3 Best Sights in Northern Thailand, Thailand

Next door to Wat Phra That Luang, the National Museum exhibits artifacts from the Lanna period, as well as some Neolithic discoveries. The museum also has a good collection of carvings and traditional handicrafts from the hill tribes.

The name of this wat, Chiang Saen's oldest chedi, refers to the 300 ton sak (teak trees) planted in the surrounding area. The stepped temple, which narrows to a spire, is said to enshrine holy relics brought here in the 1320s, when the city was founded by King Saen Phu. The chedi itself predates that, however; it was built by Phu in 1295, right around the arrival of Lanna's first ruler—and Phu's grandfather—King Mangrai.

Some scholars attribute this imposing octagonal wat inside Chiang Saen's city walls to its founder and namesake, King Saen Phu (1325–34), though others speculate that it predates him. Regardless of where its roots lie, Wat Phra That Luang is the tallest religious building in the Chiang Rai region, reaching towards the heavens at 88 meters high right next to the National Museum.