Chiang Mai Hotel
 

What's the favorite hotel in Chiang Mai? The Four Seasons is too expensive. What are the advantages of any recommendations?

I don't know the favorite one, but we stayed in the Westin a few years ago and it was good...It was a bit out of the way, however, tuk tuk's were available right outside the hotel and they were a blast..

I have stayed at the Westin on 4 of my Thailand trips so far. It has recently changed names, if I understand correctly. I'm not sure what it is now.

Yes, there are tuk tuks and taxis (drivers) right outside the door. Our driver, Jit, is very good! We would typically see him around 10 in the morning and keep him for the entire day. Then we arrange the next 2-3 days travel with just him. He speaks good enough English that you can "probably" get where you want to go. To be sure, you might have the hotel desk write down the places you want to see. My son speaks broken Thai, so he does the talking. LOL

Carol

Is the Westin the large high rise on the river, next to other high rises? Is it a Starwoods hotel? Does anyone have any other suggestions? thanks in advance.

We use Tamarind Village for business ( although it is an ideal hotel for visitng Chiang Mai ) or the Empress for personal trips. Tamarind Village is a very good choice, Empress is about 3-star tourist standard hotel.

Sorry to jump in ...

"simpson510" mentioned keeping a tuk tuk driver for the whole day. Just wondring how much did that cost you?

The Westin is now a Starwood Hotel (Sheraton). It is a high rise by the Mae Ping River, a short (50 Baht) tuk-tuk ride from the night market and good riverside restaurants. It appears that when Starwood took the hotel over that no improvements where made. Recent reviews on asiahotels.com are mixed. We stayed there when it was a Westin and had a good experience. If you stay there, request a room on an upper floor the views of the mountains surrounding Chiang Mai are awesome.

To johnmango, if you get a driver for a whole day, make sure he has an air-conditioned taxi not a tuk-tuk. Otherwise you will not be very comfortable. It will still be very cheap, maybe US$20.

Gpanda, one more thing...if you have a Starwood preferred card and want the hotel to honor it, book through the Starwood website - the price is the same as asiahotels.com.

We do have a Starwood Card. We book at the Royal Orchid sheraton in BKK. I guess the next question is whether there is a hotel in Chiang Mai that has so much character that it would be worth staying as opposed to the Sheraton?

The Tamarind Village is perfect. Great location, a little away from the rabble of the night market but within walking distance. Lots of character and traditional Thai architecture. Did not stay but walked in and checked it out. When we return to Chiang Mai in December we will choose Tamarind Village. Others here have said very good things about it. Do a search. Good luck.

John Mango,
Jit does not drive a tuk tuk. He has a 4-door car. We pay him $1000 baht per day, plus a tip. We know him from so many times using his services that we typically take him to lunch or dinner with us.

Jit will take you to your destination/s and then wait for you, or arrange to come back and pick you up at a specific time.

Jit has taken us to Doi Sutep, Hangdong markets, Bosong markets, the night market in Chiang Mai, the monkey school, snake farm, the mall in Chiang Mai, the currency exchange, the shipping company..etc etc.. everywhere we wanted to go! He is at our beck and call from about 10 in the morning until maybe 10 or later at night!
Carol

We also used a driver for the whole week we were in Chiang Mai. He drove us from the airport and we liked him so we made a deal for the week. He took our laundry to be done and then brought it back to the hotel. He found open drug stores that had the prescription meds for our sick grandkid. When he needed to do some family business, he had his "cousin" there for us. He was a pleasure and we got terribly spoiled. He took us places we would not have fund on our own. Excellent. Service like this is one more reason to go to Thailand.

We stayed at the Park Hotel, about a mile away from the Night Market. Spotless clean, friendly, excellent dining room. Gorgeous lobby with fresh flowers daily. Plenty of off-street parking.

Thanks for your suggestions. This is our second trip to Chiang Mai. We've seen Doi Suthep, night market and Sampengkeng Road (butchered spelling). Any thoughts on the other sights/activities that make CM special?

The elephant training camp to the north of the city is worth a 1/2 day - they have an entertaining show and you can go on a short ride on the back of an elephant if you want.

Elainee, Simpsonc510, Do you have contact info for the drivers you used? How was their English? Thanks for any info you can give.

Sorry it has been too long and I cannot find his name and phone number. But there are many good drivers. He was just the one we got at the airport.