Why this ride
A one-way ride of 650 km, Krathum Baen to Pak Kret - roughly 11 h 36 in the saddle. It goes by way of Bang Yai, Scenic stretch near Pathum Thani and near Khlong Luang. The climbs: near Krathum Baen and near Ban Khlong Bang Sao Thong.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Mae Hong Son Fly-Ride Route + Khao Yai Mountain Roads
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 650 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 11 h 36
- Journey
- One way; return travel is separate
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Fuel stop near Krathum Baen
Krathum Baen is a district of Samut Sakhon province, south-west of Bangkok, where the city's sprawl meets factories, shrimp farms and the last of the old orchards. The Tha Chin River, a distributary of the Chao Phraya, flows past on its way to the Gulf of Thailand, and the land is crossed by canals that once carried produce to market by boat. It is a working area, busy with trucks and commuters, and a place most riders pass through on their way to somewhere else.
Read the complete Fuel stop near Krathum Baen write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Mae Hong Son Fly-Ride Route is where the day begins. Next is High point near Krathum Baen.
2. High point near Krathum Baen
There is no real high ground on the Tha Chin plain west of Krathum Baen; the land is as flat as a table, built from river silt over millennia. What passes for height here is the hump of a bridge over the river or a canal, and from such a vantage the view is of water, palms, temple roofs and the occasional factory chimney. The river curves lazily through the landscape, and long-tail boats still ply its brown waters.
Read the complete High point near Krathum Baen write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
You top out here; the road stops climbing. Next is Mae Hong Son Fly-Ride Route checkpoint 8.
3. Near Bang Yai
Somewhere north of Chiang Mai, on Route 1095 towards Pai and Mae Hong Son, a sign announces 1,864 curves, and riders queue to have their photo taken with it. That road, through the mountains of the far north-west, is the heart of the Mae Hong Son ride, and this point in Bangkok's western outskirts is where it all ends, back in the flatlands after the bikes have been flown or trucked home and the last kilometres ridden across the city.
Read the complete Near Bang Yai write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 659 km. Next is Scenic stretch near Pathum Thani.
4. Scenic stretch near Pathum Thani
Pathum Thani means city of lotuses, a name said to have been given by King Rama II when the local people presented him with lotus flowers during a visit. The province, just north of Bangkok on the Chao Phraya, was settled by Mon refugees from Burma in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and their culture survives in temples, festivals and food along the river. Wat Chedi Hoi, a temple decorated with millions of ancient fossil shells, is one of the area's curiosities.
Read the complete Scenic stretch near Pathum Thani write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Scenic stretch near Pathum Thani, early in the day. Next is Photo stop near Khlong Luang.
5. Photo stop near Khlong Luang
Khlong Luang sprawls across the flat rice plain north of Bangkok, a district of canals, industrial estates and university campuses. Thammasat University's Rangsit campus, the Asian Institute of Technology and Thailand Science Park are all here, along with Navanakorn, one of the country's large industrial zones. It is a busy, modern place that gives little hint of the countryside it once was.
Read the complete Photo stop near Khlong Luang write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Photo stop near Khlong Luang sits at 176 km, early in the day. Next is Bangkok / Thailand return.
6. Near Bang Pakong, on the way back
The Bang Pakong River reaches the Gulf of Thailand here in a wide, muddy estuary, fringed with mangroves, shrimp ponds and fishing villages, about an hour east of Bangkok. It is not a classic swimming spot, and it is honest to say so: the river water is brown with silt and the shore is mostly mud. The reason to stop is the estuary itself, and if you want a proper swim, the beach at Bang Saen, about twenty kilometres south in Chonburi, is the place most people from Bangkok head for, with a long sandy shore, shady trees and stalls selling seafood.
Read the complete Near Bang Pakong, on the way back write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Bangkok / Thailand return comes up 220 km in. Next is Mae Hong Son Fly-Ride Route food stop.
7. Bang Bo District
Bang Bo lies on the eastern edge of the Bangkok metropolitan area, in Samut Prakan province, where the urban sprawl starts to thin out into a flat landscape of canals, fish and shrimp ponds, rice fields and factories. It is not on most travel itineraries, but it hides a lovely old market, and it makes a good place to end a ride with a meal.
Read the complete Bang Bo District write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
A break here. Next is Back to Mae Hong.
8. Back to Mae Hong
The sea smells different at Samut Sakhon. The Tha Chin River winds through town to the Gulf of Thailand, and the land around is a flat patchwork of fish ponds, mangroves and, near the shore, salt pans, where seawater is dried in shallow beds under the sun and raked into white heaps.
Read the complete Mae Hong write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Finish at Back to Mae Hong. That is the ride. Next is Khao Yai Mountain Roads.
9. Fuel stop near Pak Kret
Planning note
Next is Scenic stretch near Khan Na Yao.
10. Scenic stretch near Khan Na Yao
Planning note
Scenic stretch near Khan Na Yao comes up 395 km in. Next is High point near Ban Khlong Bang Sao Thong.
11. High point near Ban Khlong Bang Sao Thong
Planning note
High point near Ban Khlong Bang Sao Thong is the summit of this stretch. Next is Khao Yai Mountain Roads photo pull-off.
12. Phra Pradaeng
Planning note
Khao Yai Mountain Roads photo pull-off, late in the day. Next is Khao Yai Mountain Roads checkpoint 8.
13. Near Phra Pradaeng
This is the south-western edge of Bangkok, out where the city stops pretending to be a city and turns into a muddle of canals, warehouses, shrimp ponds and condo blocks on the Thonburi side of the Chao Phraya. Thung Khru and Bang Khun Thian are the districts on the map; Phra Pradaeng, the town that gives the label its name, lies across the river to the east. As a place to begin and end rides north to Ayutthaya or north-east to Khao Yai it makes practical sense, because you avoid crossing the dense middle of the capital twice a day.
Read the complete Near Phra Pradaeng write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Khao Yai Mountain Roads checkpoint 8 closes the day. Next is Food stop near Samut Sakhon.
14. Food stop near Samut Sakhon
Samut Sakhon smells of the sea. The city sits at the mouth of the Tha Chin River where it flows into the Gulf of Thailand, about thirty kilometres southwest of Bangkok, and it has been a fishing port for centuries. Locals often still call it Mahachai, its old name. Boats crowd the river, and the fish market near the pier is one of the busiest in the country, piled with prawns, squid, crabs and fish of every kind.
Read the complete Food stop near Samut Sakhon write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Food stop near Samut Sakhon is where this day stops to eat.
15. Near Bang Len, on the way back
Planning note
615 km in you reach Bangkok / Thailand return. Next is Back to Khao Yai.
16. Back to Khao Yai
Pak Kret is a town of potters. North of Bangkok, on the Chao Phraya, the red-brown clay of the riverbank has been fired into earthenware here since the Mon people settled the area in the eighteenth century, and the tradition continues on a small island called Koh Kret, reached by a short ferry. Walking the narrow concrete lanes around the island with the sound of kilns and the sight of rows of terracotta pots drying in the sun is a good reason to come.
Read the complete Khao Yai write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back to Khao Yai closes the day.
Leg by leg
Fuel stop near Krathum Baen to High point near Krathum Baen
Fuel stop near Krathum Baen → High point near Krathum Baen is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
High point near Krathum Baen to Near Bang Yai
High point near Krathum Baen → Near Bang Yai is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Scenic stretch near Pathum Thani to Photo stop near Khlong Luang
Scenic stretch near Pathum Thani → Photo stop near Khlong Luang is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Photo stop near Khlong Luang to Near Bang Pakong, on the way back
Photo stop near Khlong Luang → Near Bang Pakong, on the way back is 97 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Back to Mae Hong to Fuel stop near Pak Kret
Back to Mae Hong → Fuel stop near Pak Kret is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fuel stop near Pak Kret to Scenic stretch near Khan Na Yao
Fuel stop near Pak Kret → Scenic stretch near Khan Na Yao is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Scenic stretch near Khan Na Yao to High point near Ban Khlong Bang Sao Thong
Scenic stretch near Khan Na Yao → High point near Ban Khlong Bang Sao Thong is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
High point near Ban Khlong Bang Sao Thong to Phra Pradaeng
High point near Ban Khlong Bang Sao Thong → Phra Pradaeng is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Food stop near Samut Sakhon to Near Bang Len, on the way back
Food stop near Samut Sakhon → Near Bang Len, on the way back is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Ayutthaya River Easy Ride · short arc · 334 km
- Mae Hong Son Fly-Ride Route · part 1 · 124 km
- Khao Yai Mountain Roads · 261 km
- Ayutthaya River Easy Ride · 375 km