We are staying 20 mins out of Chang Mai in the Hangdong district, should we hire a car or is driving around there a bit risky. We'd be wanting to go into Chang Mai quite often.

I find you really need a car and driver if you want to travel around in CM. There is no public transport, and CM is a huge, sprawling city. Driving yourself in the countryside is not a big problem, but I would not recommend you drive youroself in CM, both traffic and parking are horrible.

If I were you, I'd hire a car and driver for each day you want to go in to CM.

There is a women named Poon in CM who is the younger sister of Ratt in Bangkok who is quite knowlegeable but it takes awhile to get tuned into her English but after 2 hours we had 3 pleasant days with her. She can be reached through Ratt.

parking is a real issue in the older parts of town....get a driver or use tuk tuks

You're going to want a car/driver. CM is alot bigger than most people realize, with alot of one way streets and traffic routing around the walls of the old city. I would not want to try to drive.