Chiang Mai Thailand in 3 days

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The first time I visited Thailand, I didn’t leave Bangkok. I was young and traveling around the world, and more importantly I was living on a budget. So when I returned to Thailand last year I wanted to make sure I saw other places too. I limited my time in Bangkok to only a couple of days, and instead focused more on seeing somewhere else. But I was also interested in Chiang Mai, Thailand, a city in the North I had heard a lot about.

I spent a few days on Koh Lanta, one of the islands in the South. This was a perfect getaway, relaxing and luxurious. Island life was amazing. When people ask where to go in Thailand though, Chiang Mai always seems to be top of the list. So we booked 4 nights there and soon started planning what we would do when we got there.

Read more about visiting Koh Lanta, one of Thailand’s best kept secrets

Getting to Chiang Mai, Thailand

We had been in Bangkok and although there are a couple ways to get to Chiang Mai, we chose to fly to save time. You can take a train or bus that will be the best part of 10-14 hours. That would be cheaper than flying and you can always look at the overnight option to save on a hotel cost for a night. But with a limited vacation time we opted to fly.

We flew out of Bangkok’s DMK Airport, and it was only a short flight of just over an hour to Chiang Mai. Landing in the afternoon there was an organized system assigning you to a cab when we got there. Chiang Mai was nowhere near as big as Bangkok so we were at our hotel in 10-15 minutes. The driver was helpful and friendly, and already I felt like this place was way more relaxed and hospitable than Bangkok.

Where to stay in Chiang Mai

When looking up areas of Chiang Mai, Thailand, it felt like our best bet would be staying in the Old City. In reality it is probably similar to the Khao San Road area of Bangkok, in that all of the tourists migrate here. But there was still a local feeling about many of the dusty streets lined with restaurants and markets. We found a lovely looking place, De Lanna Hotel which seemed to have everything we would want at a reasonable price.

After a questionable experience in Bangkok, we felt like we’d walked into paradise. The hotel staff were welcoming and the rooms were clean and nicely decorated. We had a cozy balcony with table and chairs to lounge on, overlooking the garden area of the hotel. It was quiet, peaceful, and relaxing. We spent our evenings playing cards on the balcony with a cold beer. The restaurant had some fantastic food and fruit smoothies, and the pool was nice and clean with plenty of sun loungers.

In the morning the hotel served breakfast in a dining room on the lower level. It was included in the nightly rate and had a variety of breakfast items, both Western and Asian inspired. Cereals, toast and yogurt. Eggs, pancakes and other hot foods. Juices, tea and coffee. It was the perfect thing to start the day. I would highly recommend this hotel to anyone and would book it again if we go back.

Remember to take a reusable water bottle with you on your travels, like this one from FastTech

Day 1

Our first full day we got up early and enjoyed the hotel breakfast. We set out to look around the area we were staying. I loved this part of the city, there were so many hidden gems. The street our hotel was on was a little quieter than some of the other streets surrounding us, but still lots of fun things close by. At first we thought this was a really quiet part of town, but in walking just a block or two in any direction we found this wasn’t the case. Some of the streets were in pretty rough shape in places. Dusty, broken sidewalks and exposed cables high above us gave more of a rural Thailand feeling than big city.

Beautiful Buddhist temples

Turning left out of the hotel we walked down the street. We passed a couple of restaurants we might have to check out later, a couple of souvenir shops and some local convenience stores. Passing the token 7-Eleven that you find on every street corner in Thailand, we came to a busier intersection with some street food vendors and other little eateries. On the right hand side of the street is a striking Buddhist temple, Wat Inthakhin Sadue Muang. With intricate decorations, adorned in gold and flanked by dragons, it shows that a temple doesn’t have to be huge to create an impression.

We took off our shoes and walked inside where the inside was even more impressive than the outside. It was also much cooler than on the street where the morning sun was beginning to heat up the day. We spent time admiring the pictures, statues and carvings all around the temple. Offerings of food and prayers were everywhere, and it was such a calming place to be in. Don’t miss this beautiful place.

Chiang Mai City Arts & Cultural Centre

Across the street from the temple is a very informative museum on the local culture and history of Chiang Mai. It’s a great place to spend an hour or two, and the building itself is lovely too.

Around the corner on the main street is the Three Kings Monument, an impressive monument to the founders of Chiang Mai, Thailand. This is where all the people seem to be, hanging out around the giant pedestrian areas on either side of this busy road. Cafes line the street all around so plenty of places to get a drink.

Get a massage at the prison

One of the most interesting things I heard about in advance of going to Chiang Mai is that you can get a massage by prisoners and ex-prisoners. Around from the Three Kings Monument down another small, quiet street, we passed the Vocational Training Center Of Chiang Mai Women’s Correctional Institution. Talk about a unique experience. It can get rather busy so you should probably book in advance to make sure you get in, if you want to experience this. We weren’t so lucky, but next time it might be something to do. There are no shortage of massage places in Chiang Mai, or even Thailand. But this one is a good cause too which is nice to see.

Thai Cookery Class

One thing we wanted to do in Thailand was take a cookery class. Originally we thought about doing this in Koh Lanta, but there weren’t any near the hotel we had booked and we had time in Chiang Mai, so decided to cross this off the list here.

I’m glad we did. We had the best time here. We booked it the day before when we first arrived in Chiang Mai. There were a number of options. Some shorter classes and other longer classes. We decided to go with a lunch time class that would not take a whole day since our time in the city was limited.

Siam Rice Thai Cookery School was amazing. Our teacher Yam was friendly, funny and really helped us make some awesome food. All around our hotel are tourist information centers helping you book tours and activities. Whereas in Bangkok they would be dragging you in the door and pressuring you to book, here there was nothing but helpful information and friendly people. We got the information from them, then emailed ourselves online later. Our tour was noon to 3:30pm and included 4 dishes we could make. Since we were the only two we could basically pick whatever courses we wanted which was even better.

Read the full story of our cookery class in Chiang Mai here

Relaxing at the hotel

What’s the point in a nice hotel with great amenities if you don’t spend any time there? Full of Thai food, we were taken back to our hotel by the cookery school (another perk they offer). There we slipped into a food coma in the air conditioned room. I’m not even sorry, it was well needed. With the heat of Thailand it’s easy to get worn out more easily than in other places. Having a hotel with a pool is a must so you can relax and take a dip to cool off.

We went down to the pool and swam for a bit, had a delicious pineapple smoothie (something they do very well at the restaurant on site) and relaxed in the shade for a bit reading a book. I’m one of those people that feels like I’m wasting a vacation if I’m not out doing something, but Thailand changed my mind on that and made me realize I can still enjoy myself by taking it easy. After a light dinner a little later (we had just eaten a four course meal), we sat on our balcony and played some card games with a beer, enjoying the peace and quiet.

Day 2

What could we possibly do that would top how much fun we’d had on our first day? We had no big plans for the day, but there were a couple things further out from the Old City we thought might be fun to check out. After breakfast we set off walking East from our hotel, towards the city walls

Walking the streets of Chiang Mai, Thailand

It was good to see some more of Chiang Mai, other than the small area around our hotel. We walked past numerous temples, all of which were stunningly beautiful. I love the history and stunning churches and cathedrals in Europe, but temples are something else. Bright, colorful and gold everywhere. Just amazing. We kept veering off our path, drawn in by a glimpse of a roof of a nearby temple. Not that we had anywhere to be. It was nice to just walk around.

We crossed the moat surrounding the Old City walls and continued in the direction of Warorot market, a huge market I’d read about that might be fun to see. Along the way we passed a number of signs advertising Muay Thai Boxing. Jeff was interested in seeing some boxing, so we inquired in a couple places for pricing. Even small restaurants were selling tickets. Again, like the day before we were amazed at how relaxed people were about selling tickets. In Bangkok they would have chased you down the street bargaining with you. Here, they told us the price and said we could even just buy at the door of the arena if we wanted. No pressure at all.

Warorot Market

I love a good market. Who doesn’t? Especially in another country where everything is different. I especially love Asian markets. My time in China was spent browsing local markets, all the food, clothing and wares for sale. So I was in my element here. Warorot Market is huge, and goes up three levels. Make sure you visit. I found some great kitchen items including small wooden serving spoons and plates. I also got myself some incredibly touristy elephant pants to wear ready for tomorrow’s activity which would mostly be outdoors (we’ll get there I promise).

In the center of the market were stalls filled with dried fruits, Thai snacks and flowers. I bought some candies and fruits, all packaged well as great gift items. Around the outside of the market were a number of food stalls so we stopped for some food as it was around lunch time. Our Thailand trip was basically the Spring Roll tour of Thailand. We tried them everywhere so we could make an informed decision on the best ones (the ones we made in our cookery class won hands down).

Just when I thought the market was done, we walked outside and realized there was more on the other side of the street. It was hot in the market so we got some fresh pineapple to go and decided to head out. The prospect of a long walk back was not appealing so we jumped in a tuk-tuk for a ride back to our hotel.

Lunch and a walk around the streets of the Old City of Chiang Mai, Thailand

We got back to the hotel, dropped off our purchases and planned our afternoon. We were about half way through our trip and with high humidity levels and hot weather we were working through our clean clothes rather quickly. So we grabbed a bag and took it around the corner to a cheap laundry place. They told us to pick it up in a few hours so we went to find some lunch. We ended up at one of the small restaurants near our hotel. We found one that was pretty cheap and full of people. That’s a good combination. We had another fruit smoothie and some food then went to check out some other streets around us.

Turning left on the main road was a busy street filled with restaurants and cafes. We browsed the menus planning ahead for a good place for our next meals. The next street along was filled with stalls on one side selling everything you could imagine, and small individual shops on the other side. We found a lovely gift shop that had some locally made pottery and other gift ideas and bought a few things including these delightful little tea cups.

After walking around most of the day we thought it was time for a bit of a rest. But first we went into a tourist information booth and booked the Muay Thai boxing for the evening (including a hotel pick up). Then headed back towards the hotel.

Massage and a swim

Jeff found a great massage place just a few doors down from our hotel, so he went for a back massage there. I just wanted to cool off so I went back to the hotel and took myself down to the pool for a swim. It was another beautiful day, and the pool was nice and cool which was just what I needed. In Thailand I think we had at least some time each day just relaxing and finding somewhere to cool down. This was the perfect reprieve from the high temperatures.

I spent an hour reading my book then went out to collect the laundry. Jeff was loving the fact that massages are so cheap in Thailand. There are some that massage you on the side of the street, like a walk up massage, but the better ones are those with an actual storefront. We were both fully relaxed and ready for dinner. We were being picked up for the boxing in about an hour so ate at the hotel restaurant – spring roll #7 of the trip: above average, 8 out of 10.

Muay Thai Boxing night

The great thing about booking the boxing in advance was that you get a pick up. No trying to work out whether we’re going the right way. Plus it felt more like a tour so we got to meet other people too. I’m not a big fan of boxing, or any fighting, but it was an entertaining evening. We were out for a few hours, had a number of fights to watch and overall it was reasonably priced.

A couple of beers, watching the fights and a little bit of gambling was a great way to fill our evening. At the end of the fights we just got in a tuk-tuk outside the arena and were driven back to our hotel. Loi Kroh boxing stadium was about 10 minutes ride back to our hotel, and was actually not far from Warorot market where we were earlier in the day. Day 3 will be a big day with an early start so we had an early night.

Day 3

This was our most anticipated activity of the trip. It was also one of the few things that we planned before we left home. We knew Chiang Mai, Thailand was famous for its elephant sanctuaries, and determined to make sure we found an ethical one I did a ton of research. We landed on Elephant Nature Park which gets wonderful reviews and seemed like the winner for us.

Elephant Nature Park

We opted for the hotel pick up since their head office was located in the Old City too. They picked us up in the morning and I could barely contain my excitement. With a good breakfast to start our day, I was ready for our activity. There was a list of items we needed to make sure we had with us since we’d be spending most of the day outside. Sunblock, a hat, shorts, long pants, sunglasses etc. I packed snacks, and drinks. Rocking my elephant pants from Warorot Market, I was ready to meet the elephants.

Unfortunately it was quite a drive to the sanctuary, and while I can’t say the excitement was wearing off I had to keep it going longer. With a rest stop on the way, we finally arrived at the elephant sanctuary. Our group was not too big. 8 people including us, plus a guide. We started our day with a safety talk, what not to do and a little history about the sanctuary. Then it was time to feed our elephant friends. Hundreds of pounds of watermelon and squash later and we took them on a jungle walk.

Find out more about my visit to Elephant Nature Park

The whole day was amazing. I don’t know what other sanctuaries are like but I cannot rate this one highly enough. We got to interact with the elephants while also learning about them and the dark side of elephant tourism. If you do one thing with your time in Chiang Mai, this has to be it.

Back to the hotel for our last evening

We all fell asleep on the long drive back to Chiang Mai, so by the time we got to the hotel we needed to wake up a bit. I took a swim and a well earned shower. Running around in the jungle with elephants all day, I was finding mud everywhere. Jeff went for a massage and a dip in the pool when he came back, then we relaxed on our balcony for a while.

We went in search of food and found a place around the corner from our hotel. I had a Thai curry and (you guessed it) some more spring rolls. We walked down the street to a little night market, then returned to our hotel to pack. We would be leaving the following day for our long travel day to Koh Lanta.

Is Chiang Mai, Thailand worth your time?

A resounding YES! We both agreed by the end of our vacation that we kind of wished we’d booked one less night in Bangkok, and one more in Chiang Mai. The city was delightfully charming, small town feel but with everything you need. The people were ridiculously friendly, so much more so than Bangkok where everyone wanted a piece of you as a tourist. I didn’t feel like we were there in Chiang Mai to be taken advantage of, and we had such unique experiences.

The city itself is walkable to most places you would want to visit, and with some more time I feel like we would have explored a bit more. One full day was taken up with the elephant sanctuary visit, but I wouldn’t trade that for anything. It was truly one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. Do yourself a favor and make Chiang Mai part of your next Thailand trip.

If you’ve enjoyed this post leave a comment or share using the social media buttons below. Have you been to Chiang Mai, Thailand and done any of these experiences? What else would you recommend?