Chiang Mai starts before sunrise.
Which Doi Suthep trip gets you up there while the light is still gold. Which sanctuaries feed and watch instead of ride. What a cooking class costs once the market walk is included. Read the day out before you pay for it.
Chiang Mai’s elephants are fed and watched, not ridden.
The camps worth your morning hand you a basket of bananas and then step back. You cut sugar cane, walk the herd down to the river and spend an hour doing nothing but watching a calf shove its mother around. No saddles, no painting, no circus.
Every sanctuary, compared →
What a week in Chiang Mai is actually made of.
A mountain temple at dawn, a sanctuary morning, a limestone waterfall you climb up rather than look at, one long day north to Chiang Rai and a kitchen you cook lunch in. Everything else fits around those.
Chiang Mai was built in teak, brick and gold leaf.
Seven hundred years of Lanna kingdom left the old city inside its moat with more temples than main streets. Some are gilded and full of bells, some are tunnels under a forest mound, and one sits halfway up the mountain where the monks stop to rest.
The Chiang Mai days everyone else is already on.
Every review →Ranked by how many travellers actually went and came back to say so — and what each one gets you for the money.
1
Half-Day Thai Cooking Class at Organic Farm in Chiang Mai
Half-day Thai cooking class at an organic Chiang Mai farm. Market stop, herb garden, curry paste to spring rolls, vegan options, pickup included.
From · $29.35
Read our review →
2
Elephant Sanctuary, Waterfall & Bamboo Rafting
from $60
3
Doi Inthanon National Park Eco-Friendly Tour
from $46
4
Elephant Sanctuary & Waterfall Group Tour
from $50
5
Chiang Rai Temples, Karen Tribe and Hot Springs
from $35
6
Cooking Class, Market & Thai Herbs Garden Tour
from $31
7
Authentic Cooking Class with Market & Farm Visit
from $34
8
Elephant Sanctuary Feeding Program Half-Day Tour
from $27
North of Chiang Mai the road just keeps climbing.
All mountain day trips →Doi Inthanon is the highest ground in Thailand and it is a two-hour drive from the moat. These three carry the most people; the full list splits the rest by how much walking you are willing to do.
Twin pagodas, cloud forest, Pha Dok Siew
Up through the coffee villages to the royal pagodas, then the Ang Ka boardwalk where the moss never dries out, and a rice-terrace trek down to the falls.
Bua Thong, barefoot, straight up the rock
The limestone at Bua Thong is porous enough to grip like a bath mat. You walk UP the waterfall, hand over hand, past the spring that feeds it, and drive back damp and pleased with yourself.
Chiang Dao’s cave, cliff and hot springs
Ninety minutes north, a limestone massif with a cave temple under it and almost nobody in the car park. Hot springs on the way home if the driver has time.
In Chiang Mai the class starts at the market.
You are handed a basket at Muang Mai or Thanin, taught the difference between four chillies, and sent home four hours later able to make khao soi properly. Northern food is not the Bangkok menu — sour sausage, nam prik ong, sticky rice eaten with your hands.
What your baht buys in Chiang Mai.
Every tour on the site sorted by what it actually costs. The cheapest good day out here is the price of a coffee at home.
Temple mornings, waterfall half-days, stadium tickets and market walks — most of what makes the city worth a week.
The full days: Doi Inthanon, sanctuary mornings, Chiang Rai and back, cooking classes with lunch on the table.
Private drivers, two-day treks, the Golden Triangle with a boat, and the quiet luxury of nobody else in the van.
The day-trip road running north out of Chiang Mai.
Chiang Mai keeps a few things to itself.
Thailand has beaches and full moons everywhere. The sticky waterfall, the low khantoke table and the stadium behind the night bazaar belong to the north.
The Waterfall You Climb
Bua Thong runs over limestone that has been laying down calcium for so long the rock grips like a bath mat. Barefoot travellers walk straight up the falling water, past the Chok Sae Mueang spring that feeds it, and the only thing that slips is the moss on the handrail. Entry is free; you are paying for the ride out.
- 1Elephant Sanctuary, Long Neck & Sticky Waterfall★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 2,262 reviews
- 2Sticky Waterfall & Angel Waterfall Park Day Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 1,371 reviews
- 3Bua Thong Sticky Waterfall & Huge Cave & Buffet★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 1,049 reviews
The Khantoke Dinner
Khantoke is a pedestal tray, and eating from one is the old Lanna way: you sit on the floor, the dishes arrive together — sour sausage, nam prik, crispy pork, sticky rice — and the dancing starts once everyone has enough on their plate. It is a set evening rather than a restaurant, and the only meal in town that comes with its own soundtrack.
- 1Khan Toke Traditional Meal & Dancing Performance★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 864 reviews
- 2Chiang Mai Traditional Khan Toke Meal & Cultural Performance★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 55 reviews
- 3Khum Khantoke Northern Thai Cuisine and Show★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 · 38 reviews
Stadium Night
Thapae and Kalare both run cards most nights of the week, ten minutes from the Night Bazaar. The music starts before the fighters do — the wai khru dance, then the pipes, then the ring. Undercards are local teenagers, main events are imports, and ringside costs less than a mid-range dinner.
- 1Kalare Night Bazaar Boxing Stadium Muay Thai★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 507 reviews
- 2Thapae Boxing Stadium Muay Thai Match Ticket★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 457 reviews
- 3Thaphae Boxing Stadium Muay Thai★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 97 reviews
The Chiang Mai bookings that will not wait until you land.
Most of this city can be arranged from your guesthouse the night before. These cannot — they run on festival dates, tiny kitchens, daily visitor caps and a pickup that leaves in the dark.
- 012-Day Jungle Trek with Elephant Farm & Raft RideOvernight treks leave on fixed days with a minimum group, and the village that hosts you has a set number of beds.
- 02Elephant Care Program and Nursery TourSanctuaries cap how many visitors the herd meets in a day, and the morning feed is the slot everybody wants.
- 03Doi Suthep, Wat Umong, and Pha Lat Sunrise TourPre-dawn pickups run small and leave around five. Nobody adds a seat to those at seven in the morning.
- 04Half-Day Thai Cooking Class at Organic Farm in Chiang MaiClass kitchens seat eight to twelve. From November to February they are gone days ahead, market visit and all.
Green season in Chiang Mai is not a write-off.
From June the rain arrives late in the afternoon, hard and short, and the hills go luminous. February to April is the other one to plan around: field burning drags the haze in and the mountain views flatten out. Both have the same answer — book the indoor half of the city and keep the viewpoints for a clear morning.
By place — how far out of town
The Old City232 tours
Doi Suthep119 tours
The sanctuaries108 tours
Doi Inthanon108 tours
Bua Thong75 tours
Chiang Dao16 tours
Chiang Rai79 tours
The Golden Triangle28 tours- Every tour we have →
Chiang Mai does its best trade after six.
All evening experiences →
Khan Toke Traditional Meal & Dancing Performance
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Reviewed this week in Chiang Mai.
All recent →
San Kamphaeng Hot Springs and Thai Handicraft Tour from Chiang Mai
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Half day Doi Suthep Temple & Mae Ping River cruise (Private)
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Private Chiang Rai White and Blue Temple with Black House
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Chiang Mai Thai Cooking Organic Farm with Local Market Tour
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Half Day Chiang Mai Sticky Waterfall and Hotel Transfer
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Join Tour Half day Doi Suthep-Doi Pui Meo Village
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Secret Village, Hot Spring & Waterfall – A Cultural Therapy
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Bau Thong Waterfalls, Tea, and Wat Ban Den Private Tour
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