Prem Tinsulanonda International School (PTIS).

The campus, and how you actually get there

Address: 234 Moo 3, Huay Sai, Mae Rim, Chiang Mai 50180

One of the largest international-school campuses in northern Thailand: an expansive, low-density site in the Mae Rim countryside with extensive sports facilities, arts spaces and boarding houses, and the space for the outdoor and experiential programme that setting allows. The rural position is the whole point for many families — and the reason the commute is what it is.

Getting there: There is no urban rail in Chiang Mai, so this is a driving school run. The campus sits in Mae Rim, roughly 30–40 minutes north of the Old City depending on the Chotana/Highway 107 traffic, and materially longer if you live south of the airport in Hang Dong or Saraphi. Most families either live in the northern belt — Mae Rim, San Sai, Chang Phueak — or use the school's bus network. Boarding removes the run entirely, which is one reason a share of PTIS families choose it.

Chiang Mai has no urban rail — no BTS, no MRT, no commuter metro. The city's railway station serves intercity trains to Bangkok, and the long-discussed Chiang Mai light-rail scheme remains unbuilt, so every school run here is a car, a motorbike, a red songthaew, a Grab or the school bus. Read the Chiang Mai getting-around guide and the Chiang Mai area guides before you commit to a neighbourhood.

Smoke-season air quality at this campus

PTIS publishes a dedicated air-quality page and states that it aims to exceed WHO air-quality targets during the smoke season. The school describes Positive Pressure System (PPS) filtration in all classrooms and learning spaces including indoor sports facilities, with AQI, CO₂ and temperature monitored in those spaces, and says the systems hold near-zero PM2.5 indoors even when outdoor air is hazardous. This is among the most detailed smoke-season provision published by any Chiang Mai school — confirm current coverage building-by-building on a visit.

Northern Thailand's burning season runs roughly February to April, when agricultural burning and forest fires push Chiang Mai high into the global air-quality rankings — IQAir placed the city among the ten most polluted in the world on 4 March 2026, with AQI above 150 and PM2.5 the dominant pollutant. For a family with young children this is a legitimate school-selection criterion, not a footnote. Our Chiang Mai air-quality guide covers the season in full.

The curriculum pathway

How a child progresses through the school, stage by stage:

• IB Primary Years Programme (PYP) — Grade 1 through primary
• IB Middle Years Programme (MYP) — the middle years
• IB Diploma Programme (DP) — Grades 11–12
• IB Career-related Programme (IBCP) — the post-16 career-related alternative to the Diploma

Accreditation & memberships

Accreditation is the closest thing to an objective quality signal in international schooling — it means an outside body has inspected governance, teaching and safeguarding. BAANLYY does not rank schools, so this is what Prem Tinsulanonda International School (PTIS) and its accrediting bodies publish, not our verdict:

• Council of International Schools (CIS)
• New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC)
• IB World School — authorised for the PYP, MYP, Diploma Programme and Career-related Programme
• Registered with the Thai Ministry of Education
• Boarding Schools' Association (BSA) member
• Round Square member — the international network built around experiential and service learning

Boarding and the size of the school

Boarding: Day and boarding, with boarding from the middle and senior years. PTIS is the most established boarding operation in Chiang Mai and a Boarding Schools' Association member, which matters if you are relocating without the family, or living in another province.

Scale: A mid-sized school — a roll of roughly 500 students is commonly reported, drawn from somewhere near 29 nationalities, split across the primary, middle and senior sections. Roll and nationality figures move every year and schools report them differently — treat these as indicative and ask the admissions office for the current numbers.

Who this school tends to suit

Families who want the full IB continuum in one school, all the way to a Diploma or the career-related IBCP, without a mid-secondary change of exam system. The Mae Rim setting suits those who actively want countryside, space and an outdoor programme rather than a city campus — and the boarding option suits families splitting time between Chiang Mai and elsewhere.

This is our editorial read for relocation planning, not a ranking or a recommendation — and no school pays to appear on BAANLYY. Visit shortlisted campuses before you decide.

Living near Prem Tinsulanonda International School (PTIS)

The northern belt is the natural catchment. These are the BAANLYY area guides families use for this school run:

Check the school's bus catchment before you sign. Chiang Mai's international schools cluster in two distinct belts — the northern one around Mae Rim and San Sai, and the far larger southern one through Hang Dong, Mae Hia and Saraphi — and picking a home in the wrong belt turns a fifteen-minute run into a daily hour.

What to confirm directly with the school

BAANLYY deliberately does not publish per-school tuition figures: they change annually, schools publish their own current schedules, and a stale number is worse than none. Take this list to the admissions office:

• Boarding availability by year group, and whether weekly or full boarding is offered for the age you need.
• Whether the IBCP is running for the subject combination your child wants — career-related pathways depend on the partner qualifications offered in a given year.
• Current bus routes from the southern and eastern suburbs, which are the long runs to Mae Rim.
• The current fee schedule — tuition, application and registration fees, any refundable deposit or capital/development levy, uniforms, lunches, the bus and trips.
• Whether the year group you need has a place, or a waitlist, for your intended start date.
• Smoke-season provision in detail: which buildings are filtered, whether the sports halls and canteen are included as well as classrooms, whether indoor and outdoor AQI readings are published to parents, and the school's written policy for cancelling outdoor activities. This is the single most important Chiang Mai-specific question a family can ask, and provision varies enormously between campuses.
• School bus routes, catchment zones and pick-up times for the specific neighbourhood you are considering — several Chiang Mai schools sit well outside the ring roads, and a home ten minutes further out but on the route can be the easier morning.
• Entry requirements: assessments, interviews, English-language support and the school reports or transcripts you must supply.
• How far the school takes your child, and on which exam pathway — Chiang Mai mixes American/AP, Cambridge IGCSE and A-level, and IB Diploma routes, and switching between them mid-secondary is disruptive.

Visit the official Prem Tinsulanonda International School (PTIS) website →

Sources & References

• Ministry of Education, Thailand

Primary and official sources are cited above. Government rules, fees and procedures in Thailand change over time and vary by office; always confirm current requirements with the relevant authority before relying on them. BAANLYY never takes paid placement in editorial content.