Entertainment in Chiang Mai
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Libernard Cafe
Often credited for introducing Chiang Mai to cafe culture is the unassuming Libernard Cafe, run by Pong who roasts her own beans daily, making different adjustments based on the day’s climate conditions. She makes a smooth latte, hardly needing to be spiked with sugar.
reviewed
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Pub
In an old Tudor-style cottage set well off the road, this venerable Chiang Mai institution semi-successfully calls up the atmosphere of an English country pub. The Friday-evening happy hour assembles all the old expats who claim to have arrived in the city on the back of elephants. Ice-cold Tiger beer on tap. It's a couple of hundred metres past Th Nimmanhaemin on the west side of Th Huay Kaew.
reviewed
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UN Irish Pub
A two-storey bar and restaurant, and stalwart on the Chiang Mai traveller scene, this is an old favourite for its Thursday quiz night and boozy nights. There's Guinness on tap, a beer garden and TV screens – sporting events are popular, especially rugby and football games.
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North Gate Jazz Co-Op
This tight little jazz club packs in more musicians, both local and foreign, than patrons, especially for its Tuesday open-mic night.
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Archers
Come to this chilled-out restaurant-bar for the cold beer and the people-watching – not the food. It's a good spot to knock back a couple in the afternoon with the newspaper and maybe your laptop (free wi-fi). Popular with expats and travellers.
reviewed
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Warm-Up
The hippest joint in own, and a perennial favourite for the young and beautiful, Warm-Up is one of Chiang Mai's best dance houses. Hip-hop is spun by DJs in the main room, the electronic beat of house reverberates in the lounge and bands playing rock/indie music can be found in the garden. Young hipsters arrive in their coolest duds: tight jeans, spiked wolf hair-dos, sparkly shirt dresses and pointy heels. But ever youthful fa·ràng join the crowd as well.
reviewed
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John's Place
Another old-school spot, John's dominates the triangular wedge of Th Ratchamankha and Soi 2 with neon and beer bellies. Climb the stairs past the faded posters of Thai scenery to the roof deck where a cold beer is good company at sunset and beyond. The downstairs bar is the place to park yourself if you want a chat with the locals (local expats that is).
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Wawee Coffee
Almost an attraction in its own right, Soi Kaafae (Coffee Lane on Soi 9, Th Nimmanhaemin) is populated by two bustling coffee shops and lots of laptop-tapping Thais. One of the coffee shops being Wawee Coffee, a local chain that originally started at Mae Sa Elephant Camp and has since expanded to the point of Starbucks saturation. (There’s also a Wawee on Th Ratchadamnoen in the old city.)
reviewed
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Sudsanan
Down a driveway opposite a Shell Service Station, this warmly lit wooden house is filled with a lot of local soul. Long-haired Thais and expats, especially from local NGOs, come here to applaud the adept performances that jog from samba to pleng pêu·a chee·wít (songs for life). Oozing with character it's one of the best spots in the city to take in some local Thai bands. Be prepared for some bowed heads and sniffles during particularly tear-jerking songs.
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Red Lion English Pub & Restaurant
The Red Lion is one of four European eateries, all in a row along Th Loi Kroh: German Hofbräuhaus, Café Benelux and Haus München. Each serves the type of cuisine their names imply. It has live sport via satellite, including Premier League Football and Rugby. For a fix of what's going on around the world there's also the BBC world news.
reviewed
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Glass Onion
Tucked away at the far end of the walking mall is this small lounge bar outfitted in '60s-style mod fashions. While the barely legals try to blow their eardrums out at Nimmanhaemin's dance clubs, this is the domain of grown-ups desiring cocktails and conversation. The bar also enjoys a gay-friendly reputation. Friday night is ladies night and 7pm to 9pm is happy hour.
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Khan-Asa
Too lazy to cab it over to Th Nimmanhaemin, but need a break from the backpacker trail? This arty spot is mainly known for its Thai food, which is cheap enough not to put a dent in your beer budget. The soundtrack is light years beyond Chiang Mai’s strange fascination with Phil Collins and Jack Johnson.
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Rasta Café
Behind the building that houses the Yoy Pocket is a cluster of rustic outdoor bars catering to backpackers and expats. Rasta Café, the first one to open in this area (and still the largest), plays recorded reggae, dub, African and Latin music, and is quite popular in the high season.
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Pinte Blues Pub
This place deserves some sort of award for staying in business so long (more than 20 years) while serving only espresso and beer, and for sticking to a blues-music format the whole time. It is easy to walk by and not notice it, so you'll have to use your ears as your guide.
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Drunken Flower
Though this old standard has changed locations, it has carried across its loyal cast of characters, a mix of CMU bohemians and NGO expats. The closet-sized bar invokes an antique mood where the shaggy-headed students might have drunk and noshed away their haircut money.
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Spicy
Near Pratu Tha Phae, people pile into Spicy when everything else has closed for the night. Not the most salubrious place, it transforms from super-seedy to after-party cool around 2am. There’s also a nearby cocktail van that distracts some late-night zombies.
reviewed
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Le Brasserie
A popular late-night spot filled with devotees of local guitarist legend Took. Rock and blues from all the dead legends fill the set. It's about 500m north of Saphan Nawarat, right on the river.
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Black Canyon Coffee
Local chain with multiple branches in the city and a high energy 'see-and-be-seen' location in front of Pratu Tha Phae that is always packed with people-watchers.
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Mix Bar
Looking for a night out on a town that is more cosmopolitan than Chiang Mai? Chart a course to DusitD2 hotel's slinky cocktail bar, a swish elixir after roving the night market. The last weekend of the month hosts gay-friendly rainbow parties.
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Monkey Club
Merging dinner with dancing and live music in the beautifully-lit tropical garden and featuring local, crooning live bands, Monkey Club attracts a tribe of affluent Thai students and a few expats who might migrate from the garden seats to the glassed-in, all-white bar and club. It's a very happening place for the younger set.
reviewed
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Chiang Mai University film screenings
The University of Chiang Mai lies west of the city centre. Here, at the Art & Culture Center (main auditorium) shows many different foreign films - usually art films of the Bergman and Buñuel variety. Admission is free.
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Crystal Cave
This is one of three popular and active hotel discos in town; the others being Stardust (Sheraton Chiang Mai) and Bubbles - also known as Space Bubble (Pornping Tower Hotel). The club itself is within the Empress Hotel.
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Drunken Flower (Mao Dokmai)
Drunken Flower is a cosy indoor/outdoor bar and restaurant with a mixed Thai and expat crowd, especially local NGO staffers. There's plenty to nosh on while drinking. Most weekends locals perform live folk music.
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Writer's Club & Wine Bar
Run by an ex-foreign correspondent, this unassuming traveller hangout is popular with expats and serves a good range of cold beer and cocktails. There's also English pub grub to help anchor a liquid meal.
reviewed
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Discovery
This is the place to carve up the dance floor and show the locals your latest moves. And fortunately, you don't have to be hip to have fun at this disco. It is big, loud and totally cheesy – the perfect recipe for joining the massive blob of gyrating bodies. Discovery is across the street from Kad Suan Kaew.
reviewed