manytravels

We are taking a trip to Chiang Mai in the fall and were wondering where we should stay? Is it better to stay in the city or outside the city? There are so many choices however some insight and recommendations from other travelers would be great. Is a smaller boutique hotel more likely to have an authentic feel? What about pricing? Any information would be helpful.

Hanuman

What are you looking for? Thai architecture? How many days are you spending in CM? What is your budget? Going with family or friends? More information will be helpful.

manytravels

Traveling with my spouse and we’ll be there 4 nights. We really don’t have any preference in style and we are trying to gage what the budget should be for this area.

Hanuman

The two best in CM or on the outskirt of CM are the Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi and the Four Seasons. The lowest price room or villa will be around $5 - 600 per night.

After that then there are the inner city hotels with the best being the 137 Pillars House, Chedi etc.

If you want to be inside the city, or more precisely inside the old city walls then there's the Rachamangkla etc.

Expect to pay around $200 per night for a good hotel in the city.

manytravels

Thanks hanuman for your input, just what I needed to know. In your opinion where is the better location in the city……….. between the city or inside the old city walls? On this trip we will be traveling to Chiang Mai, Bangkok, Phuket, Singapore and Maldives so we have a lot to see.

Kathie

What do you want to see/do in the Chiang Mai area? If you are looking for an experience of rural Thailand, then you'll want a hotel outside of the city. if you want to visit local wats, stroll the streets, shop a bit, you might prefer a place inside the city walls.

You might take a look at www.sawasdee.com a local Thai booking site for ideas and prices.

manytravels

Thanks Katie..... I will

I've planed every other portion of our trip and I'm just out of speed on this leg!

jobin

Green Palace hotel for me, everytime. TB450 per night, cold air/con, NinmanHaeman area, can walk or bike ride to Old City, other transport at front door. I usually walk over to Orchid hotel for outdoor buffet breakfast at TB260 and enjoy the good coffee and food. The Green Palace has no amenities beyond clean room and toilet, a small outdoor window area for clothes drying, daily tidy service and A/C. Good for me. Few westerners seen.

tim_collins_3979

If yu are looking fora 5 star experience in the city and on the river, you cannot go past the Chedi, sadly i cannot recommend the Dhara Devi it is Chiang Mai's greatest white elephant and a very poorly designed property despite being taken on by The Oriental Group. If you would like a great boutique hotel, try Siripanna.
bookingdotcom has an easily searchable database and has virtually every property covered.
All the best and enjoy Chiang Mai,

loribarber1

My husband and I visited in March and stayed in town right near the night market. The location was very convenient and the hotel (Dusit D2) was nice. Here's our blog post with info about the hotel and what we did.... http://latitudeb.com/chiang-mai-thailand/