Motorcycle Tours in Thailand
The north for the riding. Bangkok for everything after.
Six hundred kilometres of mountain road loop out of Chiang Mai and back: Route 108 west through Mae Sariang to Mae Hong Son, Route 1095 home through Pai. Gentleman Biker rides it on Harley-Davidsons in the cool dry months, then spends the last nights in Bangkok.
What is the best season to ride motorcycles in Northern Thailand?
November to February. The air is clear and cool, the roads are dry, and the Mae Hong Son valley fills with fog most mornings and burns off by nine. From late February into April the farmers burn their fields and the smoke settles in the mountain basins; on 30 March 2026 Chiang Mai had the worst air of any city on earth. June to October is the rain. The tours run in the cool months.
Photograph coming
Photograph coming
Do I need a motorcycle licence for a tour in Thailand?
Yes, plus an International Driving Permit with the motorcycle category endorsed on it. Thailand accepts both the 1949 and 1968 permit formats; the usual failure is a permit that covers cars only. Helmets are compulsory for rider and passenger, checkpoints on the loop are routine, and foreign riders get stopped. With the right documents the stop takes two minutes.
Are pillion riders allowed on a Thailand motorcycle tour?
Yes. A passenger rides on the back with a helmet of their own, or rides in the support vehicle on the days with the tightest roads. The Mae Hong Son Loop is paved throughout and the speeds are low, which makes it one of the easier rides for two. Pillion pricing comes with each departure.
Photograph coming
The first Thai tour
The Mae Hong Son Loop.
Chiang Mai out along Route 108 through Mae Sariang and Khun Yuam to Mae Hong Son, then Route 1095 back through Pang Mapha and Pai. Four days at the least, with a road up Doi Inthanon, a Yunnanese tea village on the Burmese border, a bamboo bridge, a cave, and the number of curves that nobody can agree on.
Bangkok is the reward at the end of the road.
The riding stops at Chiang Mai. The trip does not. Bangkok is a short flight south and a different planet: the Mandarin Oriental on the river, where the Authors’ Wing has stood since 1887, or the Capella, voted the best hotel in the world in 2024. Dinner at Sorn, the first three-star restaurant in Thailand, or at Gaggan Anand, sixth in the world. The helmet stays in the bag.
East of the loop there is more.
Nan province has Route 1148, ninety-odd kilometres of mountain road with no towns and no junctions, and Route 1256 climbing over Doi Phu Kha to Bo Kluea. Further north the Golden Triangle is a viewpoint where the Mekong meets the Ruak and three countries meet each other, a name coined in the 1960s for the region that then grew most of the world's opium. Both are on the list after the loop.
What riders ask about Thailand.
What to pack for cold mountain mornings and hot afternoons, which side of the road the country drives on, and how the itinerary treats Bangkok. Three short answers.
What should I pack for a motorcycle tour in Thailand?
Full riding gear, because the mountain nights in the cool season are cold and the checkpoints are real. A light layer for the afternoons. Rain gear regardless of the month. Something for dinner in Bangkok that has never touched a motorcycle.
Is the riding in Thailand on the left?
Yes. Thailand drives on the left, steering wheel on the right, roundabouts clockwise. Riders from the United States and continental Europe usually stop noticing by the second morning, and the tour leader is ahead at every junction until then.
How much time in Bangkok?
The itinerary for each departure says. The riding is in the north; Bangkok is the way in and out, and it rewards a night or two at either end.
The other rides, and the experience.
Patagonia, Northern Thailand, the Dolomites, and Tuscany, each with its own page, and the page on the days, the hotels, the meals, and the motorcycle.
- Patagonia motorcycle tour
Bariloche to Ushuaia, with the Andes on the right the whole way.
- Northern Thailand motorcycle tour
The Mae Hong Son Loop, and Bangkok when the riding is done.
- Dolomites motorcycle tour
The Stelvio, the Gavia, the Sella Ronda, and the hotels at the bottom of each.
- Tuscany motorcycle tour
Chianti, the Val d’Orcia, and dinners that run late.
- The experience
The days, the hotels, the meals, and the motorcycle.
- Motorcycle tours in Italy
The Dolomites and Tuscany, and how long each deserves.
Join the interest list.
Argentina, Thailand, or Italy. Say which.