Mae Salong
Where to lay your head
Where to lay your head
A good bunch of accommodation is available in Mae Salong, though we’re partial to the excellent Rimtaan Guesthouse out in Hin Taek.
For a small town, Mae Salong offers a wide choice of accommodation and several more hotels and guesthouses, particularly in the midrange, were under construction at the time of our visit in late 2015. Broadly speaking, accommodation becomes larger and newer the further you head out of town from the cramped, but full of character, Shinsane in the centre to the spacious, park-like Flower Hills Resort out of town. Although lacking top-end options, Mae Salong has low to mid-budget very well covered but during high season can get very busy. While there are plenty of alternatives to the below, if you want your first choice it may be worth booking in advance.
Just around the corner from the old Shin Sane are the brand new, bright yellow bungalows belonging to Little Home and a jolly good spot they have here too. Don’t be put off by the mosque immediately behind the guesthouse – there’s no early morning call to prayer broadcast in Mae Salong. Set back from the main road in a tiny garden, it’s actually a peaceful spot. The individual, concrete... Read our full review of Mae Salong Little Home.
Osman House is a new, very modern-looking building perched precariously at the side of the main street and thus with stupendous views down the valley to the north. As you enter the lobby and restaurant from the street you’re already on the fourth floor. We’re not entirely convinced by the decor and its kind of textured, polished concrete walls seem a bit out of place in the middle of Mae... Read our full review of Osman House.
When Shin Sane opened in 1970 no roads led to or from here and Mae Salong was still a KMT military base and not more than nominally part of Thailand. Across the valley lay Khun Sa’s camp and the hills were covered in poppy fields. It must have been a wild place! This was in the heart of the real Golden Triangle, not the bunch of T-shirt vendors in a coach park it’s become today. Of course, the... Read our full review of Shin Sane Guest House and Bungalows.
Set towards the western edge of town, just before the hilltribe market, Khumnaiphol has both hotel-style rooms and individual bungalows. The hotel rooms are pretty standard fare: clean, with comfortable bedding, WiFi and cable TVs, but there is little view to speak of and may get a bit of noise from the nearby restaurant if things are busy. The bungalows on the other hand are a couple of minutes’... Read our full review of Khumnaiphol Resort .
Mae Salong Flower Hills Resort is set on a hillside north of the road, about two kilometres to the east before arriving in Mae Salong proper. With a spectacular manicured flower garden, this place is almost an attraction in its own right. There’s a mixture of individual concrete bungalows and rooms in blocks and most, but not all, have splendid views across the valley. (Rooms without views are... Read our full review of Mae Salong Flower Hills Resort.
The longstanding Mae Salong Villa, lying a few minutes’ walk east of the town centre along the main road, has a very Chinese style to it and not surprisingly attracts plenty of Chinese tour groups. The location is around a kilometre east of the town centre, with rows of rooms constructed in a garden up a steep hillside on the edge of the main road. Actual rooms are pretty good and well designed... Read our full review of Mae Salong Villa.
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Though certainly characterless from the outside, the rooms in this two-storey, orange-painted block, while nothing flashy, are actually good. Like the exterior, they’re sparse, though fortunately not orange as well – they’re lime green instead. Rooms are clean with well functioning hot, power showers,, WiFi and table and chairs on a small balcony (second floor only). There’s no air-con but... Read our full review of Sabaidee Maesalong.
Another new entry into Mae Salong’s accommodation scene as of 2015, boutique-style Yao Hong Fun boasts 17 modern rooms in all with classy decor. It’s located around a kilometre west of town on the highway, so it’s not very handy unless you have your own transport, but during low season it does have some solid rooms for fair rates. (We do find their high season prices way too high for Mae... Read our full review of Yao Hong Fu Resort.
Around 25 kilometres along a good road from Mae Salong itself, Hin Taek doesn’t offer much in the way of accommodation options, but that’s okay as you don’t need to look further than the excellent Rimtaan Guesthouse.
The best guesthouse in the area isn’t actually in Mae Salong but in Hin Taek village down the road. Situated at the entrance to the village on the left and with lush gardens leading down to the Khan River, the guesthouse is an absolute delight. On entering from the main road you’ll find the reception and cafe area after a small carpark. Beyond this the garden stretches away, partially... Read our full review of Rimtaan Guesthouse.
If Mae Salong isn’t far enough off the trodden track for you, consider spending a night or two in the nearby Akha village of Hloyo.
Wind your way south from Mae Salong and you’ll soon reach the Akha village of Hloyo, set high atop a mountain shrouded in lychee and coffee trees. Travellers seeking a culturally immersive experience can check into the only place to stay: Akha Mudhouse. Welcome to the Mudhouse. The one-of-a-kind homestay was created by Yohan, an Akha man from Hloyo who studied in Israel and worked as a tour... Read our full review of Akha Mudhouse.
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