Chiang Mai is known as the capitol of Northern Thailand and has more buddhist temples than any city in Thailand and is home to the lantern festival celebration. It is also the best place to have an elephant experience. There are many things to consider when visiting Chiang Mai, in this post I'll share everything I learned in my research and give you tips to help plan your trip to Chiang Mai. Want the full itinerary? Check it out here!
Getting There
We flew from Phuket to Chiang Mai with how our itinerary worked out. Chiang Mai does have an international airport, so you can choose to start or end your journey here. The city is huge, but it doesn't feel that way, which I think was my favorite part about it. We were able to easily get transportation a TukTuk or using the Grab app, Asia's Lyft/Uber service.
Where to Stay
I cannot recommend the Terracotta Arts Hotel enough. I think this hotel is underrated. It is a small boutique hotel that has so much detail and amazing service, it was my favorite place we stayed the entire trip.
It was perfectly located in the center of where we wanted to be. It was close to the market, literally down the street, and we could easily do a 3.5 mile loop to at least 10 temples.
Shops & Places to Eat
Chiang Mai is definitely an art loving city, it is hard to not be inspired by the beautiful mountains and temples in the area.
Here are some of my favorite places to eat and shops we found unique gifts and art pieces to take home:
The Faces Bistro - This is such a beautiful space right across the street from Terracotta Arts Hotel, great lunch spot.
Cha-Malay - This is also right across the street from the hotel. They have amazing breakfast options and delicious Thai teas.
Ginger Farm Kitchen - This place is on the Michelin Food Guide and was a great place to try fresh northern Thai dishes.
Kaew Gallery - Great place to get local handmade gifts and/or artwork.
Hang & Craft Old Town - This place was recommended to me by a friend who spent quite a bit of time in Chiang Mai. If you are in the market for jewelry, this is a great spot to check out.
What to Do
I planned the entire trip around being in Chiang Mai during the Loy Krathong Lantern Festival. I do not regret that decision at all. There is a lot to do in Chiang Mai, but seeing the city decorated for the festival made it all the more special. The other big must-do was seeing elephants. This is the only excursion I booked a head of time. All the details are below to help you decide what works best for your travel wishlist!
Loy Tharong Lantern Festival
The Loy Krathong Lantern Festival takes place on the full moon day of the twelfth lunar month in Thailand, or November in western culture. There are two options for this festival, you can celebrate by releasing a krathong into the Yi Peng River or releasing a paper lantern into the air. The paper lantern requires you to travel out of the city to a specific location with a ceremony. We seriously debated this, but I kept getting cold feet, I didn't want to be locked in to another excursion if there was a way to celebrate in the city. Turns out, I was right. The Terracotta hotel gave us a full schedule of the celebrations around the city and even helped us make our own krathong to release. It was so amazing seeing everyone release their krathongs into the river and shoot off fireworks.
I did a lot of research to make sure we found a place that did not torture the elephants in any way shape or form. You have to be extremely careful about this and book early when you find a good place. I highly recommend The Elephant Nature Park, they rescue elephants and any animal that comes their way. The property has so many dogs, cats, chickens, goats, cows, monkeys, and of course elephants. There are a lot of different options on how you want to spend your time with the elephants. You can go directly to the park and see a bunch of different elephants, or you can choose to do a more intimate hike with them. I chose the latter, and it was such a beautiful experience. We had 3 adult elephants and one baby boy elephant with us for the day, along with their dog security team.
Walking Temple Tour
There are so many temples in Chiang Mai. It is impossible to stop and see them all. My advice is to research the top temples you want to see, pick a walking route and be prepared to get confused by which temple is which. I don't think I saw all of the temples I had on my list, but I stumbled my way to the top 3 and found others that were just as beautiful. During the lantern festival, the temples were doing specific celebrations and decorated for the occasion. It was an unforgettable experience. As a photographer, I was geeking out and having a blast.
Chiang Mai was my favorite place in Thailand. The lantern festival light up the city, no pun intended, and hiking with elephants were both experiences I will always remember. Check out my post about Thailand Travel Tips, Explore Koh Phi Phi, and my detailed travel guides for more ideas to plan your trip!
Here are a few more photos to get you excited!
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