Chiang Mai

About

Chiang Mai is the largest city in northern Thailand, the capital of Chiang Mai province and the second-largest city in Thailand by urban population. It is 700 km (435 mi) north of Bangkok in a mountainous region called the Thai highlands, and has a population of approximately 127,000 within the city municipality and an urban population of about 1.2 million as of 2023.

Summary excerpted from the Wikipedia article Chiang Mai, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Text may be clipped or paraphrased to fit this page.

Why visit

Visit Chiang Mai for landscape, water, gardens, and nearby routes. Use Chiang Mai to connect cultural institutions with streets, food, public space, and nearby landscape rather than treating each stop separately. A good itinerary should stay selective. Use one main anchor in Chiang Mai, then build outward only to places that sit naturally nearby. The result is a day in Chiang Mai that can be followed, remembered, and adjusted. If Chiang Mai has useful day trips or nearby landscape, use them to widen the context rather than to overload the schedule.

When to avoid

The burning season, often from late winter into spring, can bring poor air quality. Temple visits and mountain trips should be planned with weather and health conditions in mind. For Chiang Mai, check hours, tickets, transport, and neighborhood distances before the route becomes too rigid. A short distance in Chiang Mai can still take time once hours, queues, and transport are included.

The next week in Chiang Mai

7-day forecast from Open-Meteo. UV badges flag days when sun protection matters (3 and above is moderate; 8 and above is risk territory for unprotected fair skin within 30 minutes).

Year-round climate

Monthly highs, lows, and rainfall (long-term averages, NASA POWER).

Airports near Chiang Mai

2 commercial airports within 100 km. Closest is Chiang Mai International Airport (CNX) at 3 km.

Getting around Chiang Mai

Public-transit operators within 8 km of the city center. Click through to each operator’s site for routes, fares, and tickets.

Operators and modes aggregated by TransitLand from individual transit-agency GTFS feeds. Route classifications (subway / tram / rail / bus / etc) come from each feed’s GTFS route_type codes.