Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai is the easiest journey in northern Thailand and the one people most often do wrong. It’s three hours on a good road, there’s a comfortable bus every hour or so for the price of a cocktail, and the two cities are different enough that the second one justifies its own nights. Yet the most popular way to “see” Chiang Rai is still a thirteen-hour day tour from Chiang Mai that spends six of those hours in a minivan and twenty minutes at each temple. Here’s every way to make the trip costed for 2026 — the Green Bus, the minivans, a private car that turns the road into the sightseeing, driving yourself, and the day-tour version — with the honest verdict on each and what to do with the White Temple, which is on the road in and is the reason to stop.
The short answer: take the Green Bus — ฿200–400 depending on class, three to three and a half hours, a dozen departures a day from Chiang Mai’s Arcade terminal — and stay at least one night. If you’re three or four people, a private car with stops at the hot springs and Wat Rong Khun costs about the same per head as the bus and is a far better day. There are no direct flights and no train. What’s waiting at the other end is in our Chiang Rai guide; what you’re leaving behind is in Chiang Mai’s.
Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai: your options compared
One-way, one adult, August 2026 prices; times are terminal to terminal. It’s about 190 km on Route 118.
| Route | Time | Cost | Best for | Book |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Green Bus (express or VIP) | 3–3½ hours | ฿200–260 express, ฿300–400 VIP | Almost everyone | Buses on 12Go |
| Shared minivan | 3 hours | ฿200–300 | Odd hours; light luggage | Vans on 12Go |
| Private car with driver, stops on the way | 3 hours + stops | ฿2,500–3,500 per car | Groups of 3–4; anyone wanting the White Temple on the way | Private transfers on 12Go |
| Self-drive rental car | 2½–3 hours + stops | ฿900–1,500 a day + fuel | Road-trippers continuing to the Golden Triangle or Nan | — |
| Day tour from Chiang Mai | 12–13 hours, back the same night | ฿1,000–1,600 | Only if Chiang Rai can’t get a night | Day tours on GetYourGuide |
| Flight | — | — | No direct flights; both airports route via Bangkok | — |
The Green Bus: the right answer, most days
Green Bus is the northern coach company and this is its flagship route: departures roughly hourly from about 7am to 6.30pm from Chiang Mai Bus Terminal 3 (the Arcade terminal complex, north-east of the Old City — ฿100–150 by Grab), three to three and a half hours along Route 118 through Doi Saket and the Mae Kachan hills, arriving in Chiang Rai at Bus Terminal 2 on the edge of town and then, on most services, Terminal 1 in the centre, a five-minute walk from the clock tower, the night bazaar and most hotels. Check your ticket for which: Terminal 1 is the one you want; from Terminal 2 a shared songthaew into town is ฿20–30 or a Grab ฿100–150. Classes: express (X-class) is a normal air-con coach at around ฿200–260; VIP is the three-across 33-seater with wide reclining seats, a snack and water, for ฿300–400, and on a three-hour ride it is worth the difference for the legroom alone. The buses are refrigerated — bring a layer — and the road’s only real climb, over the ridge before Wiang Pa Pao, is gentle enough that car-sickness is rarely the problem it is on the Pai road.
Verdict: take it. Book the morning VIP a day ahead in high season and on Thai long weekends; in green season you can walk up. Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai buses on 12Go show the class and departure time per seat, and the return, Chiang Rai to Chiang Mai, runs the same pattern.
Minivans: faster, tighter, same road
Minivans from the Arcade terminal do the trip in about three hours for ฿200–300, with the usual trade: they leave when full, the seats are narrow, large bags ride on your knees or the seat beside you, and the drivers are in more of a hurry than Green Bus’s. They fill the gaps when the bus you wanted has gone. Verdict: fine with a small bag and no particular wish for comfort; otherwise the VIP bus for ฿100 more is the better three hours.
Private car with stops: the transfer as the day
This is the version we’d book for three or four people. A car and driver for the day is ฿2,500–3,500 and stops where the bus can’t: the Mae Kachan hot springs at the halfway point (free to wander, a few baht to boil eggs in the spring), a coffee in the hills, and — the point — Wat Rong Khun, the White Temple, which sits on the highway before Chiang Rai town, so the car drops you there mid-afternoon, waits, and takes you on to your hotel. Entry is ฿100 for foreigners. Split four ways the car is ฿700–900 a head, which is VIP-bus money with the White Temple thrown in, and you’re at the temple at 3pm when the coaches have thinned rather than 11am when they haven’t. Hotels in Chiang Mai will quote more for the same thing; the fixed prices are on 12Go under private transfers.
Verdict: the best way to do this trip as a group; poor value solo. Private Chiang Mai–Chiang Rai transfers on 12Go let you pick the vehicle size; ask the driver for the White Temple stop when you book, not on the day.
Driving yourself: the north rewards it
Route 118 is a good two-lane highway with one mountain section, and a rental car from Chiang Mai airport is ฿900–1,500 a day — worth it if Chiang Rai is the first stop on a loop rather than the destination: the Golden Triangle and Chiang Saen, Mae Sai on the Burmese border, Doi Tung, Phu Chi Fa, and back via Phayao and Nan or the mountain road through Phrae. You’ll need an International Driving Permit with your home licence; police checkpoints on the northern roads do ask, and so will your insurer. A scooter is legal but it’s 190 km of highway, not a joyride — take the bus and rent a bike in Chiang Rai for the temples instead. Verdict: do it if the north is a road trip; skip it if you’re just moving cities.
The day tour: the popular wrong answer
The ฿1,000–1,600 day tour from Chiang Mai leaves at 7am, does the hot springs, the White Temple, the Blue Temple, usually the Black House and sometimes the Golden Triangle, and has you back in Chiang Mai around 8pm — about six hours in a minivan for two to three hours at the sights, each of them with every other minivan in the province. People come back saying Chiang Rai was “a bit touristy”, which is what thirteen hours of minivan does to any place. Verdict: only if Chiang Rai genuinely can’t have a night — and if so, pick the small-group version and accept the day for what it is. Better: bus up, sleep two nights, see the White Temple at opening time, and bus back.
Booking it: the White Temple, the terminals, and the onward roads
Wat Rong Khun is on the way in, not in town — 13 km south of Chiang Rai on the highway. If you come by bus, it’s a separate ฿30 shared songthaew or ฿150–200 Grab back out from town; if you come by car, stop there on arrival. Go at 8am or after 3pm; ฿100 entry for foreigners, shoulders and knees covered — our temple etiquette guide applies, and this one is stricter than most about photographs inside. Two terminals in Chiang Rai: 1 is in town, 2 is out of it; Green Bus calls at both on most runs. Cool season (November–February) is the north’s high season and the best time to be here — mornings in the hills can be under 10°C, so pack for it. Burning season (roughly late February to April) fills the whole north with smoke; the road is the same, the views are not, and the month-by-month guide has the honest version. Onward from Chiang Rai: buses to Chiang Khong for the Laos border and the Mekong slow boat to Luang Prabang (two hours), to Mae Sai and the Golden Triangle (an hour and a half), and Chiang Rai’s own airport flies to Bangkok for ฿1,000–2,500 — which is also how you’d “fly” from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai, and why nobody does. Cash for the songthaews and the night bazaar; ATMs charge the ฿220 fee, and the Price Index has the going rates at the other end.
Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai: your questions, answered
How long is the bus from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai?
Three to three and a half hours on the Green Bus, terminal to terminal, with departures roughly hourly from about 7am to 6.30pm. Minivans take about three hours; a private car the same plus whatever stops you make.
How much is the Green Bus from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai?
About ฿200–260 for the express class and ฿300–400 for VIP in 2026, a little more booked online. VIP is the 33-seat coach with wide reclining seats and is worth the extra on this route.
Is there a flight from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai?
No direct flights. Both cities have airports but they connect through Bangkok, which takes longer than the bus and costs several times as much. Fly into one and out of the other from Bangkok if you like; between them, drive or bus.
Can you visit the White Temple on the way from Chiang Mai?
Yes, and it’s the best way to see it: Wat Rong Khun is on the highway 13 km before Chiang Rai, so a private car can stop there mid-afternoon after the coaches have left. By bus you’ll need to come back out from town by songthaew or Grab. Entry ฿100 for foreigners.
Is a Chiang Rai day trip from Chiang Mai worth it?
Only if a night in Chiang Rai is impossible. It’s a 12–13-hour day with around six hours in a minivan and the temples at their busiest. Two nights in Chiang Rai with the White Temple at opening time is a far better use of the same ฿1,000–1,600.
Related guides
- Things to Do in Chiang Rai, Thailand: The Northern Province That Doesn’t Try to Be Chiang Mai
- Chiang Mai to Pai: Minivan, Private Car or the Scooter Everyone Regrets
- Bangkok to Chiang Mai — four ways to travel, honestly ranked
Book the trip
Some links in this guide are affiliate links. If you book through them we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you — it helps keep Destination Thailand independent.
Tickets: Green Bus express and VIP seats, minivans and private cars — Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai on 12Go. Hotels: the clock-tower centre, the riverside or the hills — compare Chiang Rai hotels on Agoda. Temples and the Golden Triangle: browse Chiang Rai tours on GetYourGuide once you’re there, rather than from Chiang Mai. Not sure the north is your Thailand? Our Where to Go in Thailand matcher scores all 77 provinces against your month and what you actually want from the trip.
