5 Days in Chiang Mai, Thailand

Chiang Mai was probably my favorite part of our 3 week-long Thailand trip, and for so many different reasons. It’s in Northern Thailand, so it was about a two hour plane ride from Bangkok. It’s green and lush and just downright beautiful, and it’s home to many of Thailand’s sacred temples, elephant sanctuaries, delicious coffee, and the infamous Sunday Night Market. We stayed in Chiang Mai for about 5 days, but I honestly wish we could have stayed longer.

Day 1

We checked in to our Airbnb, which was at the Astra Condo – it was a great deal for the amount of nights we stayed (we were there Feb. 15 through Feb. 19 and it cost us a total of $192.82 for 2 people). The condo itself was nice, but the shower ran hot water for about 2 minutes and then it turned ice cold, and it didn’t drain properly so it tended to overflow into the entire bathroom… let’s just say it was a race to take a shower before either of those things happened lol.

Overall though it was a great spot in a central location, so it was easy to get around everywhere we wanted to go. We flew in in the late afternoon, so we walked around the area and went to none other than the Saturday Night Market, a popular night market held every Saturday from 4pm to 10 pm, where both locals and tourists alike flock to either shop or eat some delicious food. We filled our bellies with Khao Soi (a signature dish in Northern Thailand that’s essentially a curry soup with noodles), Takoyaki, Pad See Ew, and so much more. This is definitely a great spot to spend your Saturday night, and it was a nice pre-curser to what we would later see at the Sunday Night Market.

Afterwards, we hitched a ride in a Sontathew, which is Chiang Mai’s infamous red cars that look like a pickup truck with a hood on the trunk, which is where everyone gets in to go to their destination. It’s the easiest way to get from one place to another once you understand how to use it. You just need to make sure that you get a songathaew that’s going in the direction you need to go and it’s about 30 baht (less than $1). We spent the night walking around stopping into different bars, etc. chatting it up with the locals and tourists.

Day 2

If there’s one thing that I would recommend as a must-do in Chiang Mai, it’s taking a cooking class. This, along with the elephant sanctuary, were my 2 favorite parts of our entire Thailand trip, and let me just say we did a lot!

There are a ton of different cooking classes, but we did a lot of research and the Thai Cookery School was definitely the best bang for your buck. I can’t say enough wonderful things about this place – you get a tour of a real local market, spend the day cooking about 6 different dishes, and you get an apron and cook book to take home with you. It was truly a highlight, and our guide / chef Garnet was so fun, knowledgeable, and made the experience so much more special!

The class starts at 10 am and goes until 3 pm, where they pick you up from where you’re staying and being with a tour at the local market where you learn about the produce (i.e. different types of Thai chilis, basil, and other ingredients you’ll be cooking with).

Then, you are taken to the cooking school, which is absolutely stunning, and class begins! Our instructor, Garnet, would start by laying out all the ingredients, and demonstrated how each dish was made, and afterwards it would be our turn to make our dish.

We did Course No. 1, where we learned how to make Tom Yum, Green Curry, Thai Style Fish Cake, Pad Thai, Minced chicken Salad, and Water Chestnuts in Coconut Milk, but there are 5 other courses you can take (I definitely want to take them all). Once the class is done you get an apron and a cook book, and they send you all the photos taken throughout the day!

After a day full of fun, we went back to the Airbnb and got ready for a night at the Sunday Night Market, Chiang Mai’s largest and most infamous market!

The Sunday Night Market runs from 4 pm until around midnight, and to say it’s huge is an understatement. We were there for about 4 hours, and we didn’t even cover half of it! Let’s just say you’ll get your steps in 😉 It’s the foodie and shopper’s paradise, and is definitely a must-see when you’re in Chiang Mai.

Day 3

You need a full day for this one – a day at the Elephant Jungle Sanctuary I know I mentioned that this was a top highlight, but I can’t express enough how special and memorable this day was! Now, I want to preface this with saying that I spent hours upon hours researching ethical elephant sanctuaries, and one thing I want to emphasize is that there are a lot of elephant sanctuaries that claim they’re ethical, but they are not. And if they say that they offer elephant rides, AVOID THOSE AT ALL COSTS.

This one was the one that I felt most confident in, but by all means go with who you feel like going. I will say though that I never once felt like these elephants were forced into doing anything – they all seemed happy and healthy, and this sanctuary actually said that they didn’t own the elephants on their land. They were taking care of them for the Karen Hill Tribe that dwelled within the mountains there. Overall it was such a beautiful and memorable experience, and I am SO glad that we did this!

The ride to get to the sanctuary was about an hour or so, and one thing I want to say is for those that get motion sickness, it might be a good idea to take a little something before you get in the truck. We were with several other couples sitting in the back of a truck, and it was definitely a bumpy ride!

Another thing to keep in mind when going to Chiang Mai is the start of their burning season – we noticed as we were going up the mountain that some farmers had already started to burn the crops, but this typically happens towards the end of February and goes until late April. The air pollution gets particularly bad during this time of year due to the lack of rain (since it’s the dry season), and just pollution in general.

The ride up the mountain itself and down to the camp felt particularly treacherous, and I may have seen my life flash before my eyes a few times but it was just all in a days’ work in the drivers POV lol. He knew what he was doing!

When we got to the camp, we were taken to the orientation area but the first thing you notice is just how wide open this sanctuary was. It was tucked away in the valley deep in the mountains and was truly breathtaking. We were given an overview of how the day would look, what we would do, how to interact with the elephants, etc. Our instructor was hilarious and really made the day hilarious! You could tell that they just loved their jobs – I mean, who wouldn’t be happy being surrounded by elephants and being able to take care of these gentle giants every day?

We went to go feed the elephants some sugar cane and bananas, and as soon as we were on the field the elephants all came up knowing exactly where the food was. One thing that I found hilarious was the fact that the instructor said they have a few baby elephants between one and two years old who act very much like toddlers. And another fun fact is that “babies don’t have breaks,” so if you see them running towards you to get some food you better step out of the way unless you feel like getting bull-dozed by these giant babies because they literally cannot stop themselves. Hence the “no breaks.”

We spent the day hanging out with them, learning how to make their medicine balls, learning about everything they eat in a day, and ended the day giving them a mud bath and playing / washing them off in the waterfalls! It was truly such a magical day that I’ll never forget, and it was even more enjoyable because you could tell the elephants actually enjoyed it. They were free to go wherever they wanted as they pleased, even when we went to go was them off (a lot of sanctuaries that do this actually chain them underwater so they can’t leave…hence why I mentioned that some places claim they’re ethical but really aren’t).

Day 4

We were spent after an eventful day at with the elephants, so we took this day to just relax and explore the city without an itinerary.

We walked and ate, and walked and ate some more 😉 We came across this noodle cart (photo below) randomly, and we got this noodle soup that was honestly one of the best things we had this ENTIRE trip… I still dream about these noodles, and it was $1 USD for each.

We also got an iced coffee from a shop / restaurant called Abb-Aroi Coffee & Restaurant and it was the best iced coffee I’ve ever had (and trust me, I drink A LOT of coffee..) They use condensed milk as the cream, and brewed it fresh and I highly recommend you stop here on your next trip to get yourself a cup!

We also grabbed some lunch at a local restaurant, Lemongrass (Loi Kroh Rd, Chang Khlan Sub-district, Mueang Chiang Mai District, Chiang Mai 50100, Thailand), which wasn’t a far walk from our Airbnb, and was also in the same area that the Saturday Night Market is held. The Pad Thai and Pad See Ew were delicious!

Day 5

On our last day, we took a ride down the Mae Ping River, which was a nice relaxing way to kill some time. It was a peaceful 45 minute long boat ride, where they take you to a farm / local restaurant that grows their own produce. It was also a scene in one of the Rocky movies! It honestly wasn’t something that I would recommend doing though unless you’re looking for something cheap to kill time, which is what we did until we got ready for our flight later that afternoon. We booked the tour with the tourist office at the Astra, but you can find these at really any of the tourist office booths. The information is hyperlinked if you want to add this on to your itinerary, and honestly I only recommend doing this if you have time to kill. Otherwise, there’s plenty else to do in the city that I think would be much more important to see.

Chiang Mai itself is definitely a must see during your trip though and I can’t say enough wonderful things about it! I wish we could have spent longer here, because there was still so much to see of the actual city that we didn’t get to. I’ll get into that in another post, but please drop a comment below or message me if you want to know anything else or have questions!