Do you know anyone who does not like french fries? Me neither. Everyone likes them. With travel destinations it's different. Everyone has their own preference and expectations for their perfect location. Some like cities, while others might prefer beautiful nature. Some might like partying and nightlife, while others enjoy a more relaxed atmosphere. Therefore, I was very surprised to find out, that Chiang Mai seems to be a location (almost) everybody really likes. Just like french fries. In this post I will explain why that is and give you some advice on things that you should and should not do.

About Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai is Thailand's second largest city. The city itself only has a population of about 130,000, but the expanded city area has a population of just short of 1.2 million, making it the second largest in Thailand.

The city is located in the north of Thailand in a mountainous region called the Thai Highlands. Although the name might suggest that the city is at a pretty high elevation, the average elevation is still just about 310m. Nonetheless, the climate is a lot more bearable than in the south of Thailand. It is cooler for large portions of the year, and while in dry season it does get hotter in Chiang Mai than in the south of Thailand, it's not nearly as humid and therefore a lot more comfortable.

The city was founded in 1296 and has been serving as the capital of the kingdom of Lan Na until its fall. Nowadays it serves as the capital of the Chiang Mai province. The city has therefore always played an important historical role. This fact is underlined by the huge amount of ancient buildings and cultural highlights, that can be found around the city.

My experience in Chiang Mai

Traveling to Chiang Mai

Thanks to its size, traveling to Chiang Mai is very easy. There are tons of buses and trains going to the city from all over the country and also from other countries every day. I took the sleeper train from Bangkok, which took about 13 hours, but was one of the best train experiences I ever had. For about 20€ I booked a 2nd class sleeper ticket. For your money you get a literal bed with sheets, a blanket some pillows and curtains for privacy. The bed is not small and very comfortable. The only bad thing I can say about it, is that if you get the upper bunk bed, you do not have access to a window, but since I got a lower bunk bed, I really enjoyed my ride and got some very nice sleep.

As it seems to be common in Thailand, the train station in Chiang Mai was not in the city center. However it was only a few kilometers away, so I could just walk to my hostel. I stayed in the TT Hostel, which might have been the best hostel I ever stayed at. Sky, the owner was super nice and helpful. She told me about all the best places and gave me important information about the surroundings of Chiang Mai. I think she represents the people of Chiang Mai very well. (Almost) everyone I met in Chiang Mai was just super relaxed and extremely kind.

City center

The city center is what makes Chiang Mai special. It is where all the culture is at. Although, it is clearly centered around tourism, as can be seen by all of the hostels, cafés and souvenir shops, it still feels very authentic. There is a lot of culture to be seen here in the form of countless temples or other ancient buildings. All of them are well preserved and you can really imagine, how the city must have looked back in the old days.

I created a little hike around Chiang Mai, to see some of the most important highlights. If you want to do it on your own, you don't have to the western most waypoint. It looked interesting on the map, but there is nothing there...

While there are so many cool things in Chiang Mai, that to name all of them would be too much, here are some of my favorites. The Nong Buak Haad Public Park is a great place to relax and chill or read. It is scenically situated right next to the remains of the old city wall and has a little lake with some fish in it. The Wat Duang Dee is an ancient temple almost directly in the center of old town. It has a really beautiful garden with some inspiring quotes and signs with interesting information. And lastly Wat Khuan Khama is one of the lesser known temples, but in my opinion one of the most beautiful. When I discovered it, there were no people there at all. So it is one of those temples, that you should not only look at from outside, but actually go inside of and admire all of its beauty.

The city center is also where all of the night markets or street food markets in general are at. In my opinion, Chiang Mai is worth visiting for the food alone. Not only do they have the regular Thai food like Pad Thai, they also have some foods, that you will only get here like the famous Khao Soi, which you should definitely try when you are here.

City surroundings

As I mentioned before, Chiang Mai is located in a mountainous region. You can see a lot of mountains from most parts of the city and for me that is a huge part of the city's aesthetics. But in my opinion, you should not only admire the mountains from the city, you should also admire the city from the mountains. There are some really popular view points on the hills / mountains in the west of the city and while it can get pretty crowded there, you will get a view, that is absolutely worth it. There are also a lot of temples and other places of worship in the area, that might be worth visiting.

Chiang Mai is not only a really beautiful city, it is also the perfect spot for some outdoor activities. In my opinion, the north of Thailand is the most scenic part of it and also the best part for hiking. There are just so many impressive mountains just waiting to be hiked. I did 2 of my favorite hikes on my whole trip from Chiang Mai.

Doi Inthanon

First I attempted to hike Doi Inthanon, which is Thailand's highest mountain. I planned a route over the ridge from the north to the top. It looks pretty easy on the map, but there are some kind of dangerous and technical parts in there, so please do not attempt this route if you are unexperienced in the mountains. The first part is very easy, but after the challenging part, the path gets very overgrown and is hard to see. Hiking involves a lot of bush whacking and you should plan in more time, than you might think you need. Despite of all that, I made it to the top. However, while I was at the top, I saw a thunderstorm approaching and therefore could not go down again, because I did not want to climb down the dangerous part when the rocks are wet. Luckily though, there is a street to the top and I could just hitchhike down. Hitchhiking is something I do not recommend if you don't have to though, because it seems to be uncommon in Thailand and people don't know what you want. Also it will be hard finding someone who will actually take you to the kind of remote village you started at. All in all though, the tour was a lot of fun and I would 100% do it again.

Three Siblings

The second hike I attempted was the hike to the summit of one of the three siblings, which are three mountains, which together build a small mountain range in the Chiang Dao Wildlife Sanctuary. I think they are the most beautiful mountains I have seen in Thailand. I planned a route, that goes to the small plateau in the west of the summits from the north. Unfortunately, that was not the right decision. The trail is actually closed and when I tried to hike it anyways, I permanently got stuck in the plants, that overgrew the trail. 3km and about 2.5 hours in, I had turned around after I barely made any progress and already had thousands of wounds on my legs from the plant's thorns. It's a real shame, that I did not make it to the top, because I think you would have a great view from up there. There is another trail from the south, so if you want to try your own luck, I suggest you might want to try this one.

What to do in Chiang Mai

There is so much to do in Chiang Mai, that it is genuinely hard to pick from the options. However, here is my list of things, that I enjoyed the most here.

• Explore the city on foot
• Go to one of the local night markets
• Visit one of the countless ancient temples
• Rent a scooter and drive around the surroundings
• Hike Doi Inthanon
• Attempt to Hike the three siblings

Conclusion

In the introduction, I touched on the fact, that there seems nobody, who doesn't love Chiang Mai. I think part of the reason for that is the huge number of activities to do here. No matter if you like to do outdoor activities or city stuff, Chiang Mai has you covered. Also the people here are just so kind and genuine, that you just have got to love them.

The only thing I dislike about Chiang Mai is the fact, that it is very touristic. For my taste there are just way too many tourists in the small area of the old town. However, Chiang Mai seems to be one of the places, that handles the tourists the best, while others develop to party towns trying to be more western and appealing to tourists, Chiang Mai stays very authentic.

With all of that said, I would definitely recommend you to go to Chiang Mai. You just have to plan in some time for it. Most other people who stay in Chiang Mai (including me) end up staying way longer, than they had originally planned, so just keep that in mind when planning.