Northern Thailand · Culture · Nature
Chiang Maiเชียงใหม่
Three hundred temples inside a square moat, mountains in every direction, and the country's best coffee.
In brief
Is it worth it for you
Three hundred temples inside a square moat, mountains in every direction, and the country's best coffee. The default landing spot for anyone thinking about staying longer.
What to do
6 places in 2 categories
To see
Wat Phra That Doi Suthep
The mountain temple above the city, up a naga staircase. Songthaews run from the university gate.
The Old City temples
Wat Chedi Luang, Wat Phra Singh and a dozen smaller ones inside the moat, all walkable in a morning.
Doi Inthanon
Thailand's highest point, two hours south-west, with two summit pagodas and a cloud forest trail.
To do
An elephant sanctuary
Choose one where the elephants are not ridden and there is no bathing-with-tourists programme. Elephant Nature Park is the best-known of them. Riding causes lasting spinal damage, and any camp offering it is not a sanctuary whatever it calls itself.
A cooking class
Half a day, usually starting at a market. The northern dishes — khao soi, sai ua — are what you came here for rather than pad thai.
Sunday Walking Street
Ratchadamnoen Road closes to traffic every Sunday afternoon. Crafts rather than the usual market stock.
When
The year in Chiang Mai
- Jan: Dry and cooler
- Feb: Dry and cooler
- Mar: Hot
- Apr: Hot
- May: Hot
- Jun: Rainy
- Jul: Rainy
- Aug: Rainy
- Sep: Rainy
- Oct: Rainy
- Nov: Dry and cooler
- Dec: Dry and cooler
Getting there
From Sofia to Chiang Mai
- Flights from Sofia
- Getting around Thailand
- Experiences in Chiang Mai
Nearby
Near Chiang Mai
- NorthChiang Rai
A white temple, a blue temple and a black house — three artists' visions of heaven and hell, twenty minutes apart, unlike anything else in Buddhism.
- CentralSukhothai
The first Thai kingdom, and a historical park best seen from a bicycle at 7 a.m. before the heat and the coaches arrive.
- CentralAyutthaya
The capital of Siam for four centuries until it was burned in 1767.