Chiang Mai is perhaps one of the most impactful places we’ve experienced. We’d heard people talk about it for years, like it was some kind of rite of passage for travellers. Somewhere that people would visit and end up staying for years.
Whilst that wasn’t quite the experience we had; we could also see why that could happen after spending a week exploring the things to do in Chiang Mai. This vast province is mesmerising.
What we both loved and were surprised by at the same time was just how many rich and varied experiences there were to be had here. Imagine taking a ceramic class in the morning and then eat mango from a roadside stall with a view of the mountains looking into Myanmar in the afternoon. Or explore the most intricate of temples and drink exceptional coffee grown mere miles away the next morning to then walk with elephants through the countryside in the afternoon.
This is all framed by the genuine warmth of the people, the passion for food and the way this all connects back to everything that makes Chiang Mai so exciting to visit. The challenge is that because it’s both a city and a province, there are so many things to do in Chiang Mai, Thailand that you’ll never possibly be able to experience them all, and that’s one of the things that makes it so memorable.
Our Chiang Mai travel guide focuses on the experiences we think are worthwhile thinking about for your own trip. Some are well known; some are very easy to miss but really add to the experience.
If you’re looking for a giant checklist of every attraction in the region, you’re not going to find that here. Instead, you’ll find the things to do in Chiang Mai that have stayed with us after we left and still think about today.
Whether you’re in the midst of planning your trip or trying to decide if there’s enough worth exploring in the region, our guide will give you a big dose of inspiration about the kind of things you can do in Chiang Mai.
Our Chiang Mai Map
Our map below contains all the places we visited, both in the city and province so you can get an idea of how things fit together and find the places we’ve recommended below, as well as plenty more that we just couldn’t cover below.
We’ve grouped them by category where possible, so you can save them to your own maps and make planning easier.
Things to do in Chiang Mai: What We’d Prioritise
If we were visiting Chiang Mai for the first time again, these are the experiences we’d personally want to build a trip around. Together, they gave us a balanced introduction to the landscapes, culture, creativity and food that helped us understand why so many people fall in love with this part of Thailand.
Explore Chiang Mai’s Creative Side
Chiang Mai is often said to be the home of creativity in Thailand. Within a short time of exploring, it’s clear that art and creativity are everywhere.
Away from the main attractions, it showed us another side that is just as important to Chiang Mai’s culture. The city is dotted with paintings, ceramic pieces added to buildings and even art that’s been formed from objects already there. It gives Chiang Mai such a unique feel: creative without trying too hard.
If you love art, design, ceramics and crafts, you’ll love this side of the city: it’s a place where art and creativity help you slow down and take things in a little more.
We set aside a day to just explore and found it quite easy to stumble across interesting places without really planning to. This felt rewarding without really having a fixed plan and veer toward saying we enjoyed this more than some of the ‘main’ things to do in Chiang Mai.
Alongside the art dotted everywhere, you’ll find plenty of open studios where you can buy affordable art, many of which the artist whose work is on display is actually the owner.
Exploring studios and smaller shops like this made the artists and makers feel approachable and helped us feel more connected to the city.
Likewise, it’s possible to buy beautifully crafted clothes by small designers easily in Chiang Mai too. Fay bought some stunning pieces from tiny ateliers we just stumbled across.
One artist whose studio really stood out to us was Never Hate Drawing run by Ken Hamala. From the moment we walked in, his work, which is a mixture of illustration and ceramics felt unique.
When we started talking to him, he explained that his work generally took traditional Thai iconography and gave it a modern feel. We chatted about art for ages without looking at the time and in many ways, some of these conversations we had with artists in the city gave us more of an understanding of Chiang Mai than anything else.
There were so many great art spaces and studios we came across and loved whilst exploring. This is one of the most unique things to do in Chiang Mai that sets it apart from other areas in Thailand: it has its own identity.
We’ve marked all the places we loved on our Google Map above. However, we’d also recommend putting aside some time to just simply wander around the city and really look out for the art dotted around the city. It really makes it clear just how creative Chiang Mai is.
Take a Ceramic Class
We quickly spotted that ceramics are a big part of Chiang Mai’s culture and beautiful, handmade pieces seemed to be everywhere. Many studios offer ceramic classes, and we thought this was one of the more unique things to do in Chiang Mai that would let us experience the place in a different way.
Unlike a lot of experiences that are just a memory, a ceramics class allows you to have a souvenir from your time in Thailand that you’ve made with your own hands. We searched for quite a while to find one that felt like it was offering something unique, and we knew we’d found it when we came across Suzu Ceramic.
A couple of messages through Facebook later and we’d booked a class with Oak, who runs the studio which focuses on traditional Thai and Japanese fusion ceramics.
Our session was at his studio just outside central Chiang Mai which is surrounded by gardens, big trees and the sounds of nature all around. It felt like a place you could exhale a little bit, even if you didn’t know you needed to.
Our 1 on 1, 2-hour class felt incredibly personalised, and the setting allowed us space to relax, be creative and chat with Oak and focus on making our ceramics. It just felt like hanging out with a friend and making some art.
Oak assured us that you don’t need have to have any ceramic experience and would come away with a piece you’re proud of. This was proven through the class. You focus on hand building a unique figurine (usually something like a Thai Singha lion or a Japanese style lucky cat).
We were guided every step of the way, and it was really interesting to see our projects forming. By the end, we both had lucky cats that were unique to us and were excited to display at home.
The ceramics class we took with Suzu Ceramic is still one of the parts of our trip we remember the most. We came away having had an utterly immersive experience and think it’s one of the best things to do in Chiang Mai without a doubt.
You can book a class with Suzu Ceramics through Facebook by messaging. Oak is very accommodating and can make an intimate 1 on 1 classes, or group bookings work very easily.
At the time of booking, we paid 600 Baht each which included tools, clay and firing. Once the session ends, your piece will be weighed, and you’ll pay for shipping based on this. It’s then glazed and fired for you and shipped to your home address.
Explore Doi Inthanon National Park
Doi Inthanon National Park is culturally significant to Chiang Mai province for several reasons. It’s home to the highest mountain in Thailand (Doi Inthanon) at 2,565m, Karen and Hmong tribes and the twin pagodas (Naphamethinidon and Naphaphonphumisiri) built to honour the king and queen of Thailand.
At just under two hours’ drive from central Chiang Mai, it’s a relatively easy way to experience a taster of the mountains in the province without needing to plan a big, extra section of your trip.
There are plenty of Doi Inthanon day trip tours starting in central Chiang if you don’t want to drive. They usually focus on several key highlights and include the park entry cost, though this was nominal (we paid 300 Baht each, cash only). We chose to drive, which meant we could explore at our own pace and choose our itinerary.
It also meant we discovered Stone Roastery on the way, which we’d have missed otherwise: their in house roasted beans and coffee were some of the best we had in Chiang Mai province (and the competition is big).
Having one day to explore Doi Inthanon National Park, like we did, is achievable but only if you choose few key experiences rather than trying to do everything, which just wouldn’t be possible.
We decided upon the Wachirathan Waterfall, Royal Pagodas and Kew Mae Pan Nature Trail to give us a varied introduction and it showed us a completely different side of Northern Thailand.
These are all experiences that are achievable in a day without needing to rush and feel like you can actually enjoy it rather than just ticking something off. We found this to be one of the more memorable things to do in Chiang Mai, Thailand, particularly because of Kew Mae Pan Nature Trail (more on that below).
Wachirathan Waterfall
The Wachirathan Waterfall made sense as our first stop in Doi Inthanon National Park as it’s one of the first areas you’ll get to if you’re travelling from central Chiang Mai. It made an immediate introduction for us to how dramatic the landscapes in the park are, and Chiang Mai province itself.
As soon as you park up you can hear the water cascading. As you get out and get closer (it’s only a short walk), the sound of the waterfall is so intense that it takes over your ears first and the rest of your senses follow pretty soon after.
It’s not a waterfall you can really swim in, but there is a short trail by the side of it, and it was great to explore. The main viewpoint had a lot of people admiring, but if you head off even just a little, you’ll probably have most of it to yourself and gives you different views of the streams that flow down underneath with the falls behind.
It’s very easy to drive to and whether you spend ten minutes or an hour here, the introduction it gives to the park is a really welcome one.
Kew Mae Pan Nature Trail
The Kew Mae Pan Nature Trail was the highlight of our entire day and was one of the most beautiful hikes we did in Thailand. You must go with a guide, but don’t let that put you off. We never felt rushed, and the guide went at our pace and gave us privacy to spend time together.
The trail starts by winding upwards through a dense, dark forest which feels cooler right away. Some of the sections are made from wooden boardwalk so you can hear your footsteps the whole time and it sounds like you’re walking on a xylophone.
Every now and again our guide stopped to show us a small detail, and it slowed the experience down in a lovely way. Like perfect moments of punctuation in the bigger views of the forest. We didn’t speak each other’s language. It didn’t matter.
After a while, the trail opened dramatically onto open mountainside where huge views and the Kew Mae Pan viewpoint awaited us. The visibility when we visited in April wasn’t ideal, but it was still one of those moments where you just gasp.
The trail then continues along the side of the mountain and takes a loop back down into the forest before you return. For us, this was the best part, even after the main viewpoint (which we often find is the case).
There was something about the shape of the fence that seemed to wind endlessly down the trail with mountains dropping away into the valley on the right that felt mysterious and dramatic.
If you only do one thing on a visit to Doi Inthanon, it should be this. The way the hike combined huge views with smaller moments made it feel slow, memorable and immersive. We still think about this hike regularly and think it’s one of the best things to do in Chiang Mai.
The trail has roughly 200m ascent over 3km and takes roughly 2 hours to hike. When we visited, it was open between 8am-4pm, with last entry being before 4pm. It costs 200 baht per group (cash only) for the guide, who will be assigned to you at the entry gate for the trail once you’ve paid your fee.
Royal Pagodas (Naphamethinidon and Naphaphonphumisiri)
The Royal Pagodas are some of the most iconic attractions in Doi Inthanon National Park and one of the top things to do in Chiang Mai. They sit at pretty much the highest altitude in the park, very close to Doi Inthanon peak, and honour the king and queen of Thailand. So, as you can imagine they get a lot of attention.
They’re also an easy stop, especially if you plan to do Kew Mae Pan Nature trail as they’re only a few minutes’ drive away from each other and the pagodas give a nice balance with everything else you’ll experience in the park.
We found the pagodas to be incredibly unique. The combination of traditional, highly crafted tiles showing pictorial symbolism alongside smooth, towering surfaces
feels both SE Asian and like it’s straight out of a science fiction film.
We’re not sure if we were starting to reach pagoda overload at this point of our trip, but we didn’t connect with them as much and tended to enjoy the nature-based parts of Doi Inthanon more. There were also renovations taking place, so some of the iconic gardens (and viewpoints) were closed, which did impact our experience, but this of course won’t be going on forever.
To reach them, there is parking for the pagodas, and you’ll then take a very short shuttle bus (it cost us 50 baht for a return ticket each, only cash) to the main grounds of the pagodas.
There are quite a lot of steps up to each one, and you are at altitude. At the time we visited, the escalators to top of each weren’t working, so this is worth keeping in mind if this is an important consideration for you.
Get Into Chiang Mai’s Coffee Culture
If you love coffee, you’re going to love Chiang Mai’s on point coffee scene. Coffee production, both farming and roasting in Chiang Mai province is a big deal. Naturally, this has led to a great selection of speciality coffee shops all over the province.
Exceptionally good coffee is the norm in Chiang Mai. Given the heavy influence of art and creativity in the area, it maybe shouldn’t come as such a surprise that coffee is treated like art. Whether it’s in the complexity of a roast or the extraction of an espresso. What’s more, there’s something really lovely about drinking a cup of coffee made with beans grown close by.
The thing that really stood out to us was how places in Chiang Mai seem to be taking things further with their approach to coffee. Creative menus are the norm here, each place with it’s individual take.
There were a few cafes that really knocked it out the park for us. In central Chiang Mai, Graph Coffee is all about their mixology style menu; where coffee is paired with other ingredients like charcoal or jasmine cold foam to create new and experimental approaches.
Art Farmer, just outside the old city is all about precision and small batch roasting. Whereas Aka Ama, in central Chiang Mai, is a cooperative style set up that works with farmers on soil education and growing to produce a finer product. Much of the proceeds from their own roasts that are then served in their coffee shop are put back into improving the whole process.
Then there’s Stone Roastery on the way to Doi Inthanon National Park. Yes, it’s inconvenient to get to and yes, it’s worth it. Set on a picturesque riverside, this family run roastery and coffee shop lovingly produce beans and brews on site. Their dark roast coffee was unlike any dark roast we’ve had, with so much complexity in flavour. We regret not buying a bag to bring home!
Coffee becomes an experience in Chiang Mai and is one of the many unique things to do here. Even if you resist it, you’ll be forced to slow down due to the pace and rhythm of how coffee shops work here. And that’s a good thing.
We’ve added our favourite coffee shops to our Google Map of the things to do in Chiang Mai above. There are plenty dotted all over Chiang Mai and city so you can take your pick.
Visit Wat Sri Suphan – Silver Temple
Wat Sri Suphan, otherwise known as the Silver Temple, showed us a striking example of how art and religion often meet in Budhism and was one of our favourite things to do in Chiang Mai old town.
Wualai Road, where the temple sits, is in the heart of a traditional but active silversmithing area. The temple was plated in silver, aluminium and nickel by local metalworkers between 2004 and 2016.
The area feels alive with silverwork and one of the first things you notice when you arrive is the background sound of workshops happening around you and people gently hammering away.
There are plenty of temples to visit in Chiang Mai, but Wat Sri Suphan really stopped us in our tracks. We found it hard to comprehend the amount of dedication that must have gone into it and came away with a deeper understanding of the area’s identity within craft and Buddhism.
Women aren’t allowed inside the Silver Temple, as it’s still a practising ordination hall for monks. Only men are allowed inside, but this doesn’t mean you’ll miss out if you can’t go in as the door is open all the time so you can see inside.
Besides, there’s something beautiful about walking slowly around the outside of the temple, being mesmerised by the intricate metal work and artistry revealing interesting depictions and stories, such as the evolution of mankind. It felt like reading hundreds, if not thousands of stories in quick succession and just makes you feel speechless.
Like most temples, you need to cover your shoulders and knees to enter the grounds. So longer sleeve tops and pants are best for exploring this area, or having something you can slip on easily. It’s also one of the cheaper things to do in Chiang Mai Old city, and only cost us 50 Baht each (cash only) to enter.
Spend Time Exploring Some of Chiang Mai’s Other Temples
Chiang Mai city has its fair share of temples, but aside from the Silver Temple, none of them are quite as ‘flashy’ as some of the other temples we’d experienced in Thailand.
Instead, a lot of the temples in Chiang Mai are working places of worship and have a more ‘lived in’ feel. Don’t let that put you off, because there are still some beautiful temples that you can visit.
We spent some time dotting in some of the temples that were open when exploring the things to do in Chiang Mai old town. This was such a serene experience and a moment to breathe.
Everywhere we visited felt so peaceful and upon reflection, we both felt like visiting these temples was important to us in creating a wider understanding of the cultural importance of Buddhism here.
We’ve added some of the smaller temples we looked around in our Google Map above. Adding in even just one or two of these to your day when checking out some of the things to do in Chiang Mai old town can help you build more of a sense of the city that is just off from the main tourist spots.
Visit an Ethical Elephant Sanctuary
Indian Elephants are native to Northern Thailand and are seen as sacred in Thai culture. Wild elephant populations have vastly declined over the years due to their loss of habitat as a result of deforestation. This means that there are large numbers of rescued elephants in and around Chiang Mai province.
One of the top things to do in Chiang Mai is to spend time with rescue elephants, however, there has been a lot of controversy in the past about how certain so called ‘sanctuaries’ have treated the animals for tourism purposes.
This was very far from the case for all sanctuaries, but it sadly put a bad name to places as a whole, even the ones that were doing extremely good work.
Over the last decade or so, things have changed drastically for for the benefit of elephants and some of the sanctuaries in northern Thailand doing genuinely good work has shone through. However, there still is noise and not all ‘ethical’ sanctuaries are quite the same.
Visiting elephants was something we really wanted to do, but choosing the right one is incredibly important, and we agreed that if we couldn’t find a sanctuary that felt right, we wouldn’t do it at all. After a lot of research, we came across The Elephant Freedom Project.
Fay spoke in detail with them in advance over email: the way they talked about their work and the elephants felt different. They provided detailed information about the elephants and explained how they had been rescued. In many ways, it felt like they were talking about their children. The word sanctuary felt like it was being used properly.
This was even clearer when we arrived at the sanctuary. We began with a talk about the elephants, and it was clear that our guide cared even more deeply about the elephants than had been obvious in our emails, if that was even possible. They also said something that really stuck with us: that our visit would be dictated by the elephant’s and what they felt comfortable with, not what we wanted to do.
First up was feeding them their afternoon snacks, which consisted of bananas and sugarcane. This was such a playful, endearing and fun experience and learned very quickly that the elephants all had such different personalities. At first, we felt kind of nervous holding out a banana for this huge creature to grab with its trunk, but you get past that very quickly.
It was walking through the countryside alongside the elephants at their own pace that was one of the most memorable moments of our entire trip. Our guide and the three elephant keepers (mahouts) he worked with seemed to speak a language to the elephants that they both understood.
Seeing the excitement shared between them was infectious and felt unlike anything we’d experienced before. It felt hard to believe we were there, in Thailand, doing this. At one point we looked at each other and without saying it, we could tell we were saying the same thing in our minds: is this real?
When we reached the river, the elephants just crashed down into the water without a care, covering themselves in mud and demanded to be bathed. The bathing was such a special experience too: we didn’t think it could get much better than the walk, but it just added an extra layer to savour.
Spending time with elephants was a life changing experience for us. We’re always wary of saying things like that. We chose the half day experience at The Elephant Freedom Project and this felt like enough. It is quite emotionally active: you feel fulfilled but also tired by the end of it.
We found booking easy through their website and they’re able to collect you from central Chiang Mai if you don’t have a car. So, this is one of the best things to do in Chiang Mai if you don’t plan on renting one. It also gives you the ability to get out of the city as the sanctuary is about an hour out in Mae Wang District, at the foothills of the mountains.
Spend an Afternoon Exploring Chiang Mai Province
Having experienced Chiang Mai in the way we did we think renting a car allows you to add an extra layer to your trip, so if you can, it’s well worth considering. There is so much stunning countryside and picturesque views to experience within an hour or two’s drive out of the city.
As our ceramic class at Suzu Ceramic (which we covered earlier) would only take up half a day total, we wanted to combine it with an afternoon just driving through the mountains and exploring what was around us.
The drive we planned was out toward Samoeng Forest and the quieter roads around Doi Suthep-Pui National Park. It felt completely different from the city itself as the roads became windier and the mountain and forest views got bigger.
This combination of the ceramic class earlier with the mountain views of the afternoon helped add an extra layer to make our time in Chiang Mai feel varied for so many different reasons.
On this drive, which we’ve highlighted the key sections of on our Google Map above, we stopped at the Samoeng Forest viewpoint. When we visited, the views, that should have showed us towards Myanmar and the foothills of the Himalayas, were hazy. This softened the views, but it was still breathtaking. We visited in April, but we’d imagine the clearer skies between November and February would make this even more spectacular.
The fruit stall next to the viewpoint was one of the most memorable parts of the afternoon. Sitting and eating what was probably the best mango of the trip with the mountains all around us in the dense heat was such an experience.
One of our favourite stops on our way back toward central Chiang Mai was Ai Nara Café, where we sat in their Japanese style farm and sipped Thai tea with the sound of windchimes. Looking out over the misty mountains felt like such a contrast to the city.
We loved the contrast that exploring the mountains around Chiang Mai city gave. The quieter, slower side of the province seemed to reveal itself more and more as we drove. It was such an enriching way to spend a few hours and really added to the understanding and memories we now have of Chiang Mai.
Experience Some of Chiang Mai’s Waterfalls A Little Differently
Research Chiang Mai province and you’ll come across plenty of waterfalls. So, it’s probably not surprising that a lot of information out there suggests they are some of the most fun things to do in Chiang Mai and you should dedicate time to them.
The reality is that many of them are not particularly close to Chiang Mai city, and we personally don’t think any of them alone are worth taking a whole day out of your trip to visit. The ones we went to were busy and not really the calm experience you may be thinking they are.
We found, as we explored into Chiang Mai province, that we went past some of the iconic waterfalls anyway. If you are hiring a car, a good way to see some of them is to add them into other trips out. This approach gave us a really good balance and a much better ‘was that really worth it’ experience than just heading to a specific waterfall.
We’ve marked some of the best waterfalls we visited on our Google Map above. We think if you go about them in this way, they make a really good addition to already incredible experiences.
Food in Chiang Mai
Food is incredibly important to the culture of Chiang Mai. It’s also exceptionally good. Northern Thai food felt distinct to us from what you’ll find elsewhere in Thailand, and often surprisingly spicy but utterly delicious.
There are also certain dishes you’ll find in Chiang Mai that are harder to come by, or at least really authentic versions of, anywhere else. Khai Soi, Nam Prik and Larb Kua are a few of the most popular, but if you spend any time exploring, you’ll find so many local variations of things that are just like magic on a plate.
There’s also a lot of places offering really good vegetarian and vegan food due to the high concentration of Buddhists in the area.
In central Chiang Mai, you have your pick of anything from modern cafes to tiny family run restaurants and street food. Some of our favourite food finds in Chiang Mai were from smaller places that didn’t really look like much on the outside but turned out to be mind-blowing.
We have marked some of our favourite spots on our Google Map above, but we’d also encourage you not to get too caught up on finding the ‘best’ restaurants when looking at the things to do in Chiang Mai and be open to trying places that catch your eye.
Experiences in Chiang Mai We Didn’t Connect with As Much
Chiang Mai’s Markets
Markets are kind of iconic in Thailand, and there’s no doubting that. They’re often listed as one of the best things to do in Chiang Mai. We love a good market, but we started to find many of the markets we visited felt quite similar after a while, with lots of them selling the same products.
That’s not to say we think markets in Chiang Mai are bad, we perhaps just didn’t find the right ones. You may get luckier than us and stumble upon one that you love, but you do have to look harder.
Jing Jai Market was one that stood out in some ways, but it did feel more commercialised than is our preference for a market. Though it did have a lot of independent designers and local craftspeople with permanent shops which was cool to look around.
Busier Tourist Areas
The busier tourist areas were incredibly lively and buzzed at night, but they weren’t where we found what resonated the most with us in Chiang Mai.
That’s not to say they aren’t worth visiting but we think if we’d only spent our time in the busiest areas, we’d have had a very different impression of Chiang Mai.
How Chiang Mai Fits Together
You’ve likely noticed us referring to Chiang Mai as both central Chiang Mai and Chiang Mai province. Many people don’t realise that Chiang Mai is both.
Chiang Mai is vast, and when many people say Chiang Mai, they are often referring to the city, but there is a lot more to the province than this alone, which is why some of the places you will want to visit are probably further away than you think.
The city is where you’ll find a lot of creative spaces, incredible food and amazing coffee. The province is where you’ll find mountains, animals and wildlife, slower experiences, national parks and waterfalls.
We spent roughly half our time exploring the things to do in Chiang Mai city and half exploring what was possible within a two hours’ drive. The combination of city and province made the trip feel really balanced for us.
If renting a car isn’t an option, then day tours focused on the areas that interest you are your best option. If this isn’t an option either, then you’ll need to think realistically about planning around the things to do things to do in Chiang Mai city.
We don’t want to say that you’d be missing out if you do the latter, because we could easily see ourselves still being very happy if we’d focused on the things to do in Chiang Mai old town alone. The city and province just offer different experiences. For us, the combination of both is what made Chiang Mai feel so rich and memorable.
No matter how long you’re visiting for, getting into the mindset that you won’t be able to do everything is key; this region is vast. One of the most important things we’d recommend is to get a clear idea of what appeals most before you consider booking accommodation and travel logistics.
Getting Around Chiang Mai
For getting around the province, we hired a car which we organised in advance through Booking.com and picked up hassle free from the airport. You do need an IDP to drive in Thailand, but we found driving very easy and the car rental was cheap.
There are plenty of day tours to places out of Chiang Mai city that are a good option if you’re unable to rent a car. Though there’s no doubt from our experience that renting a car does give the most flexibility for visiting places outside of the city.
In the city, our hotel had free parking, and on the days, we weren’t leaving the city we left the car and used the Grab app to get around. We very quickly found after arriving that parking in the city wasn’t very easy and Grab just makes things quick, cheap and easy.
If you’re planning on focusing more on a city-based trip, using the Grab app is probably all you need, but if you plan on mixing city and province, or going further into the province from the city, we think a car is pretty essential.
Where to Stay in Chiang Mai
Where you stay in Chiang Mai is quite important in designing the kind of experience you want from your time here. Chiang Mai is huge, and there are options in central Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai old town and Chiang Mai province.
We chose to stay in central Chiang Mai as we wanted to mix our time between exploring the things to do in Chiang Mai city as well as some of the province, but we made it clear to ourselves from the outset that it would be impossible to see and do everything due to its size.
Staying in central Chiang Mai for a week gave us the best of both worlds, with some caveats. The hotel we stayed at offered free parking and having a hire car made things easy, however this did mean relatively long drives of up to two hours one way some days.
On the flip side, it meant Grab rides everywhere in central Chiang Mai were quick, cheap and easy (city parking was not easy) and the food options were plentiful and good.
We’d recommend My Chiang Mai Boutique Lodge. It was just outside the main old town walls and felt quiet at night, but easy enough to walk into everything when you wanted to. The staff were great, the pool was lovely, and it felt like a really relaxing, memorable part of our trip.
That said, if you plan to only spend a short amount of time in central Chiang Mai and more time exploring the province, it will likely make more sense to stay outside.
Final Thoughts on Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai ended up being our favourite place in Thailand (so far) and we’re not sure if that’ll ever change. The experiences we had here did so much for us it was unreal: so much so, we’re already planning another trip and returning for longer.
People say Chiang Mai does something to you, that there’s just something about it. We can really understand that now, but we’re still struggling to put our finger on exactly why. Maybe that’s because there isn’t just one reason. Instead, it’s the sheer variety of rich experiences the region offers.
We’d go as far as to say that if you like the sound of the things to do in Chiang Mai that we’ve talked about above, you could very easily base a lot of your trip to Thailand around this area and come away feeling utterly fulfilled.
We don’t think there’s anywhere else you can make ceramic lucky cats in the morning, eat mango by the roadside looking at mountain views toward Myanmar in the afternoon. Then have one of the best coffees of your life the next morning and walk with elephants in the afternoon.
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