In case your first port of arrival in Thailand is Bangkok, you may really feel a bit of apprehensive concerning the thought of taking to the freeway on a highway journey. Within the Thai capital, vehicles are stacked bumper to bumper, bikes duel for area with pedestrians and seemingly something goes in terms of highway guidelines. However breathe straightforward: Bangkok is just not all of Thailand.
Escape the capital and site visitors circumstances calm significantly, although you’ll nonetheless have to be cautious of dashing vans and buses and the regular throng of motorcyclists. The excellent news is that Thailand’s roads are principally well-maintained, automotive and motorbike rental prices are reasonable, and there’s a lot to see that even a brief highway journey takes on an air of journey.
The good strategy to highway journey in Thailand is to begin exterior Bangkok, renting a car in one in every of Thailand’s smaller cities. The additional you go off the vacationer path, the quieter the roads and the extra there may be to find within the cities and villages you cross by on the way in which. For inspiration, listed below are our favourite highway journeys in Thailand.
Mae Sa Valley
Greatest highway journey for first timers
Chiang Mai–Chiang Mai; 80km (50 miles)
An important taster journey to get you used to driving or using in Thailand, this circuit by the forested mountains north of Chiang Mai will introduce you to village life and the jade-green rainforest landscapes of northern Thailand. After leaving Chiang Mai, the crowds drop away as you get nearer to Nam Tok Mae Sa, a pure swimming pool that makes a stunning picnic spot.
Proceed to the Queen Sikrit Botanical Gardens, a group of plantations, strolling trails and greenhouses with a family-friendly pure historical past museum. From right here, you enter part of the nation that was as soon as used to develop opium poppies earlier than hill tribe farmers have been persuaded to modify to fruit and flowers by the Thai royal household.
Expertise village life with a detour north to the Hmong neighborhood of Nong Hoi, the place native eating places at Mon Cham serve tasty village meals and Thai fruit liqueurs in pavilions overlooking the valley. The loop again to Chiang Mai on the 1269 passes Samoeng village and a collection of spectacular viewpoints the place you may pause for images, earlier than swinging again into the Northern Thai capital.
Planning tip: Get an early begin to take advantage of this day-long highway journey. Seize a conveyable breakfast on the Talat Thanin meals market earlier than you set off.
Mae Hong Son Loop
Greatest highway journey for traveler vibes
Chiang Mai–Chiang Mai; 604km (375 miles)
A extra bold highway journey from Chiang Mai meanders by the inexperienced hills to the southwest, following Route 108 and Route 1095 by the energetic traveler city of Mae Hong Son. This twisting loop is known for having 1864 curves and the Chamber of Commerce in Mae Hong Son points memento certificates for drivers who full the circuit. On the way in which, you may swing into a number of the most attention-grabbing townships in northwest Thailand.
Leaving Chiang Mai on the 108, the primary cease is Doi Inthanon Nationwide Park, a lush, inexperienced mountaintop that is among the few locations in Thailand to see temperatures dip beneath freezing. You’ll wish to pause for a day or two at Mae Sariang, a soothing riverside city that’s an incredible base for climbing and sustainable adventures within the hills.
There’s time for one more cease at Khun Yuam to discover wartime historical past earlier than you roll into Mae Hong Son, one in every of northern Thailand’s finest hubs for monastery-hopping and treks to hill tribe villages. On the loop again to Chiang Mai on route 1095, make stops on the Su Tong Pae bamboo bridge, the “Little Switzerland” of Pang Oung and the bustling traveler hub of Pai, the place you may chill for some time, having fun with all the pieces from treks to yoga lessons and cooking faculties.
Planning tip: Be prepared for chilly temperatures at Doi Inthanon Nationwide Park; chilly fog can swirl across the summit year-round so carry a heat layer.
Hua Hin to Surat Thani
Greatest highway journey for low-key seashores
Hua Hin–Surat Thani; 580km (360 miles) one-way
Southern Thailand’s lengthy, slender profile doesn’t lend itself to looping highway journeys, however there’s lots to see by drifting alongside the coast. Begin in Hua Hin, Thailand’s authentic seaside resort, the place one-way automotive leases might be organized by Thai Rent a Car. Slide south by the low-key, locals-oriented seaside cities of Prachaup Khiri Khan, Ban Krut and Bang Saphan Yai to Chumphon, the place the Muslim tradition of southern Thailand begins to floor.
Earlier than ending the journey at Surat Thani, duck inland to Khao Sok Nationwide Park, a 160-million-year-old rainforest that gives shelter for bears, tapirs, gibbons, elephants and tigers, myriad birds and the large Rafflesia kerrii – the world’s largest flower. The enjoyable doesn’t need to cease at Surat Thani; the city is a jumping-off level for the Gulf Islands of Ko Samui, Ko Pha-Ngan and Ko Tao, the place you may bask, occasion and revel in a number of the world’s most cost-effective scuba diving.
Phuket to Satun and again
Greatest highway journey for island adventures
Phuket–Satun-Phuket; 1100km (690 miles) spherical journey
Due to political unrest in Thailand’s far south, the Andaman Coast is finest explored as an out-and-back highway journey ranging from Phuket, avoiding the troubled east coast. With lots of of idyllic islands offshore, you’ll wish to cease commonly for in a single day sojourns on tropical islands alongside the way in which.
Beginning with a seafood feast in Phuket, comply with the Andaman Coast round Phang-Nga Bay, stopping for a ship journey across the otherworldly karst islands of Ao Phang-Nga Marine Nationwide Park. Preserve following the bay south to Krabi and the epic rock-climbing cliffs round Railay, one of many world’s most pleasurable journey sports activities hubs.
Let the coast name you south to Ko Lanta for extra time on the sand, then return to the mainland to succeed in Trang, gateway to its personal assortment of idyllic karst islands. The ultimate leg south passes by townships that really feel nearly Malaysian in character. Flip round at Satun and take a few days to snorkel and hike on the unspoiled islands of Ko Tarutao Marine Nationwide Park earlier than you retrace your steps to Phuket.
Planning tip: The seas off the Andaman Coast can get very uneven from Might to October and plenty of ferry routes and a few nationwide parks shut for the season, so it is best to keep away from this time of 12 months.
Bangkok to Chiang Mai
Greatest highway journey for historical past
Bangkok–Chiang Mai; 583 kilometers (362 miles)
In the event you’re courageous sufficient to begin from Bangkok, the drive from the capital to Chiang Mai packs in lots of historical past and a few of Thailand’s most spectacular historical websites. The toughest half is the start, escaping Bangkok’s gravitational pull on route 347. Thankfully, it’s solely 90 minutes to Ayuthaya, the primary cease on the route.
Discover the ruins of the imperial metropolis that was Siam’s capital from 1350 to 1767, then proceed north on route 32, making a detour east to view Lopburi’s monkey-thronged Prang Sam Yot temple. Again on the freeway, it’s a sustained slog north to Phitsanulok, the place you may pay your respects to one in every of Thailand’s most revered Buddha photographs at Wat Phra Si Ratana Mahathat.
The subsequent cease is beautiful Sukhothai, whose ruined stupas and temples have been the hub of a robust Thai kingdom from the thirteenth to the 14th centuries. Break the journey north with a homestay at Ban Na Ton Cham or an in a single day (or longer) cease in hip Lampang, the place cool cafes throng with extra native movers and shakers. Lamphun is one other worthy cease earlier than you roll into Chiang Mai and head straight for the night time markets to feast.
Detour: So as to add some modern historical past to the journey, tack on a detour to Kanchanaburi between Bangkok and Ayuthaya. Made notorious by the Burma-Siam Railway, this city on the Mae Nam Khwae Yai river is at the moment a hub for encounters with historical past and day journeys to splash within the waterfalls of Erawan Nationwide Park.
Chiang Rai to Phayao
Greatest highway journey for dramatic vistas
Chiang Rai–Phayao; 250km (155 miles)
Chiang Rai is northern Thailand’s second nice metropolis – full of temples and cultural websites like Chiang Mai, however with much less of a backpacker vibe. A cease on the “white wat” of Wat Rong Khun is nearly compulsory if solely to view the popular culture murals exhibiting such various topics because the 9/11 assaults and Keanu Reeves in The Matrix.
To succeed in the Lao border city of Chiang Khong, comply with again roads by a area that was as soon as infamous as the guts of the opium-growing Golden Triangle. Take your time drifting by villages tucked alongside forest-cloaked ridges, then cease for a day or two in Chiang Khong to take in the Lao influences seeping in from Huay Xai throughout the Mekong River.
Divert south on the 1020 and comply with routes 1093 and 1155 by dramatic emerald hills to epic viewpoints corresponding to Pratu Siam and Phu Chi Fa. Pause to benefit from the scorching waterfall at Nam Tok Phu Sang earlier than you roll onwards to complete up in leafy Phayao, an neglected northern Thai city with fairly picket homes, wetland surroundings and a lost-in-time temper that offers you a way of what all of northern Thailand was like earlier than the arrival of mass tourism.
Planning tip: This route follows many again roads off the primary highways; turnings are normally signposted, but when not, ask at roadside cafes and petrol pumps.
An Isaan loop
Greatest off-the-beaten-track highway journey
Nakhon Ratchasima–Nakhon Ratchasima; 830km (515 miles)
Vacationers gush about Thailand’s Isaan area – the tract of land operating northeast from Bangkok towards the Lao and Cambodian borders. On this gently slumbering nook of the nation, the delicacies is spectacular, the tempo of life unhurried, and crowds are uncommon… in different phrases, circumstances are good for a gradual highway journey by motorbike. Spare your self the drive out of Bangkok by taking a bus or prepare to Nakhon Ratchasima (Khorat) and decide up some wheels there.
Hit the path and meander east by Phanom Rung Historic Park, a placing Khmer temple complicated atop an extinct volcano. Observe the Cambodian border eastward to succeed in Ubon Ratchathani, an off-the-tourist-track city studded with good-looking monasteries and balanced beside the Mae Nam Mun river. Loop by Yasothon (value a cease through the rocket pageant in mid-Might) and lake-centered Roi Et to succeed in Prasat Puay Noi, a tremendous Khmer Hindu temple complicated from the twelfth century. Preserve the Khmer theme going at Phimai, a grand temple destroy fusing Hindu and Buddhist motifs, then shut the loop again in Nakhon Ratchasima, grazing on Isaan delicacies at RN Yard.
Planning tip: A giant a part of touring in Isaan is sampling the meals. Important Isaan dishes to attempt embody laab (a zesty floor meal salad with lime, mint, chili and toasted rice), som tam (a pounded salad of inexperienced papaya, inexperienced beans, peanuts and shrimp) and sai grok isaan (a bitter, smoky, fermented pork sausage).
Suggestions for driving in Thailand
Thailand nominally drives on the suitable, although that is extensively flouted, significantly by bikes, which frequently journey towards the site visitors stream on the arduous shoulder. All the time give strategy to bigger autos corresponding to buses and vans, and be careful for pedestrians. Driving slowly is all the time smart. You may rent vehicles, bikes and scooters with a house driving license; take out as a lot insurance coverage as is on the market, and hold your license and passport (or copies of the identification pages) useful for police checks.
