How to cross the border from Thailand to Myanmar by land at Mae Sot

Mae Sot is very easy to reach if you're coming from Chiang Mai or Bangkok.

From Chiang Mai

We went by bus from Chiang Mai. Only one company runs this route, Green Bus, twice a day: one bus at 8 a.m. and another at 1 p.m. You can buy your ticket through 12Go Asia or at any travel agency. Ours cost 300 baht (US$10). The trip takes 6 hours. We left at 8 in the morning and got in around 14:30.

The bus drops you at a station 3 km (1.9 miles) from the border, so if you don't want to walk you can take a tuk-tuk. We shared one with some people who'd been on the bus with us, and it cost us 20 baht per person (less than US$1).

The border is a super simple process. First they have to stamp your passport on the Thai side, showing that you've left the country. Once your passport is stamped, you cross the Friendship Bridge that separates Myanmar from Thailand. On the Myanmar side they'll check your printed visa, you'll have to fill out an immigration form, they stamp your passport and that's it. You're in Myanmar.

As soon as you leave the immigration booth, the man who runs all the taxis will probably come up to you. He's the only one who speaks English and he'll help you. We know Southeast Asia makes us all super suspicious, but this man really does run everything, so you're better off negotiating with him.

We arranged a shared taxi to Hpa An for 250 baht each. He usually tries to charge 300 baht (US$10). And since we weren't going back to Thailand afterward, he helped us change our leftover baht into kyats (Myanmar's currency).

The taxi to Hpa An takes about 5 hours. We left around 15:30 and arrived at 20:30. It's a long way and the road has some disastrous stretches, dirt tracks full of potholes and detours. It's best not to do it at night like we did, because these roads are pretty dangerous.

If you get to the border at night, we recommend sleeping on the Thai side, where there are many more hotels, and crossing in the morning.

Important: Until recently, you couldn't travel the road from Myawaddy to Hpa An every day, because on even days traffic went in one direction and on odd days in the other. That's no longer the case.

For Argentine passports, Myanmar has no visa on arrival, so you have to get it in advance. It lets you stay in the country for 28 days. There are two ways to get it:

Embassy visa: You can get the visa at a Myanmar embassy. The price depends on how fast you want it, but it varies between US$50 and US$80. This way of getting the visa was very common before the e-Visa existed.

e-Visa: The easiest way to do it. You can get it from the official immigration website: https://evisa.moip.gov.mm/

It costs US$50 and takes about 3 business days to come through. To apply, you have to say which border crossing you plan to use, upload a passport-style photo to the system (it can be one you take with your phone against a white background) and pay. Remember to print it, because they'll ask for it at the border.

The e-Visa is valid for entry through the three international airports and the following land crossings:

• Mae Sot / Myawaddy (Thailand)
• Mae Sai / Tachileik (Thailand)
• Ranong / Kawthaung (Thailand)
• Moreh / Tamu (India)
• Zokhawthar / Rih Khaw Dar (India)