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The delightful surprise about shopping in Chiang Mai is that you don't have to part with much of your hard-earned money—even the most elaborately crafted silver, for instance, costs a fraction of what you'd expect to pay at home. Fine jewelry priced at just above the current market value, as well as pewter, leather, and silk, are on display all around the city. The most popular buys are vibrant hill tribe textiles and products made from textiles, such as handbags and shoes; handicrafts, from handmade paper to pretty parasols; hippy clothes; knockoff bags; and accessories and jewelry.
Patricia Cheesman has been working with local textiles since 1988, though she first encountered them in the 1970s while working for the UN in Laos. Today she and her daughter Lamorna run a collective of female weavers, designers, and embroiderers called Weavers for the Environment (WFE). While the gallery is located on Soi Chang Khian, the retail shop is on Soi 1 Nimmanhaemin Road.
This is the biggest and best paper outlet in Chiang Mai. On its first floor is a gallery whose works include paintings done by elephants at the Elephant Conservation Center near Lampang.
The alternately handsome and crumbling colonial-, Burmese- and Chinese-style houses along Old Market Road date to the late 1860s, when British and Burmese teak companies and Chinese traders lived here. Today the street is again a hub of trade when a market sets up every Saturday and Sunday from 4 to 9 pm. The 1.2-mile area is lined with stalls selling tasty street food (noodles, summer rolls, satay, sweets, fresh fruit), textiles, contemporary and traditional clothing, artwork, jewelry, and assorted souvenirs. There's always live music, too, which adds to the atmosphere.
Unlike Chiang Mai markets, this market is not crowded, and you can make your way down the road at a more leisurely pace.
This collection of modern buildings constructed in Lanna-style and connected by walkways around an inner courtyard has the aesthetic of a small village and is part café-restaurant, part art gallery, part textile studio, and part retail shop. The clothing, accessories, and home decor items for sale are all handmade and local, with the Kalm brand.
The celebrated Thai artist Wattana Wattanapun runs this gallery whose eclectic artworks—textiles and works on paper—represent the full range of Thailand's artistic expression. Gallery staff are welcoming and knowledgeable.
Four kilometers (2½ miles) after the turnoff from Highway 108 to Baan Tawai, lies this community of workshops dealing in antiques and handicrafts. Expect to see teak, mango, rattan, and water hyacinth being worked into attractive and unusual items. If you end up buying a heavy piece of teak furniture, the dealer will arrange for its shipping.
Specializing in contemporary works on paper in a variety of techniques from etching to woodblock prints, this studio with two branches in Chiang Mai is part gallery and part printmaking workshop. It's run by local artist and professor Kitikong Tilokwattanotai, who works with emerging and established Thai and international artists.
Lampang's largest pottery outlet is west of the city center on the road to Phrae. You can find black-red roosters on cups and bowls, tea cups with gilded handles, and mythical creatures of Thailand on plates. There's also a café on-site that sells local Dondoi coffee.
In this stretch of artistic community space, there are eateries and cafés, office and art studio spaces, and a gallery, plus a dedicated farmers' market on the weekends selling local produce, prepared Thai food, and handmade crafts.
This bazaar, in a big entertainment complex on the eastern side of the Night Bazaar on Chang Klan Road (clearly marked), is packed with boutiques, food and souvenir stalls (and seating), and inexpensive restaurants. There is often live music, too—mostly Thai pop bands.
Lamphun is famous for their intricate silk brocade textiles, worn by royals for over a hundred years. At Lamphun Thai Silk, one of the area's largest silk businesses, located along the river, you can watch women weave at wooden looms dating back generations. Eight kilometers (5 miles) from Lamphun on the main Lampang highway is a second outlet.
Chiang Mai's largest handicrafts retail outlet zone has an astounding selection of ceramics, jewelry carvings, and silks and other textiles.
This stunning jewelry shop has an attached studio where striking contemporary pieces are created in gold, silver, platinum, and stainless steel. Some pieces incorporate common materials, such as stone and rosewood, into their designs.
Silk and other local textiles can be purchased at this company's shops, where you can also buy made-to-order clothing and home-decor items. This is a good place to learn about how silk is made and how the industry has evolved in Thailand. Shinawatra has two locations in Chiang Mai.
This small shop specializes in loose gemstones and made-to-order rings of all types (especially engagement rings), and it has an unchallenged reputation for reliability, expertise, and good value. If the owner, Mr. Nasser, is behind the counter or at work in his office workroom, you're in luck—you won't find a more knowledgeable gems expert in Chiang Mai.
This company specializes in jewelry featuring all sorts of real flowers, including orchids and roses, set in gold and silver.
Mon art from Myanmar is on permanent display at this gallery run by a charming and knowledgeable Mon art lover named Mar Mar. She mounts regular exhibitions of work by leading and rising Burmese artists.
Operated by the Baptist Christian Service Foundation, the nonprofit Thai Tribal Crafts has more than 50 years' experience in retailing the products of northern Thailand's hill tribe people. The organization prides itself on its fair-trade policy and the authenticity of its products like clothing, accessories, and home goods. They also run weaving classes suitable for beginners, including kids.
Among the crafts you can find at this large sales outlet in the village of Bo Sang, 10 miles east of Chiang Mai, are hand-painted umbrellas made from lacquered paper and tree bark. Hundreds of these are displayed at the center. You can watch the whole process here, as artists paint traditional designs on anything from a T-shirt to a suitcase—travelers have discovered that this is a handy way of helping identify their luggage on an airport carousel.
Chiang Mai has two so-called walking streets, closed off to traffic to make way for weekly markets. One is held on Wualai Road (the "silver street") on Saturday evening. The other, much larger one, takes up the whole of Ratchadamnoen Road and the surrounding streets on Sunday evenings. Although the Night Bazaar sells good food and plenty of souvenirs, you will usually find more local handicrafts at the walking street markets.
