Bus : Route 1095
There is only one road through Pai: Route 1095, along which you can either travel southeast to Chiang Mai or northwest to Soppong and Mae Hong Son. Obviously, that includes any stops along the route, like Mae Malai, but any other destinations you see advertised will necessitate a change of bus.
That means changing in the provincial capital (Mae Hong Son) for Mae Sariang or Mae Sot and changing in Chiang Mai for anywhere else including Tha Ton and Chiang Dao, and any towns in Chiang Rai province. You’ll see Bangkok rates posted and even southern destinations such as Krabi or Surat Thani listed, but all direct Bangkok services depart from Chiang Mai and southern terminuses will require a second change of bus in the capital. Driving time from Pai to Chiang Mai or vice versa is between three and four hours, depending upon traffic and with a brief coffee and toilet stop half way.
If you do want to travel to Tha Ton or Fang without returning to Chiang Mai, then you need to alight at Mae Malai, where the Pai highway meets Route 107 heading north. Wait at the side of the road for a northbound bus to pass.
At the time of writing there were three services running between Pai and Chiang Mai: Prempracha, Aya Service and a new company called Green Terminal. The latter has nothing to do with the well organised Green Bus Company (which doesn’t serve Pai). It displayed a decided lack of professionalism and not many departures when we visited, so we’d stick to the other two companies.
Both Prempracha and Aya advertise hourly departures for identical 150 baht tariffs. The former's buses depart from Pai bus station and the latter’s leave from outside their office. In Chiang Mai, Aya’s also terminate outside their office and Prempracha’s at Arcade Bus Station. If you have a certain time in mind, then book in advance which you can do at any hotel or guesthouse for a service charge, while you can also reserve Prempracha seats online and make payment at a 7-eleven store.
Minibuses between Pai and Chiang Mai can also be booked online through Travelfish partner 12GO Asia, and this can be a good idea in high season. See below for links to schedule details.
Minibuses from Chiang Mai to Pai
Minibuses from Pai to Chiang Mai
At present only Prempracha buses continue from Pai to Soppong and Mae Hong Son. Soppong is one hour further up the mountain road and Mae Hong Son another hour again. Though they are scheduled hourly, buses tend to depart whenever there are enough customers, which during busy periods can mean several per hour. The first Chiang Mai-bound vehicles depart at 07:00 and the last at 17:00, with more or less hourly departures between 08:30 and 17:30 for Mae Hong Son. Please note that both companies’ schedules are on the flexible side and vary according to season and day of the week. The fare is 100 baht to either Soppong or Mae Hong Son.
All buses are of the 13-seat minivan variety; at the time of writing there were no larger buses or songthaew services. Driving on what can be a hairy, very winding mountain ride seems to have improved of late. Maybe we were lucky or maybe drivers have got fed up of cleaning up after car-sick passengers?!
If you wish to book onward bus travel from Chiang Mai before departing Pai, any of the town’s agents will sell you a combined Pai to Chiang Mai, then Pai to say Bangkok ticket, or you can reserve a seat yourself online. Most of the major transport companies operating out of Chiang Mai offer website bookings these days. In town we’ve always found May World Travel, on Chaisongkran, to be very reliable.
International bus services
As is the want in such tourist hotspots, you’ll see long distance travel to the next perceived hotspot advertised; in the case of Pai, that would be Laos. We saw tickets for Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng and Vientiane on sale including bus and boat travel (with slow or speedboat options) on the Mekong. All of these involve a transfer via Chiang Mai to the border crossing at Chiang Khong, an overnight stay and onward bus or boat travel the following day. Slow boat options would necessitate a second night in Pak Beng.
Quite why anyone would wish to purchase a ‘direct’ Pai to Vientiane ticket or even Pai to Vang Vieng, both of which involve arduous rides right across Thailand to Nong Khai, is beyond us. Presumably some do, however, or agents wouldn’t advertise them. We’re not suggesting it’s a guaranteed nightmare experience, but these kind of all-in long distance packages do leave a lot of room for feedback of the herd of sheep or cattle truck nature. Agents were suspiciously reluctant to tell us which accommodation in Chiang Khong and Pak Beng was included in the ticket. Nor are we convinced there’s a financial saving to be had, so unless you are in a desperate hurry we wouldn’t recommend a package that is straightforward to organise on your own, and do at your own speed. Below are standard rates offered by Chaisongkran travel agents.
Chiang Khong: 650 baht
Luang Nam Tha: 1,350 baht
Luang Prabang (slow boat): 1,750 baht
Luang Prabang (speed boat): 2,350 baht
Vang Vieng: 1,550 baht
Vientiane (via Nong Khai): 1,250 baht
