Will be taking a motorcycle trip with my son over to Phrae later this month. We do not have unlimited time, so I am looking for combination highway and local routes to Phrae. Looking at Google maps, I am contemplating taking Hwy 11 about 2/3 down and then take the left at Baan Bo Lek Long onto local road 1023 ( I have a penchant for these 4-digit roads), taking the back road from the west into Phrae. Any thoughts, alternatives, and suggestions for accommodations in Muang Phrae. We are both very competent Thai speakers.

Also looking at various routes going north from Phrae into Nan and then up to Chiang Saen. Once in that area I am back in familiar territory. And yes, I will be buying a dinner or two for my good friend Mr. GT-Rider to mine his wealth of information as well.

In case others may search, the ride to Phrae was great. Taking 1023 through Long into Phrae was great, with a combination of typical rural padi scenery and some great mountain roads as well. Although the city of Phrae is a generic modern, bustling, Thai provincial capitol town, once off the busy main streets I thought I had been transported some 30 years back into Chiang Mai. I stayed at the Thepvong Place, a traditional Thai style hotel run by a very friendly Brit-Thai couple, and all the other Thais I met in Phrae were equally as friendly. The rooms were clean and affordable and it makes for a comfortable stay as I explored the surrounding region. This is a province worthy of further exploration.