5 Things to do in Chiang Mai, Thailand

5 Things to do in Chiang Mai, Thailand 

The elephant sanctuary I visited

Chiang Mai gets a reputation among backpackers as their favorite city to visit in Thailand and from my seven days spent there exploring the wild jungle and beautiful old historic town, I can say I fully agree. I watched a lot of travel vlogs and read a lot of blogs about Thailand and Chiang Mai specifically and here are some of the things I tried out and highly recommend! 

1. Doi Inthanon National Park and Waterfall Trek

Hiking one of the waterfalls

Our first full day in Chiang Mai we booked a small tour group to take us up to Doi Inthanon National Park for around 1,600 baht or 45 USD for the day.

Visiting the sign for the highest spot in Thailand

The tour included : 

• Two hour hike 
• Buffet lunch 
• Multiple waterfalls
• Visit to a local village and free coffee 
• The Queen and King pagodas (unfortunately there was so much rain and fog we couldn’t see much)
• Visiting the highest point in Thailand

The rice fields we hiked through on our way to one of the waterfalls

One of the waterfalls we hiked to on our trek

This was an almost 8 hour day and very worth it for the beautiful scenery and wonderful friends that we made. 

2. Visit an ETHICAL elephant sanctuary 

Just look at her!

As soon as I decided to go to Thailand, I knew that a trip to an elephant sanctuary was in order. I had read about them and did some research to see which ones were ethical and not just for tourist entertainment. One that was highly recommended was the Elephant Nature Park and I would definitely recommend it as well. 

Please make sure you avoid any tours that offer elephant riding. It’s not considered healthy for the animals and many of the elephants we encountered were rescued from the entertainment industry or the farming/work industry. At the elephant sanctuary, the gentle giants were allowed to roam and eat food until they were content, have a mud bath and then eat some more. They were never whipped, coerced into anything they didn’t want to do and were made sure to have plenty of relaxation time, away from humans, during the day. 

Our day looked like this: 

• Chopped sugar cane for food
• Fed the elephants to form a bond 
• Walked up to the mud baths and shed they have for the elephants to make rice balls to feed to them for digestion help
• Watched them play in mud
• Let the elephants have an hour and a half rest/nap while we ate lunch (included)
• Fed them some more
• Hiked to the river to bathe them/let them play 
• Rafted down the river in bamboo rafts to end the tour

Our "raft" that wasn't very water resistant 

3. Rent scooters and tour the Samoeng Trail (HIGHLY RECOMMEND) 

The Samoeng Trail is about a 2/3 hour trip through the mountains, just west of Chiang Mai. For 300 baht or 10 USD we rented scooters for the day and set off for the hills. We came across waterfalls, amazing views, wats and local coffee shops along the way.

One of the wats on the trail

NOTE: please make sure that you acquire an international licenses before leaving for your trip. You can purchase one for 20 USD at AAA and there is no test or anything involved. A friend got stopped and had to pay a fine because he had a license but had the wrong information on it. 

Overlooking from a view point

4. Visit Doi Suthep 

Doi Suthep is a Buddhist Temple (or wat) that sits in the mountains overlooking Chiang Mai.

We paid a songthaew driver, 6 dollars a person (there was three of us) to drive us up the mountain, wait for us for two hours and then drive us back down the mountain. A songthaew is a truck that has been modified with a cab and seats in the back to taxi people around cities. They are very popular in Thailand and cheap to use. 

My songthaew

We spent an hour exploring the inside of the temple and taking in the scenery of the city below.

Inside the temple

Being blessed inside the temple

The view of the city below

The surrounding area has a small shopping market that you can shop and eat in if you get hungry. We tried some sponge cake looking treats to hold us over until dinner.

The sponge cake was delicious

5. Visit the night markets

Handmade goyza

Thailand has no shortage of night markets to visit and Chiang Mai does a good job of putting on some awesome ones. Every Sunday night in the old town, they have the Sunday night market. Its size is massive and it is a great place to test out your haggling abilities. I bought a tank top that has a popular Thai beer brand's logo on it for 3 USD. 

Vendors set up with their booth at the Sunday night market

More street food

We did so much in the week we had there and the vibe of Chiang Mai was probably one of my favorites in the whole country. Definitely prioritize this beautiful city if you are heading to Thailand. It's safe to say...

Good bye from me and my baby Buddha!