Chiang Mai - what to see?
 

Hello-

My mother and I are spending time cooking in CM - at A Lot of Thai and Four Seasons, but we're wondering what to see outside of the city (and inside, too).

We are hoping to have Srgt, Kai guide us, but what to see? Mae Hong Sorn? Too far? Worth it? I'm concerned with the hill tribes being too touristy (too zoo-like). WHat are the places we must see/experience/eat/hike?

We will have at least one full day.

thanks

I think the one must-see in CM is Doi Suthep. You will also likely want to walk around a bit in the old city.

With just one day free, Mae Hong Son is too far. I agree that hilltribe visits are "zoo-like" unless you are willing to hike several hours.

Actually, I see no reason to have a guide for that day. You can hire a car and driver to take you these places and take you shopping. CM is so spread out, that you really need a car and driver to go shopping (unless you are staying within the old city).

Frankly, I find the food in CM a bit of a disappointment. We ate one night at the Ramchatka, which was good (they had a number of Burmese dishes), but everywhere else we ate (all highly recommended) was average at best.

hi, When I was in CM a couple of years ago I enjoyed going to the elephant show and then riding a elephant up the side of the mountain. Even though it is touristy I enjoyed it alot. You should also go to the night market in the center of town.One "gift" that I thought was interesting is that they had some very good artists that would draw with pen or ink or charcoal any picture that you gave them at a VERY reasonable price and mail it to you. I don't know if that interests you. The other thing that we did is when we landed at the airport our taxi driver offered to take us around the next day ,for the whole day ,for a very good price. She spoke English well and she took us to the street where all the "cottage" industries were, ie.. silk shops,laquere(sorry can't spell that word but hopefully you know what I mean),jewelry stores etc. It was a very nice day!Good Luck.

As Kathie mentioned, Doi Suthep is a must. Try to get there early in the morning ( 7:30 am?) before the tour buses come.

A walk around the old city is a lot of fun too and we really liked Wat Prasingh.

The night market, although worth a visit was a tad disappointment, setup only for tourists. Instead, we went to the "old market" (by the Ping river), where we got decent bargains for a lot of silk.

Speaking of the river, I had seen somewhere a mention of a boat cruise on the river. We have a day of no real plans in Chiang Mai and love boats and water as a way to enjoy an area. Is it worth it?

Sunday Market
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