Chiang Mai - Gateway to the active north

Almost all travellers head to north Thailand for an active experience. Walking, hiking, elephant riding and rafting in the mountainous wilderness. Nearly all these trips begin and end in Chiang Mai, which is the second largest city in Thailand.

This page will provide information about hotels and tours that we found really enjoyable during our stay in the city. You can take Thai cooking lessons, visit the surrounding villages on a bike with a guide, and of course try a traditional Thai massage, which we certainly recommend after you've been trekking. Chiang Mai is less chaotic and has a milder climate compared to Bangkok, with temples and colourful markets as well as a laid-back atmosphere. Because staying in Chiang Mai is built in to the planning of the other modules, there is no separate module for Chiang Mai itself.

You'll usually arrive into Chiang Mai on the overnight sleeper train from Bangkok - a pleasant experience and easy on the wallet too. The train travels from Bangkok through Ayutthaya, the old royal capital, which you can visit first. You can also fly to/from Chiang Mai directly from Bangkok, Phuket and Ko Samui in southern Thailand, Luang Prabang in Laos, and Siem Reap in Cambodia.

Chiang Mai has an old city wall and a moat around the town centre, which makes it easy to find your way around the city. The accommodation Thailand Travel Plan uses as standard is in the old town centre at a comfortable hotel with a large swimming pool. If you want more comfort luxury, we can arrange for you to stay in a cosy boutique hotel just outside the city walls, which also has a swimming pool.

During the evening, if you step through the city gates and venture outside the city walls, you'll find many inviting restaurants along the moat. After dinner it's great to stroll back to your hotel enjoying the warm evening. Inside the city walls you'll find your way to the night market. It's a great place to eat, drink, shop or just have a nose around for hours, it's a very lively area after dark. Our experience is that in Chiang Mai you're able to haggle and bartering more over the price than in Bangkok. The market is aimed at tourists, if you want a more authentic market experience try heading to the local Warorot market, where you'll find an assortment of fruit and vegetables, dried fish, buffalo meat and even pigs heads.

Tours

If you're staying in Chiang Mai for a few days and would like something really interesting to do for a day, we can suggest the following short tours (around about £24 per person each):

- A Thai cookery course. The chef will take you to the local market to gather your supplies, and then you'll learn how to make traditional Thai meals, such as the famous Thai curries, sweet and sour vegetables and curried dried fish with basil.

- A half day out to the Doi Suthep mountain temple, a pilgrimage destination in Thailand, and also the ‘umbrella’ village. As the name suggests the temple is built on a mountain top, and looking out from between the temples you can see the spectacular mountain scenery. The golden pagoda houses the Holy Remains of Buddha. Bo Sang is a nearby village that specialises in the production of paper and silk parasols.

- A half-day biking through the countryside around Chiang Mai. You'll cycle with other travellers along the River Ping, through temple ruins and small villages.

Chiang Mai temple town

Of course there are cars, modern shops and offices, but there are also over 300 temples in and around Chiang Mai. These date from the 16th century, when this was the capital of the Lanna Thai kingdom. You can still see beautiful wood carvings and frescoes from that era in almost every temple. There are two which we particularly recommend:

- 'Wat Phra Sing', has a wonderful wihara (a Great Hall, where monks and ordinary believers listen to sermons). The steps are guarded by nagas, mythical snakes with dragon heads. The wall paintings give a good idea of life in Thailand at the beginning of the 19th century.

- 'Wat Chiang Man' is the oldest temple. It was built in 1296 and is typical of the Northern Thai temple architecture. Inside you'll find massive teak pillars and a collection of bronze Buddha statues. In the wihaan (a separate place for holy icons) there’s a 10cm-high sitting Buddha made from crystal, and the Phra Sila, a standing Buddha of marble, both of which are over 2500 thousand years old.

Climate

Good weather? The weather in Chiang Mai is at its best in winter, when it's dry with a daytime temperature about 20°C, and night temperature of 12°C. In March, it can be somewhat hazy due to the farmers burning off stubble in the fields to make way for new crops. During this period it rarely rains, and it's very hot. During the summer months it rains more frequently, but this also means that the landscape is at its visual best. Travelling here during the rainy season is generally fine, as the rain comes in the late afternoon and in short sharp outbursts, giving way to more sunny periods. If there is a particulaly bad period of thunderstorms, some of the hiking trips may have to be cancelled, but you'll check the situation with the operator the day before. For more information about Treks in Northern Thailand click here.

Public holidays

Chiang Mai and Khao San Road in Bangkok are the places to be in Thailand to welcome in the New Year:

- Songkran takes place in mid-April. It was tradition to sprinkle water over someone so that they can start the New Year 'cleansed', but over the years it has developed into a full-scale water fight complete with garden hoses, water barrels and enormous water guns. Depending where you are it's difficult to leave your hotel for three days without getting a soaking, make sure your money, camera and other valuables are in a waterproof bag to keep them dry ! Everybody joins in the festivities, tourists and locals, and because the Thais are a very open and exuberant people during these three days, it's a good chance to make direct contact with them. You can try to ignore these three days, but it's so much more fun to invest in a water pistol and just join in!

- Loi Krathong is a serene festival on the evening of the full moon in November. The Thai's in Chiang Mai release lit lanterns en masse. In the rest of Thailand, they float boats on the water with candles and money in them to keep the water spirits pacified.

- The flower festival is the first Friday (and the weekend) in February, which is a colourful festival with a parade.