Hi Has any on done the drive from Chiang Mai to Hua Hin or vice versa?

 

An internet search says about 12 1/2 hours. How accurate would that be?

 

What is the road like?

 

Want to make the return trip but I don't want to do standard or mini bus. Train appears to be  train changes and around 14 hours. If 14 by train 12 1/2 by car seems slow unless bad road.

 

Any suggestion by those who have made the trip?

 

Thanks in advance.

Why not fly???


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29 minutes ago, Aquaman2016 said:

Why not fly???


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That is an option and I Just found Kan Air flies direct to Hua Hin but the aircraft is under maintenance. I am waiting a reply from them as to when it will be available again but, as usual with most Thai companies, they don't like to reply to email.

 

Main reason I am looking at other methods is lady I am taking is from Myanmar and her pink id restricts her to Chiang Mai and need to go get letter to allow her out of area. Last time we did this we rolled up to airport and the airline would not let her fly.

Edited June 7, 20188 yr by Dazinoz

I bought a car in Cha-am and drove it back to Chiang Mai. My son came with me, enjoyed a day at the beach and then we split the driving coming home and it took about 13 hours with a few food stops. Didn't even have a map but my son did look at his fancy phone to check our route a few times. Some parts of the highway had pretty bad surface but nothing dangerous outside of normal Thai untrained driving. Never exceeded 90kph. On my own I would have had an overnight and done 4 hours next day.

 

2 minutes ago, Lungstib said:

I bought a car in Cha-am and drove it back to Chiang Mai. My son came with me, enjoyed a day at the beach and then we split the driving coming home and it took about 13 hours with a few food stops. Didn't even have a map but my son did look at his fancy phone to check our route a few times. Some parts of the highway had pretty bad surface but nothing dangerous outside of normal Thai untrained driving. Never exceeded 90kph. On my own I would have had an overnight and done 4 hours next day.

 

Thanks for that.

 

I've done Phuket/Hua Hin/Chiang Mai and the reverse several times by car, Cha Am is usually the breakpoint although we did it in one fell swoop once, inadvisable! Chiang Mai/Cha Am, at the right time of day is around 9.5 hours if you go West around Bangkok and you give it some wellie, not a bad run but you need a navigator who's alert.

2 minutes ago, simoh1490 said:

not a bad run but you need a navigator who's alert.

Sheet!!. Looks like I am in trouble.

 

Get my trusted iPad navigation aid out I guess.

1 minute ago, Dazinoz said:

Sheet!!. Looks like I am in trouble.

 

Get my trusted iPad navigation aid out I guess.

The only tricky part is getting the right turn off around Bangkok, as I recall you need to follow the signs for Chainat in order to get on the right road but don't take that as advice. Also, Cha Am is nicer and cheaper to stay than Hua Hin, IMO. 

38 minutes ago, Dazinoz said:

Main reason I am looking at other methods is lady I am taking is from Myanmar and her pink id restricts her to Chiang Mai and need to go get letter to allow her out of area. Last time we did this we rolled up to airport and the airline would not let her fly.

You can still take a bus , if She had travel documents , she will have no problem at any road blocks .

   You can still buy her a bus ticket and she will be allowed to board the bus , aeroplanes are different because you need identification (passport or I.D card)

Why not split the run up into two days? Low season, easy to find good standard hotels for 500 - 700 baht a night. Or more if you want to detour occasionally.

58 minutes ago, Dazinoz said:

That is an option and I Just found Kan Air flies direct to Hua Hin but the aircraft is under maintenance. I am waiting a reply from them as to when it will be available again but, as usual with most Thai companies, they don't like to reply to email.

 

Main reason I am looking at other methods is lady I am taking is from Myanmar and her pink id restricts her to Chiang Mai and need to go get letter to allow her out of area. Last time we did this we rolled up to airport and the airline would not let her fly.

I just read this - be aware that on the drive from CM to Hua Hin you will encounter at least two or three police stops, maybe manned, maybe not, maybe asked for ID, maybe not.

 

I see somebody just posted a confused emoticon so perhaps a few more words.

 

In the North and Central areas of Thailand, there are frequent police/army checks on travellers going from A to B on major roads, they are looking for illegals and for drugs. If I drive from CM to Chiang Rai I expect to encounter two of them, typically I will be waved through but I have been stopped and questioned and on one occasion searched. More interestingly there is even one road in the North that runs along the border into Mai Sai which is marked as a tourist route on the maps, in fact when you turn onto the road you'll find a sandbagged army blockade where your ID is noted on a clipboard and you're allowed 2 hours to get to the other end of the road before a search is sent out. Doit Tung to Mai Sai, great scenery.

Edited June 7, 20188 yr by simoh1490

49 minutes ago, Dazinoz said:

That is an option and I Just found Kan Air flies direct to Hua Hin but the aircraft is under maintenance. I am waiting a reply from them as to when it will be available again but, as usual with most Thai companies, they don't like to reply to email.

 

Main reason I am looking at other methods is lady I am taking is from Myanmar and her pink id restricts her to Chiang Mai and need to go get letter to allow her out of area. Last time we did this we rolled up to airport and the airline would not let her fly.

 

Kan air doesn't offer flights between CM and HH any more. Hasn't done for more than a year.

 

 

5 minutes ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

 

Kan air doesn't offer flights between CM and HH any more. Hasn't done for more than a year.

 

 

Well up to date website. When I tried to book today it just said aircraft under maintenance. TiT.

3 hours ago, Dazinoz said:

Well up to date website. When I tried to book today it just said aircraft under maintenance. TiT.

Kan Air do not fly anywhere.

3 hours ago, Lacessit said:

Why not split the run up into two days? Low season, easy to find good standard hotels for 500 - 700 baht a night. Or more if you want to detour occasionally.

I agree - if you are not time restricted just head south and when tired or bored just stop at a hotel. Sticking to times etc is not a good idea. Do you have GPS?

13 hours ago, sanemax said:

You can still take a bus , if She had travel documents , she will have no problem at any road blocks .

   You can still buy her a bus ticket and she will be allowed to board the bus , aeroplanes are different because you need identification (passport or I.D card)

She can fly if she has "the letter" from her consulate. First time was ok but last time we had flights, hotel and transfers booked but when we got to the checkin counter they refused to let her fly because the letter was not correct. So we lost all that pre paid monies.

 

I don't want to to go by bus. Probably just as dangerous by car but I feel I have some control unlike sitting in a bus.

13 hours ago, simoh1490 said:

The only tricky part is getting the right turn off around Bangkok, as I recall you need to follow the signs for Chainat in order to get on the right road but don't take that as advice. Also, Cha Am is nicer and cheaper to stay than Hua Hin, IMO. 

Hopefully my navigation software will know but I have not used it much in Thailand, mainly Australia.

13 hours ago, simoh1490 said:

I just read this - be aware that on the drive from CM to Hua Hin you will encounter at least two or three police stops, maybe manned, maybe not, maybe asked for ID, maybe not.

 

I see somebody just posted a confused emoticon so perhaps a few more words.

 

In the North and Central areas of Thailand, there are frequent police/army checks on travellers going from A to B on major roads, they are looking for illegals and for drugs. If I drive from CM to Chiang Rai I expect to encounter two of them, typically I will be waved through but I have been stopped and questioned and on one occasion searched. More interestingly there is even one road in the North that runs along the border into Mai Sai which is marked as a tourist route on the maps, in fact when you turn onto the road you'll find a sandbagged army blockade where your ID is noted on a clipboard and you're allowed 2 hours to get to the other end of the road before a search is sent out. Doit Tung to Mai Sai, great scenery.

 We have been stopped a couple of times travelling from Chiang Rai or Fang to CM but usually just look and see farang with his "Thai" lady and waves us on. Never had document check driving, other than DL.

9 hours ago, pontious said:

Kan Air do not fly anywhere.

Have they ceased flying? 

9 hours ago, pontious said:

I agree - if you are not time restricted just head south and when tired or bored just stop at a hotel. Sticking to times etc is not a good idea. Do you have GPS?

Yep I think thats what will happen.

 

I have a very good navigation software on my iPad or iPhone which I used a lot in Australia but not much here.

 

Hua Hin to cm usually takes me around 6 days via Tak,  Umphang, Mae Sot, Mae Sariang, Mae Hong Son, Pai   ?

 

Use google maps or maps.me

 

last summer ( an heading back next month) did a lot of small roads above CM towards fang, Mai Ai , Doi Mae Salong and Thoed Thai, ( khun Sa's old home)  along the burma border, stopped a few times and they always wanted to know what i was dong with a Khmer girl way up there  LOL

Edited June 8, 20188 yr by phuketrichard

Yes did it two years ago in two half's over night in Nakron Sawan I would not want to try it in one around 16hrs did the same on the way back and drove to Mae Sot for a visa run never again road from hell that bit. 

Bangkok Hua Him return last week. 3 hours each way, road was pretty good.

The roads are good, you have to worry about other drivers... 

 

There will be police checkpoints along the way. If this is legal fine, if not, I would not take the chance.

I'd worry a lot less about the condition of the roads and worry a lot more about the Thai drivers on those roads. They will kill you with their ultra poor driving skills/habits. Remember 90+% have never had any driving instruction and learned on their own by hopping on a motor scooter when they were 14 years old.

7 hours ago, Dazinoz said:

Yep I think thats what will happen.

 

I have a very good navigation software on my iPad or iPhone which I used a lot in Australia but not much here.

 

You shouldn't need "navaps" as it's a pretty straight forward run, and done it many times. Not too far out of Don Mueng airport on highway #1 you will see the massive flyover system for Bangkok ring roads. You make the turn to the eastern ring roday which is highway #9 follow that (good road) all the way round Bangkok till you see highway #35 where you make a right turn. That will take you through Samut Sakhon and Samut Songkhram. Not too far out of Samut Songkhram you will come to a "T" junction with highway #4 turn left and follow the road down to Hua Hin

  Takes me around 7 plus hours the the ring road turn off and another 3 to Pratchup. Have a safe trip

Go to Google Maps and put in CM to Hua Hin, it'll let you see the options. Route 9 to the west of BKK gives two options for the rest of the route. Always good to pre-plan.

7 hours ago, Dazinoz said:

Have they ceased flying? 

Yes

I recently drove HH to Nakhon Sawan (using Here app). Straight to Ratchaburi, miss Bangkok all together 3238, 3526, 321 all quieter roads mostly running alongside a canal beware of unobserved crossroads. Heading towards Chai Nat, joins on to AH1 the main highway north. That would be enough for one days driving, many motels/resorts on the way so overnight & take it from there....around 6.5 hours to Nakhon Sawan, good luck.

Kan Air went out of business last year. There's some talk that AirAsia might start flying the route but nothing concrete yet. 

 

Can't talk about the drive past Bangkok but the road is fine to that point - if anything it's boring. There is a fair bit a road work though the further south you get. I always split it in two but you could do the Bangkok leg in about 8 hours and Hua Hin would be another 3-4 hours after that.