Chiang Mai Travel Guide

Chiang Mai is the practical answer to a common problem: you want temples, hills and a slower pace, but Bangkok is a lot and the southern islands are a long way from anything cultural. The city sits about seven hundred kilometres north of the capital, an hour by plane or an overnight train, and it works as either a three-day stop or the base for a fortnight in the north.

How the city is laid out

Almost everything a visitor wants sits inside a small area. The old city is a square ringed by a moat and the brick remnants of its wall, and it holds the highest concentration of Lanna temples: Wat Phra Singh, Wat Chedi Luang and a long tail of smaller wats you meet without looking for them. West of the moat, Nimmanhaemin is the modern counterweight, full of coffee houses, restaurants and design shops. East, the land runs down to the Ping River, past the Night Bazaar and the larger hotels. Crossing between the three takes minutes by shared songthaew, so the choice is about atmosphere rather than logistics. Our guide to where to stay in Chiang Mai compares all three with live rates.

What people actually come for

The temples are the anchor, and Doi Suthep on the mountain above the city is the one most visitors make time for, both for the wat itself and for the view back over the valley. Beyond that, Chiang Mai is the launch point for the north: ethical elephant sanctuaries, cooking classes, hill-country trekking, and day trips to Chiang Rai, Pai and the Doi Inthanon national park. It is also the easiest place in Thailand to simply sit still for a few days, which is why so many people end up staying longer than planned.

When to go, and when not to

The cool season from November to February is the best stretch and the busiest. Days are warm, evenings are genuinely cool by Thai standards, and the mountains are clear. Loy Krathong and Yi Peng fall in November and fill the city months ahead.

March and April are the difficulty. Agricultural burning across the north sends air quality down sharply and the mountains disappear into haze for weeks at a time. Rooms are cheapest then, and that is why. If you are sensitive to air quality, or the views are the point of the trip, plan around it. May to October brings the rains, which in the north usually means heavy afternoon downpours rather than washed-out days, and the countryside is at its greenest. Our notes on the best time to visit Thailand set this against the two coasts, which run on different calendars.

How long to give it

Three full days covers the old city temples, an evening market and one day trip. Five to seven lets you add a cooking class, a sanctuary visit and a slower run at the surrounding countryside without moving hotel. Anything shorter than two nights is mostly transit.

Getting there

Flights from Bangkok run all day and take about an hour, and there are direct connections from several other Thai cities and a handful of regional capitals. The overnight sleeper train from Bangkok is slower and considerably more enjoyable if you have the time for it. Once you arrive, the city has no rail network: shared red songthaews run constantly for a flat fare on short hops, with tuk-tuks and ride-hail apps filling the gaps.

For what else the region holds, see Northern Thailand, or compare costs across the country with our guide to trip budgets.