Chiang Mai to Pai

Prempracha runs the scheduled service. Its vans leave Chiang Mai Bus Terminal 2, known as Arcade, 3 km east of the Old City, every hour on the half hour from 06:30 to 17:30, twelve departures a day, and in busy weeks it adds extra vans. A Grab or red songthaew from the Old City to Arcade is about ฿100–150. The timetable allows 4 hours 20 minutes, so the 06:30 is due in Pai at 10:50, and most trips take 3.5 to 4 hours including one rest stop about halfway, where there are toilets and snacks. The vans are 12- and 13-seaters, seats are assigned, big bags ride on the roof under a cover, and the limit is 15 kg a person. They arrive at Pai's bus station on the main street, a short walk from most of the town's guesthouses. Online sellers charge ฿270–355; recent travelers have paid about ฿150–220 at the Arcade counter.

Aya Service, the company behind the one-way scooter rentals, runs its own vans at 08:30, 09:30, 10:30, 11:30, 12:30, 13:30 and 14:30 for ฿250 on its own site (about ฿280 through 12Go), and picks you up at your hotel in town, which saves the trip out to Arcade. They're scheduled at about 3.5 hours and drop at Aya's office in Pai on Chaisongkram Road, near the bus station. They sell out, often a full day ahead, so book as soon as your dates are fixed.

A handful of other companies sell vans from Old City offices, among them Tara Tour and Travel, K Buddy (which boards at Aya's Chiang Mai office) and North Ride Go, for about ฿500–900 on 12Go, between 08:30 and 15:00. They cost more than Prempracha for the same road, so they're worth it only when the Arcade vans and Aya are full.

When booking sites say "bus" to Pai, they mean Prempracha's minivan. Prempracha is the bus company on this route and Arcade is Chiang Mai's main bus terminal, but the vehicles on its timetable are 12- and 13-seat vans. Older guides mention a big orange fan bus from Arcade, but it has no current timetable or fare I'd trust, so I wouldn't plan around one.

There's no train. No railway runs into Mae Hong Son province, so the train from Bangkok ends at Chiang Mai station, and from there it's the van, a car or a scooter like everyone else. A sleeper from Bangkok arrives in the morning, in time for a midday van from Arcade.

From Chiang Mai the road runs north on Route 107 to Mae Malai, where Route 1095 turns west into the hills, and the 762 curves start there. The first half is gentle. The second half, through the forest of Huai Nam Dang National Park and down into the Pai valley, is one long climb and descent with hardly a straight between bends.

If you're in a car or on a bike, a few stops break it up. Mok Fa Waterfall is about 1 km off the road roughly 54 km out of Chiang Mai, a twin fall with a pool, five to ten minutes' walk from the parking lot. Pong Deuat Pa Pae, a geyser field in Huai Nam Dang National Park, is a short side road about 84 km out, with an 800 m boardwalk to vents that spout boiling water, open 08:00–17:00 for ฿300 a foreign adult (the same ticket covers Tha Pai hot spring that day). Pai Canyon is right beside the road 8 km before town, free, and best at sunset, so many people come back to it rather than stopping with bags. The vans don't make these stops; they pause once, at a roadside rest stop roughly halfway.

The curves are the real cost of this trip, and the vans take them briskly. Take a motion-sickness tablet (any Thai pharmacy or 7-Eleven sells them) 30 minutes before you board, ask for a seat near the front, eat lightly and look out of the window rather than at your phone. One couple in February 2026 found their van leaving half an hour before the time they'd planned around, so take the tablet early and be at the terminal 30 minutes ahead.

Riding to Pai is a backpacker tradition, and Aya Service makes it easy with one-way rentals, from ฿200 a day for a 115–125cc Honda Scoopy, Click or Wave and ฿500 a day for a 150–160cc Click, PCX, NMAX or Aerox, collected at its office at Kham Thiang Plaza in Chiang Mai and returned at its office in Pai. Ask about the one-way fee and sending your big bag ahead on a van when you book, because Aya doesn't publish either.

You need a license that covers motorcycles, which for most visitors means a motorcycle license from home plus an International Driving Permit with the motorcycle category, and riders do meet police checkpoints on the way. Check your insurance before you ride. Most travel policies pay for a scooter crash only if you hold that license, wore a helmet and were sober, and some exclude bikes over a certain size. Genki covers up to 125cc without a motorcycle license, which fits the ฿200 bikes but not the 160cc ones.

The road is well paved but steep and tight, trucks cut across the center line on the bends, and the descent into Pai is the twistiest stretch, so ride it in a low gear rather than on the brakes. Leave Chiang Mai early. One rider on a January 2026 ride left at 06:30 and was in Pai by about 11:00, and you want the hairpins in daylight. Fill up before Route 1095 starts, carry a layer because the forest sections are cold in the morning, and skip it in heavy rain, when the surface is slick and landslips close lanes. If Pai would be your first time on a scooter, take the van up and learn on Pai's quiet back roads instead.

No shared van leaves Chiang Mai airport for Pai. If you're landing and going straight up, either take a Grab to Arcade (about 20 minutes) and a Prempracha van, or book a private car from the terminal, about three hours and roughly ฿2,100–4,000 depending on the car. Land after mid-afternoon and the car is the only same-day option, since the last van leaves Arcade at 17:30 and the curves are best done in daylight.

Pai does have an airstrip, but no scheduled airline has used it since Kan Air left in 2017. In July 2026 EZY Airlines announced a daily 12-seat Cessna service from Chiang Mai, due to start in the autumn; in August it was suspended indefinitely before it ever flew, after a dispute over airport fees, and no new date has been given. Booking sites may still show the flight, so don't plan around it.

It's seven to eight hours of curves in a van for the round trip, which leaves a few hours in Pai at midday, when the canyon is hot and the walking street hasn't opened. Even in a private car it's about six hours on the road. Pai is worth the trip for slow days, a dawn at the viewpoints and Pai Canyon at sunset, and none of that fits in a day. Stay at least two nights; three or four suits most people.

Prempracha's vans run back from Pai's bus station hourly from 07:00 to 17:30, and Aya runs six a day between 08:30 and 15:30. Some tickets drop in the Old City or straight at Chiang Mai airport, which is the one to book if you're flying out. The Pai to Chiang Mai guide has every departure and how much time to leave for a flight.