Chiang Mai Night Bazaar and Old City: visitor guide

What to expect at Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai is Thailand's northern cultural capital, a 700-year-old moated city of Lanna Buddhist temples, traditional handicraft workshops and cooking schools, surrounded on all sides by mountains and approached from Bangkok by a 700km journey through the changing landscape of Northern Thailand. The city was founded in 1296 by King Mengrai as the capital of the Lanna Kingdom ('the Kingdom of a Million Rice Fields'), a political entity that remained independent of the central Thai kingdoms for centuries and developed a distinct Lanna culture, art, architecture, food and language that is still clearly distinguishable from central Thai culture today, even though Chiang Mai has been formally part of Thailand since 1892.

Old City

The Old City, enclosed within the surviving square moat (1.5km on each side), contains more than 300 Buddhist temples in the Lanna architectural style, a tradition distinct from Bangkok's ornate central Thai temple architecture in its use of heavy carved teak wood, low-sweeping multi-tiered rooflines, lacquered wooden Buddha images and a colour palette favouring red, gold and black rather than the multicoloured glass-tile exteriors of the Bangkok temple tradition.

The best Lanna temple interiors in the Old City include Wat Chedi Luang (a partially ruined 15th-century chedi 60 metres tall, its top destroyed by earthquake in 1545, the remaining structure still one of the most dramatic architectural presences in northern Thailand), Wat Phra Singh (housing the most revered Buddha image in Chiang Mai in a 14th-century Lanna-style wihan of great beauty) and Wat Chiang Man (the oldest temple in the city, founded by King Mengrai in 1297, containing two highly venerated Buddha images of unusual iconographic type).

Night Bazaar

The Night Bazaar on Changklan Road, operating nightly from about 5 PM to midnight, is the best handicraft shopping venue in Thailand, far better in quality, variety and price than the equivalent market areas in Bangkok or Phuket. Moreover, the bazaar and the adjacent covered Anusarn Market offer silver jewellery (from the hill tribe silverworking tradition), hand-woven silk and cotton textiles (from the village weaving cooperatives of the northern highlands), carved teak and bamboo objects, ceramic work in the distinctive Celadon glaze developed at the medieval kilns of nearby Wiang Kalong, embroidery by the Hmong, Karen and Akha hill tribe communities of the northern mountains, and lacquerware in both traditional Burmese-influenced and contemporary designs. Prices are negotiable and noticeably below Bangkok tourist market equivalents.

Sunday Walking Street

The Sunday Walking Street on Wualai Road (operating Sunday evenings only, 5 PM–midnight) and the Saturday Walking Street on Wua Lai Road (Saturday evenings only) are smaller and more locally-oriented than the main Night Bazaar, the vendors tend to be local artisans selling their own work rather than wholesale buyers, and the food stalls serve more authentic northern Thai cuisine. Both markets are found in the area southwest of the Old City moat and are within reasonable walking distance of most Old City accommodation.

Northern Thai cuisine is the primary justification for visiting Chiang Mai that most food-focused travellers cite above all others. Khao soi, the signature dish of Chiang Mai, a coconut curry noodle soup of outstanding complexity served with egg noodles both softened in the broth and deep-fried crispy on top, with shallots, pickled mustard greens, lime and chilli oil as condiments, is available from THB 50–80 at virtually every local restaurant in the city and is impossible to approximate accurately outside northern Thailand.

The version at Khao Soi Islam near Charoen Prathet Road and at Khao Soi Khun Yai on Faham Road are often cited as the top in the city. Sai oua (northern Thai herbal pork sausage, grilled), nam prik noom (green chilli dipping sauce served with raw vegetables and sticky rice) and gaeng hang lay (a Burmese-influenced pork curry with ginger and pickled garlic) complete the essential northern Thai culinary experience.

Making the most of it

A Thai cooking class is one of the most practically rewarding activities available in Chiang Mai and the city has the highest concentration of quality cooking schools in Southeast Asia. Most half-day classes (THB 900–1,500, typically including a morning market visit to buy ingredients, instruction in making five to six dishes, and all food consumed during class) deliver real skill in Thai cooking fundamentals, aromatic paste preparation, the balance of sweet-sour-salty-spicy flavours, rice cooking and technique, that translate directly to home cooking. The Thai Farm Cooking School, Zabb E Lee and Baan Thai Cookery School are often well-reviewed by participants. Book in advance as classes often fill several days ahead during peak season (November–February).