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Mae Sai (แม่สาย) is the northern-most city of Thailand. It is mainly a stepping stone for visits to Myanmar and has few attractions of its own.

Border crossing bridge to Myanmar

[edit] Get in

[edit] By bus

By bus from Chiang Rai or Chiang Mai. Buses from Chiang Rai are very frequent (every 10-15 min), cost 40 Baht (one way) and take about 1.5 hours, while buses from Chiang Mai take about 4 hours (210 baht one way). All public buses terminate at a bus station well south of Mae Sai, so you have to continue onward to the city proper with red songthaews waiting outside (15 baht per passenger fixed fare). The blue songthaews to/from the Golden Triangle and Chiang Saen, on the other hand, leave from a stand in the city center a few hundred meters down the street from the border. The last blue songthaew that departs for Chiang Saen leaves at 14:00.

There are also day-tours taking visitors to Mae Sai, the Golden Triangle, and a couple of other places to see on the way as well. Tourist minibuses are more expensive (around 800 baht for a day tour from Chiang Mai including lunch) and, if fully loaded (but this is not always the case), are much less comfortable. However, this is still an option worth considering, if you want to combine your visa run with a sightseeing tour through Chiang Rai province.

[edit] By car

By car which can be rented in Chiang Mai and other cities. Mae Sai is 61 km from Chiang Rai on Highway No. 110.

[edit] Get around

Mae Sai is a one-street town and the center is easily covered on foot.

[edit][add listing] See

Burmese temple at Wat Phra That Wai Dao

Giant scorpion statue

There's really only one place to visit in Mae Sai, but many visitors breeze past it on their way to Myanmar.

• Wat Phra That Wai Dao, (before Immigration, turn left and go through covered bazaar). Built on a small hill up a steep staircase, overlooking Mae Sai and Tachileik, this temple and its stupa are unremarkable, but there are a few interesting monuments around it. Next to the stupa is a small Burmese temple that gives a nice taste of what awaits on the other side. Towards the river is a multistoried monument to King Naresuan, a Lanna king famous for beating back several Burmese invasions and dispatching the Burmese crown prince in a duel, and just in case the message of this isn't clear enough, there's also a giant scorpion statue brandishing its claws towards Tachileik. Free.  edit

[edit][add listing] Do

• Take a picture with the gate marking the northern-most point of Thailand

• Cross the bridge into Tachileik, Myanmar (which the Thais call Tha Khi Lek ท่าขี้เหล็ก). As of April 2009, an entry permit valid for up to 14 days costs 500 baht/US$10 (be sure to bring clean US note, without any marks, stamps, etc. on it - otherwise customs officers will refuse it and, if you don't have another one, happily receive significantly higher payment in baht instead). Travellers using this option are given a paper entry permit and their passports are held at the immigration office until they return to Thailand. From here, you can travel as far as Kengtung (Thai Chiang Tung), 160 km away, but to travel to the rest of Myanmar, a visa in advance is needed. Transit travelers can arrange for a visa and can have their passport sent to their port of exit.

[edit][add listing] Buy

Covered bazaar leading to Wat Phra That Doi Wao

There are plenty of small shops lining both sides of the street leading to the border crossing that sell:

• Cheap jewels (rubies, emerald and jade) imported from Myanmar
• Cheap curio items, many of which are imported from China
• Fresh cut fruit

[edit][add listing] Eat

• New Sombun (นิว สมบูรณ์) Mu 10 Mae Sai, Tel: 0 5373 1441 (Chinese food)
• Rabiang Kaeo (ระเบียงแก้ว) Tel: 0 5373 1172-3 (Thai food)
• Rim Khong (ริมโขง) 15 Mu 8 Chiang Saen-Sop Ruak Rd., Tel: 0 5365 0459-60 (Thai food)
• Tai Thong (ไทยทอง) In Thai Thong Hotel, Super Highway, Tel: 0 5373 1975-6 (Thai food)

[edit][add listing] Drink

[edit][add listing] Sleep

• Amporn Resort (อัมพร รีสอร์ท) 11 Mu 5 Phahonyothin Rd., (Tel: 0 5373 1769, 0 5364 6369), 32 rooms: 500-2,800 baht
• Ban Chong Lanna Resort (บ้านจ้องล้านนา รีสอร์ท) 99/1 Ban Chong Soi 4 Tambon Pongpa (Tel: 0 5364 6871-2, 0 5364 6780), 10 rooms: 700-1,200 baht
• Ban Ta Yai (บ้านตายาย) 164 Tambon Ko Chang, Mueang Taeng Rd., (Tel: 08 1825 1159), www.bed4u.net, 3 bungalows: 500-800 baht
• Chokratri Resort (โชคราตรี รีสอร์ท) 167 Mu 10 Ban Pataekmai Tambon Wiangpangkam (Tel: 0 5373 4092), 5 houses: 1,000-3,000 baht
• Du Doi Suay Resort (ดูดอยสวย รีสอร์ท) 399 Phahonyothin Rd., km.879 (Tel: 0 5370 9800, 0 5370 9313), www.geocities.com/dudoisuay , 40 rooms, 1,800-6,000 Bath
• Fai Nam Rim Than (ฝายน้ำริมธาร) 7 Mu 1 Ban Chong Soi 5 (Tel: 0 5364 6674), 12 rooms: 600-1,500 baht
• Thip Sukon House Hotel. This hotel is probably the best of the lot on the same road as the old King Kobra hotel.From the 3rd floor you have a view right into Myanmar and the Sai River.

[edit] Get out

• On foot across the short bridge to Tachileik, Myanmar
• By bus or car to Chiang Rai and beyond