Search hotels in Chiang Mai

We stayed in Baan Montien which was a comfortable affordable hotel in an excellent location within the city walls.Breakfast wasnt great though and i love my food so we ventured out one of the mornings and ate in a recommended place called The Overstand. I had eggs and bacon on toast with parmesan and a really good coffee. There are loads of lovely cafes around, just brilliant to sit in drink good coffee and watch world go by. We found near the night market a place where there were food trucks at night selling all different kinds of food and beer and a band played every night. Everyone sat on straw barrells or plastic chairs listening to music chatting and eating and it was perfect, we ended up going there every night! Very easy to get around Chiang Mai, we walked everywhere and sometimes got tuc tucs at night. Excursions are offered everywhere and nearly always will pick you up from hotel. We visited The Peak Spa for a relaxing spa massage package and they also picked us up and dropped us back to hotel for free. My favourite experience in Chiang Mai was partaking a thai cooking class with the Farm School. It was amazing!!! Such a fun interesting day. we had a wonderful relaxing time in Chiang Mai. Loved the markets, relaxing chilled out vibe and the beautiful temples

Doi Suthep was a beautiful trip, we rode in an open backed pick up truck which was a lot of fun and the view from the top was amazing. Got some great photos of the temple and Chiang Mai way down below. Also we stopped at a nice waterfall on the way back to CM. The air inside the forest where the waterfall was is some of the cleanest, most crisp air I have ever breathed. I wanted to bottle it up and take it home. We took a tut tut around the moat one day and stopped at some food stalls. People will tell you to avoid tut tuts but as long as you negotiate a price before hand they can be a lot of fun. The food around Chiang Mai is amazing and the prices are super reasonable. The best part of our trip to Chiang Mai was visiting the Elephant Nature Park. It is about two hours north of CM but the transfer is included in your reservation. We booked about a month ahead so we were able to stay over night and I'm already planning my trip back. This place is about conservation, not tourism. There is no riding but you hand feed them and spend all day walking among them on the grounds. Also there is an opportunity to give them a bath in the river. The room we had overnight was beyond our expectations. It was just gorgeous and listening to elephants toot and trumpet all night was an experience I will never ever forget. The best night of my life.

Ate at a gorgeous mexical called Miguels Cafe!! Nicest mexican ive ever had!! I fully recommend a full day mahout elephant training - this is a brilliant day out you get to wash and bath the elephants and you get to ride the elephants bareback!! The money goes to a charity and they really do look after their elephants!! I also recommend going on a half day trip quad biking - you go up into the mountains in the south of chiang mai and its brilliant - although some of the quads were manual so unless youre experienced you may struggle - this trip isnt about speed its about the sites / views! Tiger Kingdom is good but I recommend small tigers rather than big ones as not as scary and they are more playful!! I would also recommend going later in the day about 4/5pm as not as busy!! Very easy to get around Chiang Mai - got a scooter (i was on the back of my boyfriend - but he is very experienced on bikes) which enabled us to get around a lot easier - HOWEVER I DO STRESS DO NOT GET SCOOTER UNLESS EXPERIENCED AS ROADS ARE CRAZY!! Sunday markets are good!! Would recommend although they are very busy!! A lot cooler in Chiang Mai - was great to walk around!!

Chiang Mai has a great feeling of calm, at least in the old city. It is the second largest city in Thialand, but feels like a good sized town. Stay in the old city if you can. It is quiet with lots of good eating and easy to walk about seeing some of the 80 wats, and don't miss the Lanna cultural centre. We ate in different places, but our favourite was Kanjana, which we remembered from a visit five years ago. Still good. The food is delicious and the service fast. All the wats are interesting. After going to one or two you will begin to see how they differ, and that is fun. Some are very impressive, some are much less grand, but they all have toilets which is great. The Chiang Mai cultural centre is worth a visit. It sits behind the statue of the three kings. Anyone will direct you to that. English is spoken, and understood everywhere. All the guest houses and hotels have tours to offer. For the energetic there are treks, and for animal lovers there are elephant parks, and Tigers to cuddle. But for some Chiang Mai will simply be a great place to unwind. Thai massage, Healthy eating, ten hours sleep a night, sunshine, and the cheerful, polite and charming people make a visit delightful.

We really enjoyed spending a couple of days in this cozy and generally laid back city. Night markets and markets in general are an excellent and clean (eat things that are roasted or well cooked) location to eat the local treasures, one of the best places we tried was Aroon Rai, (a bit seedy looking, but totally normal in Thai standards) family run restaurant close to the gate. Best papaya salads we have tried in Thailand, don't miss Chiang Mai sausage! Chiang Mai compared to Bangkok is really cheap, easy to find good quality silk and souvenirs for a reasonable price. Nature is the best part here, don't miss spending time outside and with the elephants. If you have time, try the 2-3 day jungle tours. We have visited Wat Doi Suthep what was beautiful, but full of visitors that was bothering, maybe best to visit early in the morning. Bo Sang was worth to visit, Tiger Kingdom was a bit of a disappointment since we were not really able to play with small and smallest tigers (you can't touch their head) and the tigers are sleepy during visiting hours. Most of the time we were walking, but easy to get a tuktuk. Really nice and helpful people everywhere, spending time in the North of Thailand was one of the highlights of our stay. Would love to go back soon...

Chiang Mai is a much more enjoyable city than Bangkok. No skyscrapers so you feel like you are more in Thailand. Nice nature around Chiang Mai which you HAVE TO visit (rent a scooter or go by tour or sth). The people are very nice and a little bit less focused on making money than in Bangkok. Kalare Night Bazaar is perfect to do every night and will always keep you entertained as it is huge. Visit some temples and see the animals around Chiang Mai. Don't do any elephant-related activities or other animal-cruel-tours. Use your common sense, you can very well anticipate whether the animals are in a natural habitat and treated well or not. Tiger Kingdom: Don't do it, you know Tiger's aren't huggable animals in nature, they are drugged every day to be as lame and tame as possible. All the elephant-riding is very bad for the elephants and this is a big thing in Thailand. Rather go to insect museum where you can hold living bearded dragons, iguanas and scorpions etcetera. Much cheaper as well. And DEFINITELY go to the Elephant Nature Park!!!! This is a retirement park where they let the elephants actually be elephants. You won't ride them, but you can hug them, feed them and wash them in the river while you learn all about these graceful animals that share a lot of characteristics with humans. This was the best thing we did in Chiang Mai. Also: do a full-day cooking lesson with cooking school MamaNoii Thai. Hilarious day of eating A LOT. Seriously, go on an empty stomach, skip breakfast. Oh, and they have cute puppies too.