It always hurts to leave such a beautiful country and eventually return back to reality and try to get back into your normal routine so I wanted to temporarily return back to this gorgeous holiday and write up my favourite places and create a Chiang Mai guide of 5 things you should do when you visit. For me and my parents it was our first time travelling up to north Thailand and everything was new so it was great to see things for the first time and get to know this part of Thailand. Below I’ve put together my favourite things to see and do whilst visiting in Chiang Mai…

CHIANG MAI GUIDE // 5 THINGS TO DO

KING & QUEEN PAGODAS

My Dad had booked a trip for us through Wonderful Eco Tours and our lovely tour guide Bimmy. We had a 2 hour trek which went quite quickly were we walked through a wonderful national park with waterfalls and bamboo bridges and met with a White Karen tribe member who showed us her local area and we saw flower, coffee and strawberry farms. We also stopped at a local cafe in which we got to try the coffee which is farmed nearby (although I didn’t try any as I don’t drink coffee).

But my parents said it was really nice and you can even buy some if you like it. We then went back to the bus which took us to a local restaurant for some lunch of local Thai food before heading to the highest point in Thailand and also the King and Queen Pagodas which were beautiful. At the highest point in Thailand it’s said to be around 10-18 ‘C which is the typical temperature here in the UK.

LA MANGO

If you love your fresh fruit smoothies you’ll love it at La Mango. Located on Intrawarorot Road opposite one of the temples you can choose from any fresh fruit smoothie from Banana, Strawberry or even try something different like Dragon fruit. I had their Strawberry, Pineapple and Yogurt smoothie which was delicious – perfect for cooling down on a boiling hot day.

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WALKING NIGHT MARKETS

If you love your quirky little gifts and your bargains you’ll love the walking night markets. Which sprawl down streets in Chiang Mai where you can buy lots of handmade goodies. And yummy food for a fraction of the price you would in a normal shop. Filled with all your bohemian clothing and gorgeous dream catchers. So obviously I was in my element buying lots of cheap bohemian items. You can grab a plate of Roti (thin pancake) for 100TBH = £2.49. You wouldn’t get that anywhere in the UK. Where you can choose multiple toppings and fillings which I went for Nutella and banana. YUMMY!

OLD CITY WALL

Chiang Mai is known for it’s old city wall and moat which has been around since 1296. The main part of the city is surrounded by the moat and the remaining parts of the old city wall. A little history behind the wall is the part of the wall nearest our hotel was called Ku Ruang Corner… Ku Ruang means a stupa like structure (ku) containing the ashes of a person named Ruang.

A stupa is a pagoda like building. Between 1321 – 1325 Prince Khrua son of King Mangrai was kept prisoner in this corner of the city wall. Mun Ruang who was his guard also had his house here. The name of the city corner is therefore possibly related. If you love your history I would definitely recommend going to the older part of town.

WAT PHAN TAO

We came across this little temple down the road from our hotel as we were walking through the night markets we saw this temple had really pretty lights and lanterns up and it looks so beautiful so I had to take loads of pictures of it. It’s a slightly smaller temple than normal which has their own resident dogs and Monk school and a handmade bamboo walk way around the little pond which is under the tree and the reflection of the lanterns and buddha statue.

Have you been to Chiang Mai before? Are you planning on going?