Overview

Although many visitors eventually suffer from temple fatigue, the fact is Chiang Mai has more than 700 temples in its valley, and some of them are among the most important and oldest in Thailand. Pick a few, such as Wat Chedi Luang and Wat Phra Singh, and poke your head into others on a whim. It’s also worth heading up Chiang Mai’s mountain, Doi Suthep, to admire its famous temple and visit the royal palace. After dark, the Night Bazaar comes alive with shopping galore and entertainment. But in reality, Chiang Mai is at its best when you’re just wandering around the old quarter watching local life trickle by.

Wat Chedi Luang

One temple not to miss is the city’s main heart of Buddhist worship. The original chedi, which was partially levelled by an earthquake, dates to 1411 and is the biggest in the city. There is also an exceptional central shrine, assembly hall and reclining Buddha, as well as monks’ quarters that offer a fascinating look into the working side of Thai temples.

Wat Phra Singh

This temple was built when Chiang Mai was at its height of power in 1345, and remains one of the most venerated sites in the city. If any Buddhist festival is happening, be sure and enjoy the sights here. Besides its stunning temples, there is a community of 700 monks studying here, who often enjoy practising English with foreigners.

Wat Phra That Doi Suthep

You can see the golden spires of this famous mountainside temple from the city, and it’s well worth a trip up the slopes to enjoy the temple complex with its four royal wats. At an elevation of 1,000m, it’s also a great way to escape the heat of the city below, and as you’d expect, the views are tremendous.

Sunday Walking Street

One of Chiang Mai’s most enjoyable weekly events happens every Sunday afternoon, when they close off the road leading from Tae Pae Gate into the old city. Hundreds of locals spread out their arts, crafts and knickknacks along the pedestrian streets, and the temple courtyards turn into food stall heaven.

Chiang Mai City Arts and Cultural Center

Across from the Three Kings Monument in the old city is a new museum that contains an interesting exhibit that walks visitors through the various eras of Chiang Mai, from its founding to the present day. Other exhibits display artefacts and other daily items from ancient northern Thailand.

Tribal Museum

Northern Thailand is home to a huge population of various diverse hilltribe groups such as the Lisu, Lahu, Karen and Hmong. They typically live their traditional way of life deep in the mountains and can be hard to access. This useful museum showcases each of the major ethnic groups and their unique customs.

Night Bazaar

It’s noisy, hopelessly crowded and packed with more vendors than you’ll ever have time to deal with, but this is Chiang Mai’s largest market, which appears every evening after the sun goes down. You can find everything here, from tacky souvenirs to ancient antiques, silverwork and traditional northern Thai crafts. There’s something for everyone hidden away in the Night Bazaar (if you can find it).

Overview

Nearly all of the sports and outdoor activities happen well outside Chiang Mai. The city is a good place to take a Thai cooking class, get a traditional Thai massage, or chat with a monk. But if you want to go trekking, mountain biking, ride an elephant or raft on the rivers you’ll need to visit one of the many tour companies around the city and arrange the adventure of your choice.

Trekking

Trekking into the lush mountains around Chiang Mai was one of the original excursions for tourists, and it remains a popular thing to do if you want to visit a hilltribe village or walk deep into the hills and experience the natural side of Thailand. There are countless trekking options offered by dozens of tour companies spread throughout the old city.

Monk chat

Those orange-robed monks are all over Chiang Mai, and most visitors would love to pick their brains but don’t know the etiquette involved. The monks at most temples are usually willing to chat in English with you, but if you really want some Buddhist education, visit the famous Monk Chat every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 17:00 to 19:00 at Wat Suan Dok temple.

Thai cooking classes

There are many really tasty Thai dishes, and they’re easier to prepare than you think. By taking a half-day cooking class you can learn how to shop for the ingredients at the fresh market and properly prepare your favourite curries and stir-fries. There are dozens of cooking schools in Chiang Mai with reasonable rates. Ask your hotel for their recommendation.

Boat cruises

The Ping River cuts right through the heart of Chiang Mai and offers a great way to see the city and its surrounding villages from a unique perspective. Visitors can hire their own long-tail boat from the pier at Wat Chaimongkol and enjoy a 2-hour cruise up the river. You’ll see countryside and riverside life, and of course, the ride itself is relaxation heaven.

Elephant rides

The elephant is greatly revered in Thailand, and Chiang Mai is one of the best places in Asia to get a close-up encounter with these amazing gentle creatures. Elephant training camps are located just outside the city and offer an easy way to ride one into the jungle, learn about their conservation, or enjoy their clever and entertaining talents. There are some 14 camps around Chiang Mai, but many are just tourist traps. Do some research and choose a camp that puts the elephant first, such as Maetamann Elephant Camp in Mae Rim.

Golf

Golf is a very popular sport, with many courses available to enjoy. There are some lovely courses around Chiang Mai open to the public for very reasonable greens fees. Green Valley and Lanna Golf Club are two of the nicest courses. Club rentals and caddies are available.

Extreme sports

There’s an action sport scene around Chiang Mai, mainly based in Mae Rim. Visitors can go bungy-jumping, fly in an ultra-light aircraft, or take a hot air balloon ride with Earth, Wind and Fire, the only company in Thailand authorised to take you ballooning. Rafting on a bamboo raft is another popular excursion, and there’s even a rock-climbing wall at The Peak.

Dining and Shopping

Chiang Mai is the nexus of northern Thai cooking, arguably the most interesting and delicious subgenre of Thai cuisine in the country. The dishes here are influenced by Burma, Laos and southern China and include some real treats you won’t find elsewhere in the country. Best of all, the prices are shockingly low just about everywhere you eat.

Among the local specialties not to miss are khao soy (yellow, Burmese curry with noodles), sai ua (Chiang Mai sausage) eaten with sticky rice, and laap (minced meat stir-fired with herbs and chilli peppers). One of the best ways to get a taste of all the classic northern Thai dishes is at a khantoke dinner. A full range of dishes is served for communal dining at your table as traditional Lanna music and dancing fills the background.

Great local food can be found in Chiang Mai’s many markets. Anusarn and Somphet are two of the most popular outdoor markets and accessible to the tourist areas. You can find all kinds of snacks, fresh fruit, desserts and fast food at these markets. The majority of restaurants in Chiang Mai serve Thai menus, though there is a thriving international cuisine scene here as well thanks to its popularity as a tourist destination.

It’s hard to find a bad restaurant in Chiang Mai. There are dozens of choices scattered throughout the old city, as well as along the main roads leading to the river and around the Night Bazaar. Dining along the river is something not to be missed. There are several restaurants with waterfront tables, and The Riverside even has a nightly dinner cruise.

Chiang Mai’s dining scene is only rivalled by its wealth of shopping opportunities. Craftspeople and artists from all over northern Thailand bring their wares to Chiang Mai to sell in the markets and shops. Visitors can find high quality handicrafts, weavings, Buddhist images, and of course, plenty of tacky souvenirs and brand-name knock-offs.

The list of great buys is simply too long to detail, but there are several standout crafts which Chiang Mai is famous for. The city is an ideal place to buy hilltribe weavings and crafts, lacquerware, Celadon pottery, and silverwork along the famous Wulai Road. The creativity of Chiang Mai’s artisan population knows no bounds, and interesting new creations appear frequently using natural materials like bamboo, rattan, and sa paper.

The Night Bazaar has long been considered the centre of craft shopping in Chiang Mai. Its stalls are crammed together, leaving precious little room to walk along the crowded footpaths packed with people. It’s not the most relaxing shopping experience, but there certainly is a huge selection there. The Sunday Walking Street is a better bet for unique buys. Although it also gets very crowded due to its popularity, the vendors spread out on the sidewalks, offering you a more open-air feeling while browsing the goods.

There are also dozens of interesting shops in the old city, along Tae Pae Road and in the massive Warowot Market near the river. In recent years, Nimmanhaemin Road, on the west side of town, has become a hot spot for trendy art galleries, where they furnishings and fashions. But if you have time, head out to the surrounding villages, such as Borsang and Baan Tawai, where they actually make actually make these amazing craft items.

Chiang Mai isn’t really known for its 5-star luxury restaurants, though there are certainly a few of them in the top-end hotels and scattered around the city. The best dining is found at the mid-range restaurants that offer classic Thai dishes at a level of quality much finer than your roadside stir-fry shops. You’ll pay a bit more, but the care put into the food and atmosphere is worth it. There is also some excellent international cuisine in the city such as Italian, Japanese, Indian and French.

Overview

Chiang Mai’s airport handles a good selection of international and domestic flights, and is a real joy to use. Visitors can also get to Chiang Mai by train or bus, with a wide schedule available. Once in Chiang Mai, you can walk around much of the old city or hail a red truck taxi or tuk tuk to get around. Many visitors like to rent scooters, which are easily found and easily rented.

Airports

Chiang Mai International Airport is one of those rare examples of how airports actually have the potential to be relaxing and enjoyable places to start and end a trip. The small but efficient terminal handles flights from around Asia and all over Thailand. With a connection in Bangkok, you can fly right into Chiang Mai from anywhere in the world.

Regional carriers like AirAsia, Nok Air, Bangkok Airways, Lao Airlines, Silk Air, Tiger Airways and Thai Airways provide most of the flights into Chiang Mai, with more international destinations added every year. The terminal has basic amenities like ATMs, currency exchange booths, restaurants, sundry shops and car rental agencies. It’s extremely easy to navigate around the terminal.

To get from the airport to your hotel, taxis are the best option. There is a taxi hire desk outside of the Arrivals area. The rates are set depending on where you want to go, so there’s no need to haggle for the price. A public bus also makes a stop at the airport throughout the day, but it’s not worth waiting for. A few of the major car hire firms have offices at the airport if you prefer to rent your own car.

Public transportation

Chiang Mai is right on the main north-south train line, so travellers from Bangkok can opt to take this fun and relatively comfortable means of transport. There are overnight sleeper berths, private cabins, and hard seat benches for the truly budget-minded. Trains depart from Bangkok’s Hua Lampong Station and arrive at Chiang Mai’s centrally located station.

There are also countless bus options if you don’t like trains. Special tourist VIP buses can be booked from any travel agency in the country, though they often involve loud movies throughout the night, leaky air-con units and drunken backpackers. A better choice is a government-run VIP air-con bus from Bangkok’s Northern Bus Terminal. Nearly every bus arrives at the main Arcade Bus Station in the heart of the Chiang Mai.

To get around Chiang Mai, most locals use the ubiquitous red truck taxis called songtaews that clog the roads day and night picking up and dropping off passengers. They are cheap, easy to use and a fun experience. Those iconic tuk tuks are also a fun way to cruise around the tourist areas but they’ll cost a bit more than the red trucks. In truth, you can walk to many sights within the old city, and you can see more detail this way.

There’s really no public transportation system to speak of, which is one of Chiang Mai’s main shortcomings, but the city’s new bus system covers five routes in and around the city. If you can figure out the route system, the bus could prove useful to get around the city. But so far, the city hasn’t made it easy to navigate. Many visitors opt to rent their own 100cc scooter and cruise around on their own. These are easy to rent, cheap and reliable. Just be careful of the chaotic traffic.