Our highlights of Chiang Mai, Thailand
Chiang Mai has to be one of our favourite places we have visited on our travels so far – it manages to have a small town feel whilst actually being big and bustling. There is so much going on and it’s cheap enough that you can do it all! You will definitely want to spend longer than planned here that’s for sure!
We stayed in the old town and would definitely recommend it as a base for your stay. It is full of little guest houses, which give a local home stay feel with all the amenities you could want.
We stayed for five nights and had something to do each day – here are our highlights:
Doi Suthep – the Temple and Palace
Doi Suthep mountain is around a 30-40 minute drive outside of old town. On a clear day, it has amazing views over the town and is home to a temple and palace with beautiful flower gardens.
We hired a moped for around 150-200 baht a day (£3-£4) so we could stop off along the mountain road to capture views and pick up lunch at the street food stalls. An alternative is to get a Songthawes (red van) – you will see loads of these driving around Chiang Mai, they generally have a sign for where they are heading and charge on a per person basis. There are ample outside the temple to take you back afterwards so no need to worry about your return journey.
The palace is slightly further up the mountain than the temple and is much quieter to visit.
If you have a moped, and you’re not too bothered about the temple or palace, we recommend carrying on up the mountain for another 5km or so. There is a great lookout spot. Another 5km again and you can park up and do a 2km walk (one way) to the highest view point. There’s a wooden map at the start so you’ll know you’re at the right place when you get there.
Top Tip: Women will need to fully cover up for both the temple and palace – scarfs or see-through tops like lace are not permitted and your legs must be covered too. They also had an aversion to jeans. Call us cynical but there just so happens to be lots of clothes stalls right next to the entrance selling or hiring the acceptable clothing…
Thai Cooking Class
Neither of us have done a cooking class before but were keen to try one. There is no shortage of choice on cooking schools in Chiang Mai, so we did some research and opted for Thai Farm Cooking School as it offered a different setting to most of the others which were restaurants in town. We are totally independent, but can’t recommend this school enough.
The day you go determines the menu choices available, but even then you still have loads to select from and are given a recipe book with all of the meals in anyway. Pick up and drop off from our guest house was included in the price (around £30pp). We were taken to a lovely little farm outside of the city. On route, we stopped off at a very local market to see how they made fresh coconut milk and explore where some of the ingredients are sourced.
The outside covered kitchen was a lovely setting (if not a bit warm!) and everything was super clean. We went on to make five dishes throughout the day. We didn’t feel rushed at all and got to sit and enjoy each dish together as we made them. We can’t wait to host a Thai themed dinner party when we eventually go home!
Trekking
As you probably know from previous posts, we love trekking and thought this would be a great opportunity to trek somewhere different. Again, there are so many tours to choose from with varying length of days. We opted for a one day eco trek in a hillside location around two hours outside of the city. Two or more days felt like a repeat of the first day. We used Eco Trekking Adventures – they were good and we thoroughly enjoyed our day but there are plenty more companies which offer a similar experience.
We started off on the edge of a village and trekked up a local mountain through forest and woodland for about two hours. It was a lovely walk and not too strenuous if you have a good level of fitness, but there were ropey moments which required a bit of scrambling on our hands and knees! This isn’t a hard core hike but alternative way to see the countryside.
At the top, we were rewarded with a lunch of cooked chicken and fried rice, served in leaves, and then it was down hill through rice fields to a local tribal village where we watched the locals go about their daily chores. The final stop had a little waterfall where you could go for a cool dip.
Grand Canyon Waterpark
We took advantage of the cheap moped and headed here for the day – it’s basically a huge canyon filled with water. What we didn’t realise is that it’s split into three separate parks with separate owners and entrance fees.
Our recommendation is to go to the middle one – it’s filled with huge inflatables and you can spend the day climbing over them and falling in the water. You can’t take any food or drink inside with you so be prepared to buy this from one of the two cafes.
A definite don’t is jumping off the ledge in there – Nav split his lip and Laura severely injured herself by hitting the water hard from the 15m ledge and we watched so many people after us also getting hurt – we should have known when they asked us to sign a disclaimer before we jumped!
Muay Thai Boxing Class
Navid was really keen to do this whilst in Thailand so we signed for a two hour group class for £12. It is mixed ability, men and women, and we were made to feel welcome. You have about 20-30 minutes one to one with the instructor to really learn the techniques. We were aching for days afterwards!
Top Tip: fill your boots on massages here! They are so cheap! We paid about £4 an hour and we really needed it after boxing!!
Markets
Saturday & Sunday Night Market: Over 2km of market stalls to explore at your leisure through the centre of old town – none of the sellers are pushy and are ready to negotiate when you’re ready to buy. Make sure to check out the food market in the centre of it!
Night Bazaar: Open every night, this is worth a visit if you like market stalls (around a 15 minute walk outside of the old town walls). There are less food stalls here but it’s surrounded by bars, some with live music, if you want to stop off for a drink.
South Gate Food Market: Our favourite place for street food located on the South Gate of old town. It’s about a 50 meter stretch of food stalls on both sides with seating too. There is a Korean food stand at the end with THE best chicken skewers!
