Chiang Mai
The former seat of the Lanna kingdom is a blissfully calm and laid-back place to relax and recharge your batteries. Participate in a vast array of activities, or just stroll around the backstreets, and discover a city that is still firmly Thai in its atmosphere and attitude.
A sprawling, modern city has grown up around ancient Chiang Mai (เชียงใหม่), ringed by a tangle of superhighways. Despite this, the historic center of Chiang Mai still feels overwhelmingly residential, more like a sleepy country town than a bustling capital. If you drive in a straight line in any direction, you'll soon find yourself in the lush green countryside and pristine rainforests dotted with churning waterfalls, serene wát and peaceful country villages – as well as a host of markets and elephant sanctuaries.
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Top attractions
These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Chiang Mai.
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Wat Phra That Doi Suthep
Overlooking the city from its mountain throne, Wat Phra That Doi Suthep is one of northern Thailand's most sacred temples, and its founding legend is learned by every schoolkid in Chiang Mai. The wát is a beautiful example of northern Thai architecture, reached via a 306-step staircase flanked by naga (mythical sea serpents). The climb is intended to help devotees accrue Buddhist merit.
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Wat Chedi Luang
Wat Chedi Luang isn't as grand as Wat Phra Singh, but its towering, ruined Lanna-style chedi (built in 1441) is much taller and the sprawling compound around the stupa is powerfully atmospheric. The famed Phra Kaew (Emerald Buddha), now held in Bangkok's Wat Phra Kaew, resided in the eastern niche until 1475; today, you can view a jade replica.
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Wat Phra Singh
Chiang Mai's most revered temple, Wat Phra Singh is dominated by an enormous, mosaic-inlaid wí·hăhn (sanctuary). Its prosperity is plain to see from the lavish monastic buildings and immaculately trimmed grounds, dotted with coffee stands and massage pavilions. Pilgrims flock here to venerate the famous Buddha image known as Phra Singh (Lion Buddha), housed in Wihan Lai Kham, a small chapel immediately south of the chedi (stupa) to the rear of the temple grounds.
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Talat Warorot
Chiang Mai's oldest public market, Warorot (also spelt Waroros) is a great place to connect with the city's Thai soul. Alongside souvenir vendors you'll find numerous stalls selling items for ordinary Thai households: woks, toys, fishing nets, pickled tea leaves, wigs, sticky-rice steamers, Thai-style sausages, kâab mŏo (pork rinds), live catfish and tiny statues for spirit houses.
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Wat Phan Tao
Without doubt the most atmospheric wát in the old city, this teak marvel sits in the shadow of Wat Chedi Luang. Set in a compound full of fluttering orange flags, the monastery is a monument to the teak trade, with an enormous prayer hall supported by 28 gargantuan teak pillars and lined with dark teak panels, enshrining a particularly graceful gold Buddha image.
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Wat Umong Suan Phutthatham
Not to be confused with the small Wat Umong in the old city, this historic forest wát is famed for its sylvan setting and its ancient chedi, above a brick platform wormholed with passageways, built around 1380 for the 'mad' monk Therachan. Keep an eye out for the Sri Lankan–style stupa, and as you wander the arched tunnels, look for traces of the original murals and several venerated Buddha images.
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Wat Srisuphan
It should come as no surprise that the silversmiths along Th Wualai have decorated their patron monastery with the same fine artisanship shown in their shops. The 'silver' ubosot (ordination hall) is covered with silver, nickel and aluminium panels, embossed with elaborate repoussé-work designs. The effect is like a giant jewellery box, particularly after dark, when the monastery is illuminated by coloured lights.
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Wat Pha Lat
A hidden jungle temple tucked into the mountain along the way to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep. Old stone structures, intricate carvings, naga -flanked stairways and Buddhist statues dot the serene grounds, and a walkway over a sheetrock waterfall affords postcard-pretty views of Chiang Mai. The temple was seldom visited before 2018, but word of its beauty spread among travellers and expats, and the Monk's Trail (a jungle path from the city to the temple) is now an open secret.
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Talat Ton Lam Yai
Adjacent to Talat Warorot, Talat Ton Lam Yai morphs from a covered household market into an animated flower market (gàht dòrk mái), flanking the river on Th Praisani. Florists here are almost architects, assembling blooms and banana leaves into fantastically elaborate sculptures for festivals and home shrines.
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