Travel Guide and Transport Info for Mae Sai, Thailand by Hobo Maps -
Visiting Mae Sai
- Mae Sai is probably best known as the gateway to eastern Myanmar from Thailand. The border crossing over the Mae Sai River is a busy place as local residents from both sides have easy passage across the border and many Myanmar residents take good advantage of it to visit Thailand for shopping, medical care, finding work (legally & illegally), selling produce, etc. Thai residents go across to Myanmar for an exotic experience and to make them glad they live in Thailand. Long-term tourists and foreigners who live in Thailand use Mae Sai and Tachilek across the river as a quick way to renew their Thai tourist visas and avoid having to get a more complicated long-term visa for Thailand. A few years ago travel beyond the town of Tachilek in Myanmar was prohibited for tourists who only got a 3 day visa on arrival. But now visitors get a 2 week visa and are permitted to travel outside of Tachilek and venture as far as up to the old town of Keng Tung (Kyainge Tong). But a government-approved guide is needed to accompany visitors to Keng Tung who are required to pay a daily fee for the guide as well as for his transport, food & lodging. See our Travel Tachilek section for more detailed info. Mae Sai is not a very large town but it has the feel of a city due to the border activity and related services and it even has a Tesco Lotus super store. The area just to the west of town has stunning scenic mountains looming up with some caves and because of it's remoteness from major population centers the air is fresh and clean. Very nice panoramic views of the whole area can be seen from the hilltop at Wat Phrathat Doi Wao just west of the bridge. What surprised me the first time I gazed out from this hilltop vantage point was how large the town of Tachilek seemed and how nice it looked, as good as or even nicer than Mae Sai, although at street level Mae Sai has a more civilized and clean feel than Tachilek. The population of Tachilek is around 75,000 (or even 100,000 according to some internet sources) as many rural Myanmar people have been moving there seeking a share of the economic benefits flowing from the border trade with Thailand. Because of it's proximity to the Golden Triangle and the illegal drug trade flowing from Myanmar there's a strong government security presence in the Mae Sai area with multiple police checkpoints on the roadways and military personnel stationed along the river separating the two countries. When you visit Mae Sai or go anywhere north of Chiang Rai (even if not going over the border) be sure to bring your passport and other official documentation, have them with you at all times and don't carry anything illegal as the police do come on the buses to make checks and the military security posts may stop you.
Mae Sai Transport
- Getting to and from Mae Sai is always by land transport as there is no airport or navigable waterway. Long distance buses go there from most of the northern Thailand cities and from Bangkok. The Mae Sai Bus Station is located on Hwy. 1 (formerly Hwy. 110) about 4.5 km south of where that highway meets the Mae Sai River (see it on THIS MAP). Local big old green buses go to and from Chiang Rai every 40 minutes or so from the big bus station south of town and Green Bus now also runs minivans from there to the old bus station in Chiang Rai departing every 30 minutes. These buses will stop to drop off or pick up passengers anywhere along the route which is basically Hwy. 1.
Red songtaew buses run between the big bus station south of town to the border at the bridge to Myanmar and cost 15 baht. They wait by the 7-11 in front of Thai Immigration by the bridge and meet most arriving big buses at the bus station. Flag them down anywhere on the main road by waving your hand in a downward swinging motion when you see them coming.
Blue songtaew buses go to Chiang Saen, Sop Ruak & Golden Triangle area from the junction of Soi 8 and the main street Hwy. 1 about 400 meters south of the bridge & Thai Immigration. I expect they go several times in the mornings but stop departing by mid afternoon. They don't seem to want falang on these songtaew buses as I was refused a ride 3 times in Dec. 2011 & Jan. 2012. They kept pointing to the other side of the junction of Soi 8 and the main road where they say minivans go to the same places at 08:00, 09:00, 10:00, 11:00 & 12:00 but when I came at 08:00 on Jan. 8 there was nothing there and nobody who spoke English to explain.
Yellow and blue songtaew buses have a station on the main road about 100 meters south of where Soi 8 meets the main road Hwy. 1 (about 500 meters south of the bridge & Thai Immigration) and go south on Hwy. 1 but we're not sure how far or where their final destination is. They go at least to the police checkpoint on Hwy. 1 at the junction of the side roads west to Tham Pla and Tham Sao Hin caves. They seem to go quite often and you can flag them down anywhere on the route.
Longer distance bus schedules are shown below and note that much of the bus activity is handled by the Green Bus Co., which provides a fine high quality bus service with a computerized system allowing travellers to make reservations in advance for any of their routes from any of their bus station offices in Northern Thailand. Unfortunately their website is in Thai only.
