Getting to Pai from Chiang Mai

Minivan

The standard option, and the easiest for most people. People call it the bus, but it's a minivan — no full-size bus runs to Pai. Two operators run the route, both with air-conditioned vans and a rest stop about halfway.

Prempracha departs from Chiang Mai Bus Terminal 2 (Arcade). You make your own way to the terminal. premprachatransports.com

AYA departs from its own office and picks up around the Old City. ayaservice.com/minivan

Neither van picks up at Chiang Mai airport, so from a flight you'll need to get across town to the terminal or the Old City first. Only a private taxi goes straight from the airport to Pai.

Both publish live times, prices and seat availability on their own booking systems, so check there rather than trusting a figure on anyone else's website. You can see how full each van is before you commit, which is worth doing between November and February when the morning departures fill up a day or more ahead.

Private taxi

The easiest option if you're a group, have a lot of luggage, or if you or someone with you doesn't do well on winding roads. About three hours, and you stop wherever you like instead of working around a pickup route. Split three or four ways it's more reasonable than it sounds.

Prices are negotiated rather than fixed.

Scooter

One of the classic northern Thailand rides, and completely different from riding around Pai once you're here.

Give it four to six hours rather than three, and the journey becomes the day rather than the thing before it. Pong Dueat Geyser is the stop that makes the case on its own — it's off the highway, and the minivans don't stop there, so you'll only see it by scooter or taxi.

The question isn't whether a 125 can make the climb. It can, even with two people on it. It's whether you're comfortable with sustained climbs, long descents on the brakes, blind corners, weather that changes with altitude, and sharing a narrow road with vans and trucks driven by people who know it far better than you do.

If you ride regularly, it's an excellent route. If this would be your first mountain ride, take the van and rent something once you're here.

Licences. Checkpoints on the 1095 are routine and they do stop foreign riders. You need a licence that covers motorcycles, and if it isn't Thai or from another ASEAN country, an International Driving Permit alongside it. Worth checking your travel insurance as well — most policies won't cover a motorbike accident if you weren't legally licensed to be riding.

What the drive is actually like

The first hour out of Chiang Mai is flat and gentle. After that it's almost entirely mountain road — a long climb into forest, high ridges with the valleys opening out, then the descent into the Pai basin.

It isn't a hard road because it's rough. It's hard because it asks for three hours of sustained attention.

Carsickness catches people who never normally get it. Sit as near the front as you can, look out at the road rather than down at a phone, take something for it before you leave rather than when you start feeling it, and don't eat much beforehand.

The break is normally around ten minutes. The rest stop has toilets: bring coins for them, and a little pack of tissues in case they're out of paper.

Arriving in Pai

Both minivan services drop you within walking distance of the centre. Prempracha arrives at Pai Bus Station, AYA at its own office just off Chaisongkram Road. From either, most of town is a few minutes on foot.

Going back to Chiang Mai

Both operators run the trip back, and you book it the same way. AYA can collect you from Nolo Hub. Prempracha leaves only from Pai Bus Station, and if you're staying with us we'll drop you there for free.