The one-line version: as of 19 August 2026 Mae Hong Son is a road province and nothing else. There is no railway and there never has been; the airport is open but has had no scheduled service since Bangkok Airways withdrew on 1 July 2025, and the airline that published an October 2026 replacement schedule postponed it indefinitely on 19 August. Everything in and out is bus or your own vehicle, over six to eight hours of mountain road to Chiang Mai.
Getting in and out
| Mode | Status | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Air — Mae Hong Son Airport (HGN) | Open, staffed, and almost empty | The airport is in tambon Chong Kham beside the town, with a single 2,000m asphalt runway (11/29) at 283m elevation, operated by the Department of Airports. Bangkok Airways grounded its northern flights from 15 March to 20 April 2025 for smoke-related visibility, then suspended the Suvarnabhumi–Mae Hong Son service (routed via Lampang) from 1 July 2025 on fleet and commercial grounds. No scheduled passenger service has operated since. The Department of Airports' 2025 figures put the airport at 6,084 passengers and 170 aircraft movements for the whole year — down 55.4 and 65.4 per cent respectively. That is roughly three movements a week at an airport that still runs a terminal, and it is the number behind the phrase 'no scheduled service'. |
| Air — the Ezy Airlines routes | Announced, postponed, then scrapped | Ezy Airlines — operated by M-Landarch Co., Ltd. — published a two-a-day Chiang Mai–Mae Hong Son schedule (EZT601/605 out, EZT602/606 back) and a daily Chiang Mai–Pai schedule to start on 1 October 2026, with introductory flights from 17 September, flown by twelve-seat Cessna 208B Grand Caravan EX aircraft. Two of the twelve seats are crew, leaving ten to sell. Both routes were test-flown. On 19 August 2026 the airline postponed all three of its northern routes — Mae Hong Son, Pai and Nan — indefinitely while awaiting Chiang Mai Airport's approval for its own ground handling; ticket sales had been due to open on 17 August. On 24–25 August 2026 the plan was reported scrapped altogether after Chiang Mai International Airport set an aircraft parking fee of ฿40,000 for each use of the airport. The arithmetic is the whole story: ten saleable seats at the planned fare would not have covered the parking fee on a full aircraft. Mae Sot in Tak was dropped with them; the airline's southern network from Hat Yai is unaffected. |
| Air — what the fares were going to be | Sources disagree; both are printed here | Reporting of the planned Chiang Mai–Mae Hong Son fare does not agree. Coverage around the launch announcement quoted roughly ฿3,000–3,500; the reporting of the cancellation, sourced to the operator's own planning, quoted roughly ฿2,500–3,000 (about US$72–86). At the higher of the cancellation figures a completely full aircraft grosses ฿30,000 against a ฿40,000 parking fee, which is the operator's stated reason for walking away. We print both ranges rather than pick one, because neither is a published tariff — no ticket was ever sold on this route. |
| Rail | None, and never has been | There is no railway anywhere in Mae Hong Son province and no line has ever been built to it. The nearest railhead is in Chiang Mai. |
| Road — Route 108 | The southern approach | From Hot in Chiang Mai province through Mae Sariang and Khun Yuam to Mae Hong Son: 345km. This is the longer route in distance but the gentler one in gradient, and it is the road that connects the province's second town. |
| Road — Route 1095 | The northern approach, via Pai | From Mae Taeng in Chiang Mai province through Pai: 246km. Its curves are counted at 762 between Mae Malai and Pai and at more than 1,864 for the full run to Mae Hong Son — counts vary by who is counting and from where, and both figures circulate. Together with Route 108 it forms the Mae Hong Son Loop. |
| Bus | The scheduled link, and the only one | Prem Pracha Transport and Sombat Tour run the province's services. Chiang Mai–Pai–Mae Hong Son is about 250km and six hours; Chiang Mai–Mae Sariang–Mae Hong Son is about 359km and eight hours; Bangkok–Mae Hong Son is about 928km and seventeen hours. There is also a Mae Sot–Mae Sariang service linking the province to Tak. |
One caveat on sources worth stating openly: the English Wikipedia article on Mae Hong Son province still describes Bangkok Airways as operating daily Chiang Mai–Mae Hong Son flights and Kan Air as operating Chiang Mai–Pai three times a week. Both descriptions predate the current situation. This is a common failure mode for provincial reference pages — a route disappears and the article does not — and it is exactly why we date every operational claim on this page and tell you to confirm with an airline before you plan around one.
Getting around locally
| Mode | Where it works | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Walking | Workable in the provincial town | Chong Kham is a town of about 7,000 people around a small lake. The hospital, the market, the bus terminal, the temples and the airport are all within a couple of kilometres. This is the one address in the province where a vehicle is genuinely optional. |
| Songthaew | Town and near-district routes | Shared pickups cover the main town routes and some of the near villages. Routes are local knowledge rather than published timetable — ask at your guesthouse. |
| Motorcycle taxi | Short hops in town | Available in the capital and in Pai. Not a way to cross the province. |
| Your own motorbike | The practical default | What almost everyone actually uses. Be honest with yourself about mountain riding: these are the most demanding roads in Thailand, wet in the monsoon, and motorbike accidents are by a wide margin the most serious risk to foreign residents anywhere in the country. |
| Your own car | What makes the province usable | Seven district towns across 12,765 km2 of mountain, an hour or more apart. A car with a real engine is what turns Mae Hong Son from one town into a province, and what makes the six-to-eight-hour Chiang Mai run something you will actually do. |
The shape of the province matters more here than the modes do. Mae Hong Son is 12,765 square kilometres — the seventh largest province in Thailand — with 288,082 people on it at 23 per square kilometre, the lowest density in the country, and 85.5 per cent of it under forest. Seven district towns are strung along two highways with mountain between them. That means the difference between living in the provincial town and living anywhere else is not a matter of convenience, it is a different life: in Chong Kham you can walk to the hospital, and in Sop Moei you cannot drive to it in under two hours.
The Mae Hong Son Loop, and why it matters to residents
Route 1095 north through Pai and Route 108 south through Mae Sariang together form the Mae Hong Son Loop, which most people know as a four-day motorcycle route out of Chiang Mai. For a resident it is something more prosaic and more important: it is the province's entire connection to the rest of Thailand, and it means there are exactly two ways home. When one is closed by landslide or flood — which happens in the monsoon — the other is a long detour rather than an alternative. The third exit, south from Mae Sariang to Mae Sot in Tak province, is the one most visitors never use and the one worth knowing about, because it is the only way out of Mae Hong Son that does not go through Chiang Mai.
The season that grounds aircraft
Transport in Mae Hong Son has a fourth variable that most Thai provinces do not: visibility. In March 2025 Bangkok Airways cancelled all its Suvarnabhumi flights to Lampang and Mae Hong Son from 15 March to 20 April specifically because of haze from wildfires in northern Thailand and across the border. Research on upper northern Thailand has recorded the region's highest haze-season PM2.5 average here, at 50.7 µg/m³, with a peak of 514 µg/m³ logged at Khun Yuam. The provincial natural resources office has reported real improvement in fire numbers — hotspots down from 758 in January–February 2024 to 97 over the same period in 2025 — but if a scheduled air link does return, plan on it being unreliable in March and April.
Frequently asked
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Talk to BAANLYY about how a road-only province fits the way you actually travel.
Sources & References
- Mae Hong Son province — Wikipedia
- Mae Hong Son Airport — Wikipedia
- Ezy Airlines postpones 3 northern Thailand routes (19 Aug 2026) — The Thaiger
- Chiang Mai–Mae Hong Son flights could be dropped over ฿40,000 parking fee (25 Aug 2026) — The Thaiger
- EZY Airlines October 2026 schedule for Chiang Mai–Mae Hong Son and Chiang Mai–Pai — Chiang Mai Citylife
- Bangkok Airways halts flights to Lampang and Mae Hong Son amid smog crisis — The Nation
- Bangkok Airways to suspend Bangkok (Suvarnabhumi) – Lampang route — The Nation
- Highway 1095 (Thailand) — Wikipedia
- Tourism Authority of Thailand
- Department of Land Transport, Thailand
- Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT)
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.
Flight and bus services, journey times and fares change — confirm with the operator, the airline or the terminal before travelling. Airline route status is as reported on 19 August 2026 and is not a commitment by any carrier. Hero photograph via Pexels.
