Back in the days when it was easy to travel, I often found myself visiting Chiang Mai. The city is in a fairly central location for international flights, easy to get to from Bangkok and Hong Kong – two hubs I regularly used – and I really just loved so much about the city that I found myself visiting quite regularly.
Songkran (Thai New Years) Festival in Chiang Mai is one of the most fun and wonderful experiences I have ever had the chance to partake in. The people of Lanna (Northern Thailand) are friendly and kind, the food here is great, and cost of living is quite low compared to bigger cities.
I put together a bit of a shortlist of my favourite places in Chiang Mai, for those of you who are fortunate enough to be here now, or are planning to come here in the future.
Gym/Fitness Training
I regularly train at Harris Fitness Gym which is located in the Lotus Hotel (on level 6) just behind Kad Suan Kaew Shopping Mall. I started going there when I first visied Thailand back in 2015, based on the recommendations of a friend. I was also living nearby, so it was convenient.
The gym is modern and clean, with lost of free weights, machines, benches and plenty of bars for dips, pull ups, and other calisthenics training which is what I really enjoy. They offer classes in various types of dance and yoga as well, and also have a ping pong table and boxing training area. It’s a bit difficult to find, as it’s located inside a very large hotel, but this also has it’s advantages. There are always car and motorbike parking available downstairs and the gym is never so packed you need to wait to use any equipment.
When I’m in other cities I usually have a favourite park I like to go to for training as well. In Chiang Mai there aren’t really any parks with calisthenics training equipment except for Suan Buak Haad Park in the south-west corner of the Old City. Since I usually stay around the Nimman area (where most longer term expats usually find themselves living) it’s not very convenient to go there for training often, and the outdoor equipment is old and not really worth making the trip for.
Night Market
My favourite night market by far, was Pleon Ruedee International Food Market. Located on the east side of the Old City, in the Night Bazaar, this night market hosted a huge variety of food stalls, drink stalls, and a stage for performances and live music.
Unfortunately due to the border closures and lack of tourists, the once buzzing market has closed down, along with the majority of the businesses to the east of the Old City where most short term hotel guests would stay. Hopefully this awesome night market will open up again soon, so we can all go back and enjoy it just like we did in the good old normal.
There’s loads of other interesting food and arts/craft etc. night markets around in Chiang Mai. All of the other ones around are worth visiting if you’re in town, but none of them stood out to me as much as Pleon Rudee.
Restaurants
There are sooooo many good restaurants in Chaing Mai, it’s hard to know where to start. As you may or may not know, I’m a vegan for animal cruelty reasons, and there’s no lack of choice in CM for me. I also like to experiments with different diets including fasting, OMAD, raw food, etc. but whatever it is I’m eating at any given time, I can be sure to find it in Chiang Mai.
Pizza
My favourite pizza restaurant (Yes, they do vegan cheese!) is Pasta Corner, on Suk Kasame Rd. (Nimman Soi 4). The real Italian chefs here do an amazing job, and are really good guys as well. This is my go to for when I have a craving for really good, authentic, and oh so delicious pizza.
Salad
Being a big fan of the raw food diet, and trying to incorporate a lot more raw into my life ever since I dramatically changed my diet and the bald patch on my head disappeared, I eat a lot of salad.
I really like Salad Concept on Nimman Rd, purely because you can make your own epics salads with 20 or 30 different ingredients and it’ll still cost you less than a typical, tiny, 5 ingredient salad in most other countries. If you’re coming here a lot sign up to the frequent visitor program to save an extra 10% on food orders.
Burmese Food
Almost directly across the road from Salad Concept on Nimman Road is a small Burmese restaurant called Nong Bee’s. The restaurant, also known as The Burmese Library, doesn’t look like it’s anything special but the food is incredible and it’s also really good value!
You can go here any go crazy ordering as much food as you can and you’ll be hard pressed to spend US$10. When I’m in Chiang Mai I frequent this place regularly. The food is a bit oily, which is not my thing but we can’t be expected to eat clean 24/7 can we?
Thai Cuisine
A little bit fancy but with decent pricing for that standard of food, and amazing taste and presentation, you’ll absolutely love Ajarn Saiyud’s Kitchen. We were blown away by the food here and the incredibly reasonable price for such fancy fare.
Owned by a Doctor however, the restaurant doesn’t serve alcohol, so don’t come here expecting to be able to drink. Also I highly recommend booking in advance, even during times with no tourists this place is often packed full!
Vegan Fast Food
If you’ve ever been to Maya Mall, you’ll likely know of cheap and incredibly tasty food from Imjai Vegan in the basement-level Food Court. The staff here are always super happy to chat, and their Jackfruit Curry is to die for.
At 50 Thai Baht per large serving, you really can’t go wrong here. The stall/restaurant has won many awards and is definitely worth stopping by to try if you’re in the neighbourhood.
Vegan Cheese
It’s not easy being a vegan. I know how good meat and cheese tastes. I just don’t want to hurt animals. So I’m super happy to have found the vegan cheese available from Chiang Mai Bread. They also have lots of other really delicious foods for the “fussy” aka. healthy/ethical/dietary restricted eaters.
There’s a lot of pretty horrible tasting vegan cheese around, sticky, gooey, blobs of who-knows-what, but the cheeses at CM Bread are really hard to tell apart from regular, high-end cheeses.
Entertainment
There’s so many different types of tourist attractions, bars, themes restaurants, markets, etc. in Chaing Mai, you won’t find yourself ever stuck with nothing to do. Below are a few of the places I really recommend for visitors to the city.
Grand Canyon Water Park
The swimming hole has become very commercialised over the past decade. From beginnings as just a water filled quarry, to it’s present state now with 3 water parks, side-by-side all trying to cash in on the tourist dollars.
That doesn’t make this place any less fun though. Just be sure you go to the main Grand Canyon Water Park and don’t get suckered in to paying for either of the two smaller, copycat water parks the popped up to leach off the success of the first one.