Chiang Mai, my favourite place in all of Thailand. It may not have a beach, but it is jam-packed with beautiful scenery, stunning temples and delicious food. Shaped around the square moat there are shops, bars and restaurants, varying from typical Thai street vendors to amazing vegan cafes.
Chiang Mai is really easy to get to, I travelled from Bangkok to Chiang Mai by plane which cost me roughly £40, but if you’re after a cheaper option there are coaches that can take as well (although this will take longer, of course).
Once you arrive at Chiang Mai there are plenty of taxi’s outside the airport to take you to wherever you need to go. Make sure you have the address to show the taxi driver, there is free internet at the airport if you don’t have a local sim with data.
NOTE: The airport is about 20-30-minute drive to the centre of Chiang Mai.
One of my favourite excursions to visit whilst in Chiang Mai was the “sticky waterfalls”. The best way to get there is by car, my hostel organised a group for us to go and we split the price. It’s a basically a waterfall that you can climb?! I know, it’s crazy and a mind f*ck! The reason for their name is from a mineral deposit that is incredibly grippy. It’s one of the strangest but coolest things!
The nightlife is great in Chiang Mai. If you’re after a chilled vibe and a good drink, then the Jazz bar is a good option. If you want more of a sticky floor, night club vibe then head over to Zoe in yellow and Spicy. All of these bars are easy enough to walk to, I’d say about 30 minutes to get from one side of the moat to the other or you can take a tuk-tuk which would be super cheap, especially if you’re split the price between a few people.
Whilst I was here, I attended a monk chat day retreat. Held at Wat Suan Dok, a magnificent and peaceful temple situated on the west side of the moat. The day started with a talk from a monk about Buddhism and a Q&A about how monks live and the rules they follow. We then started with a seated meditation and a seated movement meditation. After lunch, we moved onto a walking meditation and finalised with our longest meditation of the day. This retreat was completely free, so if you have a spare day I would highly recommend attending the retreat. If you don’t fancy the retreat, you should still visit this temple. It’s one not to be missed!
There are a few temples, Wat Suan Dok is one of the most beautiful ones in my opinion. Then there is Wat Phra That Doi Suthep which is a bit of a drive out of the centre but a red songthaew (Chiang Mai’s version of a taxi) that can an easily drive you there
Sidenote: If you are going in the burning season, then the visibility isn’t great. The temple is still worth a visit, but unfortunately, you won’t be able to see anything but a smoggy view.
Yoga in the park and it’s free! All you have to do is visit their Facebook page here, and each week they post a schedule with the teachers coming from all over the world. You can hire mats at the coconut stall at the back of the park for 10bhat (if I remember correctly). The park also has a small outdoor gym in it as well.
Markets are a plenty in Chiang Mai, the most popular being the night walking market. Here you can buy anything from clothes to sunglasses, jewellery to phone chargers. You can also visit the day market which is full of herbs, spices and delicious food.
Grand Canyon, a floating inflatable on what can only be described as a man-made lake. This place was so much fun. My hostel drove a big group of us there for the day. It is quite far out of the centre, but well worth a visit. The safety in Asia is a bit ropey, to say the least, so if you’re worried about anything like that then I would miss this one out.
Song Kran, Thai new year that equals to a huge 5 day festival where the challenge of staying dry is impossible. This festival is basically a huge water ‘fight’. There are water pistols and ice cold buckets of water that are through at you, left, right and centre. I did really enjoy the festival, come the 4th day I just wanted to have 1 hour, where I could eat my breakfast dry and it’s kind of near impossible to do that. It starts from the moment you wake up, to the moment you go to sleep. Chiang Mai is definitely a great place to be when it’s Song Kran, although be warned, people do like use the moat water as well and I can’t say that it’s pleasant to be hit in the face full of dirty water.
I could talk about Chiang Mai for hours and hours. I visited this place 5 times within the 3 months that I travelled to Thailand, so if you have any questions at all please feel free to send me a message or drop a question. I’d be happy to help!
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