Places to visit in Chiang Mai, Thailand
21 places to visit in Chiang Mai, Thailand, each with LOQAH's carefully crafted stamp of its own: Wat Chedi Luang, Wat Phra Singh, Wat Phra That Doi Suthep and more. Stand at any of them with the app open and the stamp is yours, confirmed on site, in your Chiang Mai volume.
5 National monuments · 1 Famous place to visit · 15 Hidden gems
National monuments in Chiang Mai (5)
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Wat Chedi Luang
A huge brick chedi in the middle of Chiang Mai's old city, still massive though it lost its upper part centuries ago. It once housed the Emerald Buddha, and its grounds join what were originally three separate wats.
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Wat Phra Singh
A royal wat in the old city of Chiang Mai that enshrines the Phra Buddha Sihing, one of the most revered Buddha images of the north. Among its Lanna buildings is the small Viharn Lai Kham, painted inside with old murals of northern life.
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Wat Phra That Doi Suthep
A golden chedi on the mountain above Chiang Mai, at 1,073 metres, reached by a long staircase lined with naga serpents. Legend says a white elephant carrying a relic of the Buddha climbed this mountain and chose the spot, and the city spreads out below the terrace.
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Wat Suan Dok
A royal wat about a kilometre west of the old city moat, on ground that was once a Lanna king's flower garden. Its field of white chedis holds the ashes of Chiang Mai's royal family, set against the slopes of Doi Suthep behind.
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Wat Umong
A forest wat about 700 years old on the edge of Chiang Mai, named for the tunnels dug into its hillside. Monks have meditated in these brick passages, lit by small shrines, and the wooded grounds around them are still quiet.
Famous places to visit in Chiang Mai (1)
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Doi Inthanon
The highest mountain in Thailand, at 2,565 metres, in Chiang Mai's Chom Thong district. Once called Doi Luang Ang Ga, the crow's pond top, it was renamed for Inthawichayanon, a ruler of Chiang Mai who cared for the northern forests and whose remains were laid to rest here.
Hidden gems in Chiang Mai (15)
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Ban Haw Mosque
One of the biggest mosques in Chiang Mai province, a short walk from the Night Bazaar. It was founded by Chinese Muslim migrants, and the lanes around it still serve the Yunnanese food of that community.
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Bua Tong Waterfall
A limestone waterfall in Mae Taeng district, north of Chiang Mai, where mineral deposits have made the rock rough and grippy rather than slippery. People walk straight up the falling water barefoot, which gives it its nickname.
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Chiang Mai National Museum
A museum run by the Fine Arts Department, close to Wat Chet Yot in the northwest of Chiang Mai. It tells the history of the Lanna kingdom through sculpture, ceramics and everyday objects, with labels in Thai and English.
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Chiang Mai Night Bazaar
An evening market strung along Chang Khlan Road between the old city moat and the Ping River. It began with Chinese merchants and grew into blocks of stalls selling northern crafts, clothes and portrait paintings done while you wait.
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Chiang Mai Night Safari
A large zoo on the western edge of Chiang Mai, opened in 2006 and designed to be seen after dark, with trams carrying visitors through open enclosures. It was the first nocturnal zoo in Thailand and is thought to be the largest anywhere, at about 130 hectares.
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Chiang Mai Zoo
Northern Thailand's first commercial zoo, opened in 1977 on Huay Kaew Road, just west of Chiang Mai University at the foot of Doi Suthep. Its 81 hectares of wooded slopes also hold an aquarium.
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Doi Ang Khang
A 1,928 metre mountain in Fang district close to the Burmese border, home to the first royal agricultural research station, set up by King Bhumibol in 1969. Its cool slopes are planted with temperate fruit, flowers and vegetables.
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Doi Chiang Dao
A 2,175 metre limestone peak in Chiang Dao district, north of Chiang Mai, and one of the highest in the Daen Lao range on the Thai side of the border. Its sheer, lone summit rises high above the farmland of the valley below.
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Elephant Nature Park
A sanctuary and rescue centre for elephants in Mae Taeng district, about 60 km from Chiang Mai, co-founded by Sangduen 'Lek' Chailert. Rescued elephants live here in small herds, and visitors watch them feed and bathe in the river rather than ride them.
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Mae Kampong
A small hill village about 50 kilometres east of Chiang Mai, home to around 370 people. Wooden houses climb a stream valley among tea and coffee gardens, and it is also the site of a Royal Project growing high value crops.
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Queen Sirikit Botanic Garden
A botanical garden in the hills of Mae Rim, opened in 1993 as the Mae Sa Botanic Garden and renamed for Queen Sirikit a year later. Glasshouses and forest trails climb the slope, and a canopy walkway runs through the treetops.
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Royal Park Rajapruek
Gardens at Mae Hia on the edge of Chiang Mai, laid out for Royal Flora Ratchaphruek, the international horticultural exposition of 2006 and 2007 held in honour of King Bhumibol. The grounds stayed on as a park of themed gardens and pavilions.
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Tha Phae Gate
The eastern gate of Chiang Mai's walled old city and the best known of them, its brick wall standing by the moat. What stands now was rebuilt in 1985 and 1986 on the old site, and the square in front is the city's meeting point for festivals and crowds.
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Wachirathan Falls
A powerful waterfall on the road up Doi Inthanon in Chom Thong district, where the stream pours over a broad rock face in a drifting cloud of spray. It is a usual stop on the way to the summit, loudest after the rains.
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Wiang Kum Kam
The ruins of a city King Mangrai built on the Ping River as his capital before he founded Chiang Mai. Floods drove its people away and silt buried it for centuries; today its brick chedis and temple bases lie scattered among the lanes south of the city.
Collecting in Chiang Mai
What are the best places to visit in Chiang Mai?
LOQAH lists 21 places in Chiang Mai. The best known include Wat Chedi Luang, Wat Phra Singh, Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, Wat Suan Dok and Wat Umong. Each has a stamp of its own to collect when you are there.
How many LOQAH stamps are there in Chiang Mai?
21, and more are added over time. Each place has LOQAH's carefully crafted stamp of its own.
How do I collect a stamp in Chiang Mai?
Open LOQAH at the place and get its stamp. LOQAH checks where you are once, at that moment; at the place itself the stamp is confirmed on site, with a gold badge.
I have been to places in Chiang Mai before. Can I add them?
Yes. In Earlier trips, choose Chiang Mai and swipe through its stamps, or import your Google Timeline. Each one goes into your volume with the date, if you know it.
More in Thailand
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LOQAH is free on iPhone and Android, in India and 20 more countries, with more countries on the way. Stand at a place, collect its stamp, and keep every trip in a passport that grows.