36 Hours in Chiang Mai, Thailand: Things to Do and See

Chiang Mai’s creative side is on display every weekend in its markets. Jing Jai Market offers a well-designed circuit of shaded stalls and tasteful boutiques. At the orderly food pavilion, stop for fried quail eggs with spicy mushrooms and edible-flower salad (each about 30 or 40 baht). Locate Boro-Wanderers stall to behold an assemblage of Japanese kimono pieces and handmade Thai fabric, used in a long indigo coat with tiger and dragon illustrations for 12,000 baht. At AKARA, you’ll see explosions of colors in flowing, hand-painted silk, linen and cotton dresses, like a stunning orange tie-dyed sleeveless dress for 5,500 baht. Finish up with a tap, tap, tap Toksen massage that chisels into muscles with a wooden wedge and mallet, 250 baht for 30 minutes.

The city has a host of excellent vegetarian and vegan restaurants, including Pun Pun, Aum, Alchemy and Hummus. But why not opt for organic fare with a regal back story (and non-veg options) at the Royal Project Restaurant? The Thai king in the late 1960s created the Royal Project in part to help hill tribe communities replace opium crops with sustainable farming of produce, coffee and livestock. That led to the construction of a handful of restaurants in northern Thailand like this 20-year-old hidden delight near the Chiang Mai Zoo. Open for breakfast and lunch and frequented by well-dressed locals, the bright and minimalist space serves a lunch set of a delicious rainbow trout with a turmeric rice platter, with butterfly-pea iced tea (270 baht), and one of the best smoked-duck salads anywhere (200 baht).

The peaks in the Chiang Mai region are ideal for growing arabica coffee. Try a cup of homegrown brew at a wide assortment of independent coffee roasters and cafes in the city. The coffee company Akha Ama is a pioneer among the growing number of partnerships between highland coffee-growing communities and local cafes. Its founder, Lee Ayu Chuepa, started brewing coffee in 2010 in the Old City with beans from his family farm in Chiang Rai, and now roasts, packages and serves coffee from nine farms with about two dozen employees at three Thai locations. Try an Americano (65 baht) at Akha Ama’s industrial chic cafe near Wat Phra Singh.

Kalm Village, an extraordinary arts, crafts and culture center in the Old City since 2021, has the welcoming quality of a traditional northern Thai home. Its two garden courtyards are surrounded by two- and three-story buildings of reclaimed teak and gray brickwork in a pattern resembling a woven basket. They house a cafe, a restaurant and a library, and galleries with rotating exhibits and a permanent collection of ancestral textiles from northern Thailand and across Asia. There are also boutiques with handmade crafts like blue and yellow sorghum miniature brooms by the Thai brand Baan Boon (320 baht) and intricate silver jewelry by Miao people, a Chinese ethnic minority (earrings, 5,500 baht).

Check out the fast-growing hipster area of Nimman, a grid of a few dozen streets crammed with restaurants, bars, boutiques and weed shops (they sprouted after cannabis was decriminalized in 2022). The rooftop bar at Hotel YaYee has one of the best sunset views of Doi Suthep, a mountain, as well as well-crafted cocktails (about 260 baht). Make your way over to One Nimman, a faux European town square with a clock tower, a food court and live music. On the periphery is a stylish night market with handmade clothing, jewelry and art like the fabulous dot-painted boxes and trays by the husband-and-wife duo at PN Painted Wood. Prices range from 650 baht for a tissue box to 2,500 baht for a four-level jewelry box.

The one-page dinner menu changes daily at Maadae Slow Fish, reflecting the day’s catch. The chef, Yao Chookong, built relationships with a network of trusted fishermen during the pandemic, helping them deliver sustainable seafood to homes. She continued the partnership with them in opening the spartan, farmhouse-style restaurant in 2021. The charcoal-grilled fish of the day, which could be grouper or yellowtail fusilier, is delicious, as are the spicy king mackerel with coconut cream curry (360 baht) and the barracuda salad with avocado and passion fruit dressing (360 baht). Don’t miss the sweet fish jerky made with sardines, brown sugar and fish sauce (85 baht).

Sudsanan, in a wooden shack in an open field, is the perfect setting for Thai folk music. It’s popular with artists who convene at wooden picnic-style tables cluttered with bottles of Singha beer and white liquor and plates of spicy northern Thai traditional fare. The owner, the artist and poet Huag Aroon, started Sudsanan in 1998 as a place for artists to hang out and share original music, and you can sometimes find him sitting in on the bongos with a band. Try the slightly sweet and potent Sudsanan cocktail, with lime, strawberry, almond syrup and clear sticky-rice alcohol (180 baht). And if you’re still peckish, try the laab pork with mixed herbs (120 baht) or the spicy chicken and chives salad (120 baht).