Chiang Mai, Thailand Travel Guide
Some people travel to Thailand and only stop in Bangkok and island hop but I would say that’s a huge mistake. You HAVE to also check out Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand. It’s filled with historic temples, lush mountains, amazing day and night markets, bars, and so much more!
Where to Stay
Where you stay in Thailand is completely up to the kind of neighborhood you want to be in.
Old City is the center of everything with a wall surrounding it. There are tons of temples, the famous Sunday Night Market happens here, sights to see, food and coffee shops galore. We stayed right outside of Old City near the Tha Phae Gate and found it to be a good central spot! You’ll also find cheaper accommodations in Old City.
Nimmahaemin is the more trendy neighborhood. With some more modern architecture, lots of cafes, shopping centers, good nightlife, it leans more towards a younger crowd. We wish we would have stayed here after exploring it but it’s very cheap to get a Tuk Tuk so it wasn’t hard to get to.
Night Bazaar is definitely where the rowdier nightlife is. We stayed in this neighborhood but not super close to the nightlife and still could hear noise from the bars when trying to go to bed. It’s a good spot though if you are partying and eating your way through Thailand!
Riverside is, you guessed it, near the river, but also a little far away from everything Chiang Mai has to offer. If you are looking for more luxury accommodations, this is a great neighborhood for that, but other than that, I would stick with one of the other neighborhoods.
Santitham is where you’ll get the more local experience, but also not super close to the heart of everything Chiang Mai has to offer.
The hotel we stayed at was Sleep Mai: Thapae. There are two Sleep Mai’s and this location is definitely the better one. (We didn’t know there were two locations and our cab driver from the airport took us to the wrong so make sure you clarify if you stay here!) It was an easy walk to Old City and everything in the Night Bazaar neighborhoods!
Getting around chiang Mai
Chiang Mai is extremely walkable but if you are exploring different neighborhoods just grab a Tuk Tuk or Songthaew (Red Truck), which are extremely cheap and their “Grabs” (cabs/their version of Uber) are also very affordable. I would not recommend renting a moped/scooter here if it’s your first time. The driving/intersections are very intense. You also are technically supposed to have a Thai license and we saw tons of people pulled over and getting ticketed. Make life easier/safer and take Tuk Tuks, walk, or get a Grab.
You can hire someone from Grab to drive you around all day if you want. If you’re not on a tight budget, this is definitely the way to go! We went to two temples and a Hmong village in the mountains that took us about 4 hours and cost 950 Baht ($25 USD) for the entire time! After exploring in the heat, it was always nice to come back to an air conditioned car to cool off in.
Things to Do in chiang Mai
#1 – Temple Hopping in Old City
Walking around Old City you’ll stumble upon lots of temples. My suggestion is to just wander around and check out any temple you come across. They are all so beautiful and you can learn a lot about the culture. Favorite temples in Old City: Wat Chedi Luang, Wat Phra Singh, Wat Sri Suphan, Wat Chiang Man, at Lok Moli, Wat Phan Tao.
**Please respect the culture and make sure your shoulders and knees are covered and always take your shoes off when entering any temple. With the Thailand heat I carried a sarong around with me to easily cover my shoulders if I was wearing a tank top.
#2 – Go to a night market
We went to the Sunday Night Market in Old City. The streets are lined with vendors selling souvenirs and food stalls. It starts by the Tha Phae Gate and goes down Rachadamnoen Road.
Two other markets:
Chiang Mai Night Bazaar: A souvenir market. This one is open every night of the week, vendors line the street on Chang Klan Road
Saturday Night Market: A souvenir market. Starting from the Old Pagoda by the South Gate and stretching down the Wua Lai Road.
Tip 1: Everything is reasonably priced but you can try to negotiate at markets. Just make sure you do it with a smile and respect the time it took the vendors to make whatever they are selling, so don’t low-ball them!
Tip 2: Bring a travel pack of wet wipes with you. You’ll most likely get dirty eating the street food and most vendors don’t provide napkins and there are few bathrooms around.
#3 – Get a Thai Massage
There are really nice places you can get a Thai massage for cheap, $6 USD, or get one at a street market like we did. It cost $2 for a half hour. We did so much walking every day so this foot massage at the end of the day was amazing. I know some people that travel to Thailand often and get a massage at the end of every day! (Sorry for the unsolicited feet pics)
#4 – Explore Nimmanhaemin neighborhood
This neighborhood is a little more trendy and modern. We found some really fun coffee shops and loved just walking around here. We didn’t go to Thailand to shop but if you’re into that, you can find shopping malls, as well as some great boutiques. There’s also plenty of hip restaurants and a good nightlife with some great rooftops!
#5 – Visit Wat Pha Lat
Wat Pha Lat is our favorite temple we visited in Chiang Mai! It’s so tranquil, pictures absolutely don’t do it justice. It’s located in the mountains West of the city. We rented a Grab for the day to visit here, Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, & the Hmong Doi Pui Village. See more about this temple here.
#6 – Visit Wat Phra That Doi Suthep
Wat Phra That Doi Suthep is the most famous temple in Chiang Mai and once you visit you’ll see why! Keep going up the mountain past Wat Pha Lat to reach this temple. It does cost 30 Baht for tourists. This is the only temple we went to that cost money.
There are 300 stares to the top main area but there is an option of an elevator to take you to the top as well. The main attraction is the golden stupa which is the spiritual anchor of the Chiang Mai people. The stares up and golden stupa are very busy but make sure you explore the entire temple, the other areas are less crowded and so worth seeing!
#7 – Visit the Hmong Doi Pui Village
Continuing up in to the mountains past Doi Suthep you’ll find the Hmong Doi Pui Village. It’s a Hmong hillside village where they sell traditional crafts and it’s nestled right into a national park! This was one of my favorite things we did. So very peaceful and a great learning experience!
There’s a small museum, Ban Hmong Doi Pui Museum, that cost about 20 Baht ($0.82), we walked through. It’s very small and not the greatest museum but it supports the village so we were more than willing to pay to walk through it!
#8 – Get coffee on Top of a Mountain at Hmong Doi Pui Family Coffee
I would highly advise you to continue up through the Hmong Doi Pui village and grab a coffee at the op of the mountain at Hmong Doi Pui Family Coffee. There are a few places you can get coffee in the village but this has amazing views of the village and mountains and really good coffee!
#9 – Visit Doi Pui Waterfall Garden
The last thing you should do before leaving the village is visit the Doi Pui Waterfall Garden. It has a beautiful waterfall and huge colorful flower gardens all around it!
#10 – try Khao Soi
I had never heard of Khao Soi until coming to Thailand and now anytime I eat Thai food it’s what I always order! It’s a coconut curry noodle soup with noodles in a thick, rich coconut broth, and you pick if you want chicken, pork, or beef. I ordered a few times throughout out trip!
#11 – Visit the Chiang mai Gate Market
We got up around 6am one morning and stumbled upon the Chiang Mai Gate Market and it was awesome! If you want to go to a less touristy market, definitely check this out! It’s an open-air market with a wide range of food stalls serving street food, sweet treats & produce. This is an early morning market so make sure to check the times before visiting but is usually open by 4am or 5am and closes by 1pm or 2pm.
#12 – Walk around aimlessly
One of my favorite parts was when we didn’t have plans and just walked around aimlessly. I think you can learn a lot about a city and the culture just by observing and taking it all in so if you have time, I highly recommend talking a stroll without a plan!
#13 – Explore the Nightlife
We didn’t have a ton go out and party but if you are looking for a party the best neighborhoods to find fun bars are in the Night Bazaar or Nimmanhaemin neighborhoods. One bar we didn’t make it to but heard is great is “Zoe in Yellow”. Just know that the bars are supposed to close by midnight!
Things We’d do next time!
Restaurant Recommendations
Pakorn’s Kitchen
Location: Between Old City & Night Bazaar
The food is was really good and the portions were HUGE. I recommend getting a size down from what your stomach is tell you. Also, it’s not aesthetically pleasing because it’s on a busy street and there’s a lot of noise from the traffic but the food was worth it. I’d recommend the pork Khao Sai!
Blue Noodle
Location: Old City
A very casual place that serves an amazing noodle soup with beef and pork options with a variety of noodles. This is usually a pretty busy place but we had very quick service. We got lucky and found a table right away and were in and out, in about 20 minutes!
Sunday Night market
Location: Old City
If you want to do more of a food tour then definitely check out the Sunday Night Market at the Tha Phae Gate. You can find anything from desserts, seafood, meat, many things on a stick, noodles, and SO much more! Go hungry so you can try different things and make sure to pack some wet wipes because most vendors don’t have napkins and there are almost no bathrooms to wash your hands in.
saded Cafe
Location: Nimmanhaemin
This place serves all day breakfast and while our food was really good, they do warn you against eating fruit that cannot be peeled in Thailand. I did end up not feeling good in the evening after eating this around 11am, but not sure exactly what the cause of that was.
Restaurant Tips
coffee shops
Roast8ry lab
Location: Nimmanhaemin
There are two Roast8ry’s, the Flagship Store and the Lab. If you’re looking for a great aesthetic, go to Roast8ry Lab! It’s outdoors and has such a fun vibe. The coffee was great, so either location you’ll at least be getting great coffee!
Blue Coffee
Location: Nimmanhaemin
This place had great coffee as well. Plus it’s next to another cool shop called Ristr8to, so you can decide which one to go to once you get there! Vibes are better at Ristr8to but it was too busy so we chose Blue Coffee.
Hmong doi Pui Family Coffee
Location: Top of the mountain in the Hmong Doi Pui Village
As mentioned earlier, this was something that you just can’t experience elsewhere. Located at the top of the Hmong Doi Pui Village, you can sip on your coffee while sitting on a patio that overlooks beautiful gardens, the village, and the mountainside. Just wear comfortable shoes because you do have to hike up a bit to get here!
see You Soon Cafe
Location: Old City
Highly recommend a latte and one of their fresh fruit smoothies. They have a lot of food options here as well.
chiang mai Gate market
Location: Old City
I don’t have a name for this vendor in the market but there were very few options to get coffee and this was probably the best one we had in the entire city and cheapest so if you find yourself at this market, look for anyone selling coffee!
