Your Ultimate Guide To Visiting Northern Thailand

Time spent here – 1 week

Budget – £240 (2 people)

Route:

Chiang Rai – 2 nights Pai – 3 nights Chiang Mai – 2 nights

Landing into Thailand felt somewhat like landing in a home from a home, on the way to our accommodation from the airport we spoke about Thailand as having both travelled around previously and how it is such a great place for anyone looking to take their first dip into travelling. Providing both a culture and climate usually different to what most western travellers are used to.

However, you are never too far from little home comforts such as people being able to speak English and getting around is relatively straight forward. Our advice would be embrace the local culture as much as possible though! Thai people are truly lovely and have some of the best food stalls we’ve found anywhere in the world.

Also read Why We Fell In Love With Pai, Thailand for some more Thailand inspiration.

Chang Mai, Thailand

Our trip started in Chang Mai, our first day of exploring started with finding the nearest place to hire a moped to travel around the city and surrounding areas. For anyone who is comfortable enough driving a moped this is certainly the easiest way to get around and usually very cost effective. With our green moped hired and helmets strapped on (no one is too cool for helmets) we headed for Doi Suthep-Pui National Park and more specifically Doi Suthep which is a golden temple placed on the top of the mountain.

Within minutes of leaving the main city we embraced the freedom brought by the moped, stopping off at Huay Kaew Waterfall to grab a drink, here we were taken aback by how quiet this beautiful little secluded waterfall was and would certainly recommend a stop off for anyone else taking this journey.

Now starting the ascent up the hill, which thankfully our moped didn’t mind the strain of piggybacking both of us up in the blistering heat. It didn’t take long for us to be distracted by a simple sign selling something that we were interested in (not food for once). This time, a view point and it didn’t disappoint. We are both suckers for an aerial view, and being able to look over the whole of Chang Mai from such a height and distance was something words or photos can’t do justice.

A short drive further we finally reached our planned destination, our legs took over at this point to carry us for the rest of the journey up to the golden temple and marvel at all of its glory, so many Buddhist temples make you stand back in awe of their beautiful and colourful decorations but this one had something special, maybe it was the gold or the realisation of the effort that would have gone in building such a masterpiece in a time before trucks and lorries where available to deliver the required materials.

Pai, Northern Thailand

Next on our Northern Thailand trip took us to the hippy town of Pai. Once an off the beaten track destination but, now a popular spot for backpackers to visit.

We were promised a little local town where little hippy bars and cool things to see were aplenty. Upon arrival it felt like we had been dropped off at a backpacker meeting point or everyone had listened into our recommendation. This is not to say the previous description hadn’t been far from the truth as within 2 minutes walking into the town from our accommodation we found ourselves sat on bamboo platform, suspended in mid-air, drinking a pineapple shake each.

Clearly the town had been quick to capitalise on the steady flow of people wanting to experience the same feeling of a small town, creating a number of bars as well as a very impressive night food market. Pai quickly became one of our favourite places in North Thailand, a relaxed Thai destination which offered beautiful walks, lots to explore (see our full Pai blog), delicious local food and a relaxed atmosphere.

Chiang Rai, Northern Thailand

Our final destination was Chiang Rai which is about as far north as larger cities get. Our plan was temples, temples, temples.

First on the list was Wat Rong Khun (The White Temple) an intricately decorated work of art which was rebuilt by a local Chiang Mai resident following the temple falling into a bad state of repair the artist self-funded the project costing nearly £30,000 and an unimaginable amount of hours into the restoration. The thing that struck us the most was no matter what part of the creation you look at, the non-stop attention to detail and hidden artistic brilliance. Next on our list of temples was Wat Rong Seur Ten (The Blue Temple) with a beautiful deep blue exterior perfectly matched with gold trimmings makes this a perfect photo spot. However it’s not all about the backdrop, the inside is as mesmerizing as the outside, with a huge Buddha situated at the back of the temple and numerous separate buildings all decorated with the same colours, it is almost harder to get a bad photo oppose to an amazing one.

Finally we arrived at the last “temple” on our list, Baandam Museum (The Black Temple or House) Not officially a temple but included in the widely recognised trio of beautiful templesque buildings in the area. Due to it being a museum there was an entry fee associated (80 Baht) and with there not being any exhibits on display that we were interested in we decided to just marvel at its beauty from the outside as opposed to going inside. But even if you’re on a tight budget like us it is worth a visit just to view from a distance.

Past the temples we had one final goal for Northern Thailand…… The Golden Triangle, this is a point where you can see Thailand, Myanmar and Laos. Only an hour drive north from Chiang Rai it is a must do if you have a spare morning or afternoon, the route is fairly simple and views are breath-taking of rural Northern Thailand.