, a riverside town with a night market that has drawn travellers for decades, then Ban Rak Thai near the border, a Chinese village settled by Kuomintang soldiers who crossed over after 1949 and whose food is still Yunnanese. A boat trip reaches a Long Neck Karen village, then the border road carries the route south to Mae Sariang, which sees far fewer visitors than the main loop, before Doi Inthanon and its summit road closes the circuit.

The tour is self-guided; the full inclusions are not itemised on the operator’s page and are worth confirming at booking. The riding is a hundred per cent paved at 180 to 250 kilometres a day, which is the gentlest daily distance in the self-guided range, and the itinerary can be adjusted to suit, which is the real distinction here: four days is enough slack to add a night somewhere or cut a leg short without wrecking the plan. The cool dry season from November to February is the window, since the burning season in March and April fills the valleys with smoke. The extra day over the standard loop buys the border road to Mae Sariang, which is the quietest riding on the route.