Chiang Mai

Food & Drink

• Street food at the Sunday Night Market — some of the best of the entire trip

Sights

• Wat Chedi Luang — an old ruined temple complex turned Buddhist university, breathtaking
• The Silver Temple — cool but underwhelming, and no women are allowed inside
• The Royal Pagodas at the summit of Doi Inthanon

Experiences

• Doi Inthanon National Park and its summit — the tallest point in Thailand (the summit itself isn't much to look at)
• Kew Pae Man Nature Trail — a genuinely nice, not-too-difficult hike
• The Sunday Night Market in the heart of town — one of the best markets I found anywhere in Asia
• A traditional Thai cooking class
• Visiting the elephants — a great experience, though the humaneness of any sanctuary (this one included) is worth thinking about
• Renting the smallest, crappiest car you can find and driving up into the mountains for a hike and a mountain temple complex at sunset

Getting Around

• A TukTuk driver can get you to most sights around town; renting a car (however small) opens up the mountains beyond it

Travel Tips

• Try to be in town for the Sunday Night Market — it might be the single best market of the whole trip
• Budget a full day for Doi Inthanon National Park, it's worth committing the back half of a day to at minimum

Overall Review

If you're coming from Bangkok, you'll be immensely happy to know you're pivoting 180 degrees from that experience. This chilled-out mountain town has beautiful resorts tucked into every corner, a plethora of markets and restaurants, and a handful of easily booked day trips — though you might just prefer to lounge by the pool for a few days, and I don't blame you. The national park is beautiful and worth committing at least half a day to. Try to be here for the Sunday night market too; it was a top-three market of the whole trip, if not the best. However you decide to tackle this free-flowing town, you're doing it right — it's the perfect place to get away from the hustle and bustle.