When I think of Thailand some of the first few images that immediately come to my mind are gorgeous beaches, diverse green landscapes, waterfalls, excellent food, friendly locals, elephants, and of course incredible temples. With the exception of beaches, you’ll find all of these things in Chiang Mai and so much more! There is definitely no shortage of things to do in Chiang Mai and northern Thailand and unfortunately we only had 3 days in this wonderful area to do as much as we could possibly fit in. Fortunately, I know with all my heart that we’ll be back to Chiang Mai as this area truly stole a piece of my heart and I’m excited to come back one day soon to explore more. However, if you’re short on time and likely won’t be back, I’ve created this little guide of some things to do during your time there that I feel will give you a well-rounded first timer experience. I’ll be the first to admit that the list may be somewhat generic, I mean honestly there are so many blog posts on Thailand that uncovering that one special secret new destination or activity is pretty hard but I do hope some of my specific recommendations of particular companies, routes, and destinations will help you narrow down important itinerary decisions and that you’ll find my perspective somewhat interesting! Keep on reading for my top recommendations on what to do in Chiang Mai for three days!
Temple Hopping
This should be a no-brainer if you’re planning to spend time in Chiang Mai. The city and the surrounding area are chockful of amazing and intricate temple complexes, also known as a Wat in Thailand. I really loved that we could scooter over to the Old City and basically fill our day up with hopping around from one complex to another with ease and even on our road trips in the surrounding area there were plenty of temples to stop by and visit along the way. I should have kept better track of this but if I can recall correctly, a lot of the temples were free to enter and explore (including ones that we had intended to visit but did not make it to). If I can remember correctly we only paid small entrance fees for Wat Pra Singh (only to go inside the main big temple building), Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, and I’m almost positive we also paid a small fee for Wat Umong although I’m reading mixed answers for this online. We also paid for Wat Sri Suphan (the silver temple) and it was a pretty large fee if I can recall correctly, even more pricier than Wat Phra That Doi Suthep. It’s incredibly beautiful and was one of my favorites but I feel the fee was a bit pricey when compared to a complex like Doi Suthep, and especially since the old Buddhist rules do not allow women to enter the temple. Fees aside all the temples were stunning and well worth the visit. The fees are so small for the average tourist so it doesn’t bother me at all to pay to help maintain these gorgeous temples. Especially when you compare it to other places…like say the next country we visited which was Sri Lanka. They had some pretty crazy entrance fee prices to their sites which made me miss the Thailand prices!
I’m going to share with you all of the temples we were able to fit in during our short 3 day stay in Chiang Mai with the majority of the temples being visited on our first full day in Chiang Mai from 7:30 A.M. to about 2:00 P.M. while the remaining two were visited during our scooter road trip on our last full day in Chiang Mai along with many other sites. There were a few more I wish we had squeezed in but there’s always next time! Listed below are all of the temples we visited and each one I would highly recommend:
Wat Chedi Luang
Wat Pra Singh
Wat Lok Moli
Wat Sri Suphan
Wat Buppharam
Wat Chiang Man
Wat Chiang Yuen
Wat Phra That Doi Suthep
Wat Umong
Below are some photos of each temple and a brief description:
Wat Chedi Luang
Known for its massive chedi or stupa. The grounds are also quite large and fun to explore.
Wat Pra Singh
Often referred to as one of Chiang Mai’s most beautiful temples and one of the most popular.
Wat Lok Moli
An older temple known for its large beautiful chedi and darker colored viharn.
Wat Sri Suphan
A temple complex covered in silver and other metals with intricate details and designs. One of my favorite temples we visited because of the beautiful silver designs. Due to old Buddhist rules women are not allowed to enter the temple. Interior photos are taken by my husband. A silver working school is also present onsite. Entrance fee is a bit pricey compared to others.
Wat Buppharam
I thought this was a beautiful and well maintained temple. Many people describe it as the “Donald Duck” temple because there is a statue of Donald Duck outside for some reason. I really loved the Golden Buddha structure pictured below.
Wat Chiang Man
This is the oldest temple in Chiang Mai dating all the way back to 1296. I really love its chedi with an elephant base and gold top. Incredibly gorgeous!
Wat Chiang Yuen
A smaller temple known for its large and beautiful white and gold stupa.
Wat Phra That Doi Suthep
An absolute must visit if you’re in Chiang Mai and well worth the drive. You can also make a day of it and explore many other places within the Doi Suthep National Park. This temple is one of the most famous, most important, and most beautiful temples in Northern Thailand. If you’re lucky and time things out right you may also get to explore it with hardly any tourists at all which is what happened to us! We scootered there early in the morning in the pouring rain which deterred visitors. When we arrived the rain had finally stopped and the temple complex was shrouded in mystical fog. It was such an otherworldly experience and hardly anyone was around! There is an impressive staircase you have to climb to reach the temple or you can pay to use a railway to take you up.
Wat Umong
Known for being the “tunnel temple” and for its wooded forested grounds. I thought this was a very unique and beautiful temple and it was nice to be away from any City crowds. I would recommend stopping here on the way home from Wat Phra That Doi Suthep.
Ethical Elephant Sanctuary
Elephants are one of my favorite animals and I knew I really wanted to visit an ethical elephant sanctuary while in Thailand. I know some people have strong feelings against activities like this, however as long as you are making sure that the sanctuary you are visiting is ethical and is properly caring for these elephants than I think that seeing these elephants is a must, especially since profits will be helping them. In my brief research of elephant sanctuaries I read many articles detailing that there are many areas around the world, especially in Thailand, that no longer have adequate land to release the elephants to safely. Many of the elephants in ethical sanctuaries are also often rescued from circus-like attractions, zoos, forced labor, or were injured and orphaned. Often times it isn’t safe to release the elephants back into the wild because they’ve become so habituated to certain behaviors while in captivity and/or can no longer fend for themselves. Ethical elephant sanctuaries allow them to roam on land as freely and natural as possible while providing adequate care, supplies, and food for the elephants. Ethical sanctuaries never allow elephant riding and there will be no hooks or chains present or making the elephants do unnatural tricks for tourists. There are a couple ethical sanctuaries that are well known in Thailand with the top one being Elephant Nature Park. We were originally going to book a half day visit with them but I knew that the tours can often book out, be a little bit pricier than some other ethical sanctuaries, and often have larger groups. I decided to continue my search for another option and came across Happy Elephant Home which coincidentally is right by Elephant Nature Park (you can see their elephants across the river during your tour).
Happy Elephant Home is an ethical sanctuary with no elephant rides, no hooks/chains, no showman trickery, no abuse, and the caretakers have been with the elephants for years and really love and care for them. There are only 5 elephants and our group size was not super large which was nice. From what I could see the elephants truly seemed happy in their environment & well cared for so hopefully I am not proven wrong in the future but I felt comfortable for the elephants safety at this sanctuary. Lunch is also included and we got to eat a piping hot bowl of Thai chicken noodle soup (which is kind of similar to pho). We learned a lot about the elephants and basically followed them around the land and fed them lots of sugar cane. We did end up going down to the river where you can swim by them. I decided to just watch others from the shore since I saw the elephants using the bathroom in the river (haha) so just for sanitary reasons I did not go in (and I wouldn’t recommend it if you have any cuts on you!).
The price was 1,700 Baht per person for a half day tour as of June 2019 (versus 2500 Baht per person for a half day tour at Elephant Nature Park). This includes transportation and lunch. You can book through their website (which currently has the price at 1,800 Baht per person) or you can book through PM Tours website (which has the 1,700 Baht price so I’m not sure currently which is accurate). We ended up booking with PM Tours, one because the actual Happy Elephant Home website didn’t look as secure as PM Tours website and based on TripAdvisor reviews of lack of communication on the day of when booking direct through them and some people also not getting picked up. PM Tours was super responsive and easy to work with. They kept good communication all the way up to the day of and were right on time picking us up. Below are the websites for Happy Elephant Home and PM Tours.
Scooter Road Trip the Surrounding Areas
Chiang Mai is a great home base location for exploring Northern Thailand and if you are renting private transportation (ie scooter, car, or private driver) I highly recommend you drive around and explore the surrounding areas of Chiang Mai. At the very least try to make a day trip visiting either Doi Suthep National Park or Doi Inthanon National Park. Our mini road trip was so scenic and stunning and personally I feel there is nothing more freeing than zipping around on a scooter in Southeast Asia (but please drive responsibly and have all the proper paperwork/licenses!). We started off by going to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep early in the morning to beat the tourist crowds. On this particular morning it happened to be pouring rain our whole drive there but it was such a refreshing feeling. It all turned out to be for the best too because the rain and fog combined with the early morning timing meant that there was hardly anyone at the temple when we arrived. Once we parked the scooter the rain had stopped and we got to explore the uncrowded temple without any rain! The fog obscured the view you normally get from the top but it truly made the complex feel other-worldy and very mystical. We felt like we were in the clouds and it was definitely a surreal experience. After the temple we decided to explore other areas of Doi Suthep National Park and do a portion of the Samoeng Loop before detouring off to Wat Umong and then driving by the Grand Canyon at the end just to get a peak of it from the outside.
The Samoeng Loop starts and ends in Chiang Mai and can easily be completed in one day. We didn’t stay on the loop the whole time but we basically used this website https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Samoeng_Loop and plugged in sites we wanted to see on this loop combined with sites that weren’t on the loop but not too far of a detour. You can find maps of the whole Samoeng loop online on Google images. We ended up having a long day and there were a lot of cool sites that we drove by but didn’t stop at including the Queen Sirikit Botanic Garden and some strawberry farms. The drive was very scenic and aside from our rainy morning we had perfect weather! I personally wish we were also able to have one more day to add-on Doi Inthanon National Park, Pha Chor, and Mork Fa Waterfall but that just means even more reasons to visit again soon!
Here is our itinerary stops in order:
Wat Phra That Doi Suthep
Huay Keaw Waterfall
Huay Tuong Lake for lunch (highly recommend! You get to sit in a little private shaded hut by the lake and the fresh seafood is incredible!)
Mae Sa Waterfall
Samoeng Forest Viewpoint
Wat Umong
Grand Canyon Water Park
Below are some photos from the road trip!
Night Markets
Night markets are a must-do if you’re visiting Chiang Mai and especially if you’re a foodie like me. I wish we were able to visit more markets during our time in Chiang Mai but we did get to check out two while there. The first one we went to was the Night Bazaar which is a very well known market. We actually showed up early and ended up playing pool and grabbing drinks waiting for things to open up. Since we were one of the first to arrive it wasn’t really busy at all and we got to enjoy an early dinner before heading home. I’m not sure how it is during busy peak times but being an introvert I liked the way we did it! You do have to pay to use the bathrooms there which I thought would be good to highlight for people drinking a lot while there. I was actually kind of underwhelmed with this market but I’m sure it is because I wasn’t there during peak times and there may have been a lot of other stands that still had not opened yet.
The second market we went to took me by surprise and actually ended up being my favorite of the two. At the end of our honeymoon we flew back to Chiang Mai for a night to catch our flight back to the U.S. the next day. We stayed at the We Terminal Hotel (which I highly recommend for an affordable, clean, comfortable airport transit hotel which also includes free airport shuttle!) and there happened to be a night market open right next door to the hotel that the shuttle driver recommended. The night market is called Kad Manee Market and we really enjoyed our time there. From the moment we walked in it just had a very local chill vibe and we walked past so many friends and families enjoying dinner. The market is situated around a large pond and there are tons of food stands for being a smaller market and even some small rides! I felt there was more food here than there was at the Night Bazaar which seemed to have more shopping stands versus food. I would have bought so much food if we hadn’t just had dinner at a restaurant right before! Highly recommend this night market if you happen to be in the area. I encourage you to look up other night markets as well since I wasn’t able to go to many at all. You’ll also run into plenty of street vendors while exploring the City and I definitely encourage you to try all the street food that you can!
Eat Khao Soi and Isan food
I know everyone recommends it but you absolutely cannot skip out on trying the Khao Soi in Chiang Mai and Isan food. The only downside is you will forever be disappointed eating Khao Soi anywhere else in the world again. I’m not even kidding. I’m still on the search in Washington to find a place that makes authentic Khao Soi the way it is made in Northern Thailand and I’ve yet to find it. You will see what I mean! Two places I recommend for Khao Soi would be Khao Soi Mae Manee and Khao Soi Nimman which also serves some great Isan style food. There are tons of delicious Khao Soi shops though throughout the city. Even the Airport Plaza Food Court serves an awesome bowl of Khao Soi!
Khao Soi Mae Manee is a small local joint and we actually heard about this place watching Youtuber Mark Wiens from Migrationology! The Khao soi was excellent and probably one of our favorites that we had during our time in Chiang Mai. The owner was so sweet and personable as well. Parking there is very limited and I believe they close at 3:30 P.M. (13:30) and they also close often for Buddhist holidays so be sure to check on their Facebook page. At Khao Soi Nimman we tried the Khao Soi, sausages, and the larb and each dish was excellent. We really liked the vibe of the place as well. It was a beautiful restaurant that still had a laid back atmosphere and a lot of locals. We also ate at Tonnam Restaurant which is known for its Isan-style food and is situated right by the Ping River so you can sit by the river and enjoy the views. The only downside is the mosquitos!
I hope this small guide helps you plan out your itinerary if you’re headed to Chiang Mai soon and are short on time! Let me know in the comments if you end up visiting any of these places!
Until next time,
Kelsie