I’m not going to give you a full list of things to do in Chiang Mai, because that would be way too long! Here I’ll give you our top ten things to see and do in Chiang Mai, a much-loved historic city in the north of Thailand, a must-visit place, and a hub for backpackers, nomads, and family travellers.
Jump To Our Top 10 Chiang Mai List Here.
First, we’ll give you some useful information on visiting Chiang Mai, Thailand. This post may contain affiliate links.
How to get to Chiang Mai? We normally fly to Bangkok and take the sleeper train to Chiang Mai, it’s a favourite journey of ours. You can also fly to Chiang Mai airport or take the bus. Research all transport options for Chiang Mai here, or use the search form below. We trust and use this company ourselves. It makes life easy! If you’d like to become a 12Go affiliate yourself, go here, it works great for Asia content.
Where to stay in Chiang Mai? Stay in, or near, the walled old town. This is hands-down the best area to stay in Chiang Mai, in our opinion, and we’ve used dozens of hotels, guest houses and hostels all over the city. You’ll be within walking distance of most things if you stay in this area.
We recommend the following accommodation options in Chiang Mai, for this best location.
Budget Accommodation With Multiple Room Types
Mid-Range Hotel with Family Rooms for up to 3 kids, & pool – The Twenty Lodge
Luxury Resort with Pool and Family Rooms & Suites – Phra Singh Village
If you’re looking for ultra-budget, look at the hostels; outside the old city is generally cheaper. Most of the super-luxury resorts and villas are in the hills around Chiang Mai. These generally aren’t what our audience is looking for. We have a full guide to where to stay in Chiang Mai, including the best areas, here.
When should you not visit Chiang Mai? Chiang Mai famously has poor air quality during burning season. Check the air pollution index and avoid being in Chiang Mai at that time. February, March, and April are usually the worst.
We were last there in August, the wet season, there was a lot of rain, it was very hot and humid, but we had a great time! You may also want to avoid the festivals in November if you don’t enjoy crowds. More on this later.
How long should you stay in Chiang Mai? Stay as long as possible, there is a lot to see here. I would recommend a week, but we once stayed 6 weeks and never ran out of things to do. We also return as often as we can.
Chiang Mai and Bangkok are the two must-see, best places to go in Thailand, in our opinion.
10 Best Things To Do in Chiang Mai
These would be our top recommendations for anyone, including families & kids, visiting Chiang Mai for the first time. The first 4 items on the list are the must-dos.
- Explore on foot and see all of the free things to see in Chiang Mai
- Take a cooking class
- Pay to see the must-see temples in Chiang Mai
- Explore the morning market, night markets, night bazaar and walking streets (& other shopping)
- Elephant attractions near Chiang Mai
- Visit Doi Suthep
- Visit Doi Inthanon National Park
- Jungle trekking, hill tribes and rafting from Chiang Mai
- Take a day trip from Chiang Mai
- Adventure activities, zip lines, water parks, sky rollercoaster
Explore Chiang Mai on foot and see all of the free things to see
Here’s a top ten of must-see places in Chiang Mai, that are free!
- Walk Chiang Mai’s old city walls and the moat. Including Si Phum Corner (the northeast corner of the walls) and Katam Corner (the southeastern corner). Ku Hueang Corner is the southwestern corner and Hua Lin Corner, (Aqueduct Corner) is the northwestern intersection. The corners are where you’ll see the best of the fortifications.
- The 5 gates of the old city. Tha Phae Gate, (the east gate), Chang Phuak Gate or (White Elephant Gate, north), Chiang Mai Gate, Pratu Chiang Mai (the South Gate), Suan Prung Gate. Suan Dok Gate is the West Gate. The fifth gate was a more recent addition for access.
- The Three Kings Statue and Three Kings Square. Brush up on your Thai history and read about the 3 Kings.
- The Silver Temple (Wat Sri Suphan). This spectacular temple is outside the Old City walls, leave at The South Gate.
- Wat Phantao
- Wat Inthakhin Sadue Muang. A small and beautiful temple near 3 Kings Monument.
- Wat Duang Dee, or “The Temple of Good Luck”
- Wat Chiang Man, Chiang Mai’s oldest temple.
- Wat Lok Moli
- Wat Khuan Khama, or The Horse Temple
I have a post with photos of all of these temples in the pipeline. I have the photos, we’ve been to them all, and will go again.
There are more Wats to see, including Wat Mo Kham Tuang and Wat Jet Lin. You should also check out the markets. The flower market is near The Ping River and there is a good morning food market at The South Gate.
In coming days I’ll mark all of these places of interest on a map. Because I love to be useful! Come back in a few days and it will be here.
Inside the Old City most roads are small and they’re often closed to traffic for walking streets. Most of your road travel around Chiang Mai will be on the main roads, outside the moat.
The interior of the Old Town is compact and easy to explore on foot.
Take a cooking class
Chiang Mai is famous for cooking classes and for local variations on Thai cuisine. Take a full-day cooking class. It’s a lot of fun, and you’ll eat well. We’ve taken this class twice, at Thai Kitchen Cookery Centre, once with kids, once as a young couple.
Khao Soi – a curry noodle soup – is the thing to try in Chang Mai, but there are other local specialities to find too. On our last trip, we managed to find a restaurant that specialised in local dishes. I’ll add that location too.
Must-see temples in Chiang Mai – Not Free
On our last visit to Chiang Mai, for the first time ever, I paid to see some of the temples that had admission charges. We used to be ultra-budget family travellers, admission charges add up!
Honestly, some of the best temples in Chiang Mai are free, but if your interest levels are high enough, pay to see the golden temple in the photo at the top of the page. It’s Wat Phra Singh, and it’s stunning.
Wat Chedi Luang is another Buddhist temple with an admission fee. This is The Temple of the Great Stupa and it’s worth a look.
Best Markets in Chiang Mai
There are so many markets in Chiang Mai that you can’t fail to miss them!
The Sunday Night Market / Walking Street is huge, it’s got bigger and bigger over the years and brings the centre of the Old Town to a halt from around 4pm. Around 2km of walking street for you to buy souvenirs, trinkets, some street food, clothing, and even get a haircut.
This Sunday walking street starts at Thai Pai Gate and stretches across the Old Town.
The Night Bazaar wowed me on my first trip to Thailand, it was something I’d never experienced before, and I loved it. Today I probably wouldn’t go because it’s not in the Old Town, it’s near the Ping River, to the east. It’s on Changklan Road and happens nightly from about 6pm.
Warorot Market is the traditional market in Chiang Mai. It’s in Chiang Mai Chinatown, and it’s where the locals shop for dried foods, fish paste and kitchen utensils. There are three floors but most of the interesting stuff is on the ground floor. I love this one!
We’re very fond of the Maya Mall to the north of the Old City. It has a fantastic, and cheap cinema, plus some of the shops we miss, like H&M. So we always head to Maya when we’re in Chiang Mai.
The co-working space that we used to use in Maya Mall has now gone.
There are many more markets in and near Chiang Mai, but these should be enough for most visitors. Next time we’re there, I’ll work on a full guide.
Elephant Parks Near Chiang Mai
I’m not a huge fan of the modern elephant scene in Chiang Mai. On my first visits to Northern Thailand the elephants were living deep in the jungle in tribal villages. We had to stay in village houses to get access to elephants, it was a great experience.
Today they are in parks, all claiming to be ethical.
That said, most people will want to see elephants if they’re new to Asia and that’s totally fair enough. There are plenty of these places near Chiang Mai.
I’m not going to recommend a particular one because I have never been to any of them and probably never will. Elephants have long been my favourite animal and I have a zoology degree, but I’m a bit over the elephant industry.
That said, if they weren’t in the parks, the streets would be full of starving unemployed elephants. I have no answers.
Visit Doi Suthep
Doi Suthep temple & monastery (Wat Phra That Doi Suthep) is considered a must-see of Chiang Mai, but I’m going to say you can skip it if you’re short of time. I’ve been twice, it was one of the places our tour took us to on that first trekking trip to Thailand, the second visit was for the kids.
I think it’s mostly sold because you have to book a car or tour to take you there, but it is, so I’m told, the most important temple in Northern Thailand. It dates back to the 14th century and is a very beautiful temple, perched on a hill.
The next time we’re in Thailand (late 2025, early 2026) I’m going to go again. I think I need a refresher.
It has an important relic, a fragment of Buddha’s bone, enshrined in a large golden Chedi.
The drive should take about 25 minutes if the traffic is good.
It sits at an elevation of about 1,000m and on a clear day there should be good views of Chiang Mai. Doi Suthep is actually the name of the mountain, in Doi Suthep National Park.
If you choose to go by car or taxi, we’ve found that the return price can be much higher than the price to get there. But maybe that’s a thing of the past now with Grab cars.
Doi Inthanon National Park
Doi Inthanon National Park is one of Thailand’s most popular National Parks, and it’s in Chiang Mai Province. The Doi Inthanon Mountain is the tallest mountain in Thailand at 2,565 m, 8,415 ft, (approx) and is part of the Himalayas. Not many people know that!
Doi Inthanon is about 100km from Chiang Mai city. You’ll need to book a tour.
Why visit Doi Inthanon? People visit to climb to the highest point in Thailand, views, waterfalls and hiking trails. There are also chedis to see. The Doi Inthanon guided treks and tours are some of the most popular activities in the north of Thailand.
Find out more about Doi Inthanon NP here.
Jungle trekking, hill tribes and rafting from Chiang Mai
This was my first introduction to Chiang Mai and Thailand half a lifetime ago. I spent a week trekking in the jungles of northern Thailand, staying in the homes of Hill Tribe villagers. It was an amazing trip.
In more recent years we took one of these treks, aimed at backpackers, from Chiang Mai. We didn’t enjoy it, it was too commercial.
There is a Hill Tribe Museum in Chiang Mai. We thought it was quite good and educational for our worldschooler kids. It is called The Highland People Discovery Museum, it’s north of Chiang Mai old city, we walked, but it’s quite a long way. It is here.
Take a day trip from Chiang Mai
If you are very short of time in Thailand, you can take day trips from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai,
However, we recommend you actually spend a night or two in these places to see them properly. It’s easy to pick up a hire car in Chiang Mai and road-trip your way around the must-see places of northern Thailand.
We’ve done this ourselves with kids. We don’t recommend hiring scooters.
Adventure activities, zip lines, water parks, sky rollercoaster.
There are a whole bunch of modern tourist attractions around Chiang Mai today. They’re not our scene, but if you have young daredevils and have run out of Wats to look at, you may enjoy the following.
- King Kong Smile Zipline
- Grand Canyon Water Park
- Jungle Flight Zip Line Roller Coaster
- ATV Rides & White Water Rafting (this includes the famous Sticky Waterfall climb)
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