Mountain trails of Mae Hong Son

Mae Hong son is known as one of the most secret provinces of Thailand. Even with the direct flight and twice bus service from Bangkok, the province is still difficult to reach. The province is hidden under the layer of mountain alpine, hill tribes villages, and the curvy road turns. Mae Hong Son is the hidden gem of Thailand for people who love mountains and the cold winter breeze.

This holiday, we are going to take a road trip/camping in the most famous Chiang Mai-MaeHongSon – Chiang Mai loop to visit mountains, viewpoints, lake, villages, sunrises and sunsets. During the Christmas holiday, we are going to do a backcountry trail, camping at the highest campsite in Mae Hong Son with the panorama view of the alpine. We are also going to visit an unseen cave of thailand, learn the mystery of Phee Man. Visit Pai and its famous location, camp at Huai Nam Dang National Park to catch the sea of fog before we end the trip and drop you off in Chiang Mai city.

• Christmas Holiday
• 6 days, 5 nights Road Trip
• 6 Mountain peaks
• Pang Ung; Thai’s most romantic lake/reservoir 
• Water caves, mystery of Phee Man
• Visit Pai, sunset at Pai Canyon
• Depart and Return from Chiang Mai
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*There are no plans to deviate from the plan unless there is an unforeseen situation

Day 1

7.00: Pickup from Chiang Mai city and leave for the first trail at Pha Ngam. We are diving into Doi Inthanon National park, passing elephant sanctuaries. We might get to see elephants on the way.

09.30: Arrive at the trailhead at 1600 meters. Pha Ngam peak is at 2,200 meters above sea level. With a 3 km distance, we are going to climb 600 meters of elevation. Which makes this trail a challenging hike. 

12.00: Arrive at the peak, then we have lunch. After lunch, we are going to return back at the same trail 

15.00: Return to our van, and back on our road trip. 

18.00: Arrive at the campsite. Setup the camp, dinner. 

Day 2

05.00: Hike to Phu Chi Phe Viewpoint. It’s a 1km trail going up to the viewpoint. *bring flashlight with you*

06.00: Sunrise view. 

07.00: Return to the campsite. Breakfast. 

08.00: Start our road trip to Doi Pui Luang, which is the highest mountain peak in Mae Hong Son.

10.00: Arrive at the meeting point. We will meet with a local tour guide and porter, and pack for our 3 days, 2 night Christmas holiday hiking. 

10.30: We transfer to pickup truck, and continue off road pickup style 

11.00: Arrive at the trailhead. This holiday hike is passing 5 hills, and 3 major viewpoints. It’s also the highest peak and campsite in Mae Hong Son too.

Our first hike is to Doi Pui Luang, it’s a 2.5 km hike on a fairly easy to intermediate trail. Take around 2hr to the peak. 

13.00: Arrive at the peak, lunch. Continue our trip to the campsite at 9 km hike Easy to intermediate hike 3-4 hours.

17.00: Arrive at Doi Sa Ngo campsite, set up the campsite. 

18.00: Dinner and enjoy the rest of the holiday night

Total Distance: 14 km (easy to intermediate)

Day 3

8.00: Breakfast

9.00: Leave for the hike. Today’s hike is more challenging with less distance, but a lot more elevation gain. Today the distance is around 5 km. We have to climb on a rope a couple times. The estimate for this hike is 5-6 hrs. We will pack lunch with us.

15.00: Arrive at the campsite. set up campsite Today campsite is at the viewpoint with 360 panorama view of alpine. 

18.00: Dinner and enjoy the rest of the night.

Day 4

7.00: Breakfast, tidy up campsite. Today is the last day of backcountry hiking. 

8.00: Hike back to the village. It takes about 3-4 hours, a distance of around 4km. The first half is going down from the hill, after the hill the trail is getting easier. We hike back down to the village.

12.00: The pickup truck is waiting for us at the end of the hike. We transfer to the back of the pickup truck and ride back to the village where we are going to meet our van. We can take a shower at the village, change into dry, clear clothes. 

13.00: Continue our drive to Pang Oung, the most romantic campsite in Thailand. 

15.00: Setup campsite, walk around the reservoir, and bamboo rafting activities.

18.00: Dinner and enjoy the rest of the night. 

Day 5

7.00: Breakfast and tidy up campsite

8.00: Visit Ban RakThai, a teahouse village decorated in chinese style. (Actual tourist spot, not a set up place to see tea) We give 1 hr free time to enjoy the walk, tea shopping or get coffee with a beautiful view of reservoir 

9.00: Back on the road trip. 

11.00 We are going to visit a 1000 year old cave. This cave is a historical site and also unseen in Thailand.

We are taking bamboo rafting through the cave, 1 km long. The last room is the caveman coffins. 

12.00: Lunch at the local restaurant

13.00: Vist Phee Man Cave. There are 74 coffins (and more), and until now, the historical couldn’t figure out why and how they caveman can carry coffins and place them high up inside the cave which the entrance is even smaller than the coffins themselves. 

14.00: Arrive at Pai Village. Pai is a small village in the middle of valley, it gets a lot more tourist attention in the past 20 years which transform Pai into more modern city. Currently, Pai is well known for its relaxed city, coffee shop and slowlife lifestyle. 

We are giving free time to walk around Pai city

17.00: Continue road trip to see sunset at Pai Canyon

18.00: Dinner

19.00: Arrive at Huai Nam Dang National Park. Setup the tent and enjoy the rest of the night

Day 6

6.00: Wake up for sunrise and sea of fog and the Thai sakura (subject to time of the blooming)

This campsite has one of the best viewpoint to see sunrise and sea of fog, it’s also very famous for the Luang Chiang Dao’s background. 

8.00: Breakfast at the campsite

9.00: Our last hike is to see the natural hot spring. The trail is 1.5km easy trail after the trail, we can dip in the National Park’s hot spring pool

12.00: Lunch at the national park, then we will eave back to Chiangmai

16.00: Arrive back to Chiang Mai and end of the trip. 

1) Pha Ngam

• Level: Challenge

• Physical: Intermediate to Challenge

• Technique: Intermediate to Challenge
• Distance: 6km, 600 elevation gain

2) Phu Chi Phe 

• Level: Intermediate

• Physical: Intermediate
• Technique: Intermediate 
• Distance: 2km

3) Village to Doi Pui Luang (stop for lunch)

• Level: Easy – Intermediate

• Physical:  Easy – Intermediate

• Technique: Easy
• Distance: 3 km

4) Doi Pui Luang to Doi Sa Ngo Campsite

• Level: Easy – Intermediate

• Physical:  Easy – Intermediate

• Technique: Easy
• Distance: 9 km

5) Doi Sa Ngo Campsite to Doi Lo Jo Campsite

• Level: Challenge 

• Physical:  Challenge

• Technique: Challenge
• Distance: 4 km

6) Doi Lo Jo Campsite to Village

• Level: Challenge 

• Physical:  Challenge
• Technique: Challenge
• Distance: 4 km

7) Pang Oung

• Level: Easy
• Distance: Walk around

8) Ban Rak Thai

• Level: Easy
• Distance: Walk around

9) Tham Name Rod (1000 years old cave)

• Level: Easy

10) Phee Man Cave

• Level: Easy
• Distance: Walk around

11) Pai Village

• Level: Easy
• Distance: Walk around

12) Pai Canyon

• Level: Easy
• Distance: Walk around

13) Huai Nam Dang Nationla Park Trail

• Level: Easy – Intermediate
• Distance: 3 km

Price: 16,900 THB 

Includes

• 6 days transportation Private Van
• 4WD pickup for off road
• All of the Entrance Tickets 
• Camping fee all nights
• Rent of camping equipment for all nights
• 18 complimentary meals (Thai/ Vegetarian/ Vegan)
• Drinking water during the hike and activities
• Local guide
• Porter for share equipment and your personal tent
• Bamboo rafting
• Insurance
• Licenced tour guide & Organizing Fee

Not includes

• Your own food & drink 
• Your personal expense

Cancellation

• Guest replacement = 100% refund
• Cancellation 7 days before departure date = 100% Credit refund
• Cancellation after 7 days (before departure date) = No refund

• Pickup: Ma Guest House Chiang Mai
  • Google Map: https://goo.gl/maps/5qruDNDRHxDQnFGKA
• Drop Off: Same as Pickup spot