Wat Phraphutthabat Si Roi

Wat Phraphutthabat Si Roi is a pretty temple built near the place that pilgrims found four different footprints believing to be made by Buddha. Wat Phraphutthabat Si Roi is located in Mae Rim district, about an hour away from Chiang Mai city.  The road to the temple makes for an interesting bike ride as the road winds through the Chiang Mai countryside with various farms, villages and jungle along the way.  As the temple is relatively little known the traffic remains light making the ride that much more enjoyable.

This particular route started from Him Huai coffee shop which is a good place to have some breakfast and a coffee before setting off for the tough climb.  The coffee shop opens at 9am.  The climb up the road starts off relatively gentle before a grueling middle section with a number of steep switchbacks to cycle up before another quite gentle section to the temple.  The climb is 14km in total and approx 800m of gain.  Whilst it is easy enough just to cycle back along the same road to the starting point an interesting detour can be found 2km from the temple grounds with a dirt dual track pealing off on the right as you approach the temple.  The trail is not technical but quite overgrown in places and there are several sections with deep ruts which are a bit difficult to navigate.  This eventually leads out of the forest and joins a quiet country road with more great scenery all around.  After several km you will rejoin the road right next to Him Huai coffee shop.

In total the route was 37.4km with over 1100m of gain with 70% on paved roads, 25% on dual dirt track and 5% single track.  I would recommend the ride for any fan of riding up to Doi Suthep as the road is far less congested and the scenery equally as nice.  Wat Phraphutthabat Si Roi was a really nice surprise and despite various construction going on as of 2019 makes for an interesting stop off.

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