Bo Sang Umbrella Festival (20-22 Jan)

At this festival, Bo Sang Village holds a demonstration and sale of various items made of sa paper, especially umbrellas. Besides, there are cultural shows, parades and handicrafts competition.

Flower Festival (3-5 Feb)    

Flower Festival, Chiang MaiThis event occurs during the period when Chiang Mai's temperate and tropical flowers are in full bloom. The festivities include colourful floral floats, parades, traditional dancing shows and a beauty contest.

Chiang Mai Art & Culture Festival (April)

It features an exhibition of works of arts of the contemporary lanna (northern) artists, dramas, cultural shows, concerts and sales of local products. 

Songkran Festival (13 - 15 April)

The celebrations of this festival in Chiang Mai has become more and more famous each year. The traditional events include merit-making at temples, cultural shows, dancing shows, a beauty contest and parade and good-natured water throwing. One significant event is the procession of highly revered Phra Phuttha Sihing Buddha image through the streets of Chiang Mai for people to sprinkle water at as a form of worship. 

Lantern Festival & Loi Krathong Festival (28 Nov)

This old festival held on the full moon night of November is said to be the most charming of all in Thailand. In Chiang Mai, a procession of floats with beautiful maidens sitting on goes through the city to the bank of the Mae Ping River, where hundreds of people assembling to float their banana-leaf containers (krathong) decorated with flowers and candles onto the river to worship the Goddess of Water. Moreover, Lanna-style hot-air lanterns are launched which are believed to help rid the locals of troubles and are also taken to decorate houses and streets.

*The event dates are tentative, please check before travelling.

Bo Sang Umbrellas

• Bo Sang Umbrellas Bo Sang Umbrellas
• Bo Sang Umbrellas Bo Sang Umbrellas
• Night Bazaar Night Bazaar
• Tha Pae Walking Street Tha Pae Walking Street
• Warorot Market Warorot Market
• Wualai Walking Street Wualai Walking Street
•  

Chiang Mai is Thailand's major centre for quality handicrafts. Hundreds of shops all over Chiang Mai sell hilltribe and Northern Thai handicrafts. Besides, the town is surrounded by small cottage factories and workshops where visitors can watch artisans at work. Made with skilful workmanship, a Chiang Mai handicraft can either serve as a valuable gift or be kept as a beautiful tangible memento of your visit.

What to Buy

Silk & Textiles

Chiang Mai is famous for silk and other hand-woven textiles, especially of the hilltribes. San Kamphaeng Road is one of the best places where you can find a wide selection of silk and fabrics, ready-made and custom-made clothes.

Silk & textiles

Bo Sang umbrellas

Umbrellas

At Bo Sang, the umbrella village on San Kamphaeng Road, you'll find plenty of hand-painted umbrellas made of delicate Sa paper (produced from the bark of the mulberry tree). Fans and other handmade products of Sa paper are also available in various designs and at reasonable prices.

Woodcarving / Furniture

Woodcarving is a traditional northern Thai art which can be seen on many temple buildings. In recent years, however, woodcarving has increasingly become an important part of furniture, tableware, decorative items and crafted souvenirs. A very popular item for tourists is carved elephants.

Among the various areas making woodcarving and furniture, the two most notable ones are San Kamphaeng and Thawai villages.

Lacquerware

This beautiful art is made by decorating wooden or bamboo items with layers of black lacquer strikingly adorned with golden designs. Factories and shops can be found along San Kamphaeng and Chang Khlan roads.

Ceramics

Celadon, the unique Thai ceramic in soft green and blue tone, is produced abundantly here in many forms, including dinner sets, lamp bases and decorative items. Among several operation areas, Hang Dong county is a major one with a large number of factories.

Silverware

Chiang Mai is one of the places where the finest Thai silverware is produced. Traditional skills of the silversmiths have been passed along for centuries.Silver shops are concentrated on Wua Lai Road, but some can also be found in San Kamphaeng and elsewhere.

Sa (Mulberry) Paper Products

iChiang Mai is well known for the variety of mulberry (Sa) paper products for example cards, notebooks, stationery, boxes, bags, photo frames, lanterns, etc. There are various colours with different creative designs of mulberry paper sheets. It is handmade natural fiber that sometimes flowers and natural leaves are used for decoration. Sa paper sheets can be used as a gift-wrapping paper and for many decorative purposes.

Hilltribe & Villager Crafts

The hilltribe and local people produce beautiful traditional items such as silver ornaments, colourful embroidery, hand-woven textiles and other handicrafts made of bamboo and other natural materials. These handmade products are not only of high quality but also of unique designs.

Where to Buy

In Town

Shops selling handicrafts and gifts are scattered all over the town.There are two main markets which have a wide selection of Northern folk crafts, viz. Warorot Market at the eastern end of Chang Moi Road and the Night Bazaar on and off Chang Khlan Road. The latter has long been a must-visit for all visitors to Chiang Mai.

Warorot Market

Warorot market, locally called Kad Luang, is Chiang Mai's first shopping centre in Chinatown and a place to see real Chiang Mai. The most famous souvenir here is northern style food. Kaeb mu (crispy pig skin), mu yo (traditional Thai pork sausage), and nam phrik num (traditional northern style green chilly paste). Beyond the market on Praisani Road are dozens of stalls where hilltribe people sell various kinds of tribal handicrafts and tropical fresh fruits and flowers from the highland farms.

For taxi : ตลาดวโรรส

Warorot Market

Night Bazaar

Night Bazaar

Chiang Mai Night Bazaar    Comprising numerous stalls and shops stretching along a long section of Chang Khlan Road, this big famous night market offers many good buys including hilltribe crafts, hand-woven fabrics, clothes, silver jewellery, antiques, lacquerware, woodcarvings, pottery, basketry, and other local items. Due to the keen competition, buyers can easily make a good bargain here.

For taxi : เชียงใหม่ ไนท์บาซาร์

Wualai Walking Street (Saturday Market)

The Wualai community has been so far known for its fine silver and lacquer wares. On Saturday evenings, the Wualai Street is closed to traffic making it an open-air showcase for the area's famous handicrafts. It is therefore called Saturday Market. Don't miss a chance to shop for authentic northern silver and lacquer wares as well as other unique handicrafts at the venue. You are recommended to go there from around 4 p.m. on, when the weather is cooling down and most vendors have already set up shops. The market runs to 10 p.m.

For taxi : ถนนคนเดิน วัวลาย

Tha Pae Walking Street (Sunday Market)

Tha Pae Walking Street runs on Sundays at Tha Phae Gate and along Ratchadamnoen Road. It hence, in the same way as Wualai Walking Street is called Saturday Market, is known as Sunday Market. The Sunday Market features shopping at reasonable prices for various kinds of goods, ranging from local handicraft products to portrait paintings. Besides, local food and music are also key attractions to both locals and tourists. Expect to find activities of all kinds alongside special theme events for young and old alike. This pedestrian market starts around 4 p.m. and runs to 10 p.m.

For taxi : ถนนคนเดิน ท่าแพ

Y. Development Cooperation (YC)

Located in Soi Mengrairasmi, Sermsuk Road

The YMCA of Chiang Mai established the Y. Development Cooperation in 1986 to market and sell handicrafts and natural products, which are produced by the poor rural people in cottage-industry fashion. The YC offers a wide range of products such as ceramics, Christmas decorations, candle holders, fabrics, lanterns, jewelry, Sa paper products, wooden products, silver plate products and many others.

Neramit Custom Tailoring

Located on Ratchawong Road

Neramit Custom Tailoring, Chiang MaiNeramit Custom Tailoring have provided custom tailoring services to people from all over the world, either when they are visiting Chiang Mai or by mail order to their home. A full range of International styles are available and if you have a particular favourite, and can send us a picture by e-mail, with your measurements, we can make the style for you and forward your selection to you by mail.

Out of Town

Bo Sang & San Kamphaeng

This is the most famous centre of handicrafts in Chiang Mai. On both sides of San Kamphaeng Road, there are showrooms and factories where you can view the production of many traditional crafts, as well as purchase them. They are silk, cotton, lacquerware, ceramics, silverware, leatherware, umbrellas, woodcarvings and antiques.

For taxi : บ่อสร้าง สันกำแพง

Hang Dong - Chom Thong - Hot

The road to Hang Dong - Chom Thong - Hot is filled with many fine places selling intricate handcrafted woodcarvings, wooden furniture, porcelain and other handicrafts. Ban Thawai wood carving village is one of the well-known attractions on this route.

For taxi : หางดง-จอมทอง-ฮอด

To keep pace with the ever-increasing number of accommodations, Chiang Mai has a very large quantity and variety of restaurants. Not only northern Thai restaurants and food shops can be found in abundance, but there are also a variety of restaurants serving central, northeastern, and southern Thai cuisine, as well as Chinese, Muslim and international food. Due to the great amount of eating places, prices are very competitive. Moreover, Chiang Mai is full of day and night markets packed with numerous cheap food vendors. Therefore, visitors will surely have no problem in finding an ideal place to eat.

Northern Thai Food

Northern people prefer eating sticky rice to the non-sticky variety, whatever meal it is. They eat it with kaeng (curry) or nam phrik (chilli paste) and vegetables -- fresh or soft boiled. Two most well-known kinds of local chilli paste are nam phrik ong (chilli paste with minced pork and tomatoes) and nam phrik num (green chilli paste).

Apart from vegetables, nam phrik is also eaten with khaep mu (crispy pork rinds), which has become a famous export processed food of Chiang Mai. For curry (kaeng), the main dishes are kaeng hang-le (northern-style pork curry), kaeng om (spicy curry of entrails) and kaeng khae (spicy curry of vegetables). Unlike the central people, the northerners don't like to put coconut cream in their curries.

Another two special dishes of the North are khanom chin nam ngiao (Thai rice vermicelli with spiced chicken curry) and khao soi (chicken/ pork /beef curry soup with noodles). The latter is so popular that there are many food shops selling only this noodle dish, which is normally eaten for lunch by local people. In contrast to the southern food, the taste of northern food is rather weak and oily partly because of the cool climate.

Traditionally, the northern people sit on the floor when eating. Food is laid on the floor or on a low table. They use their hands instead of spoons to pick up food. There is one way to experience northern food, that is to try a khantok dinner.

Khantok

Khantok Dinner

One thing a foreign tourist should experience in Chiang Mai is the khantok dinner, which has become a standard component of Chiang Mai tour programmes. It is a pleasant way to learn about traditional northern cuisine, music and dance.

Khantok in the Northern dialect means a wooden tray used for carrying dishes. Round in shape, it is made of wood, varnished or lacquered with 5 or 6 short legs to support it. At a khantok dinner, the host and the invited guests sit on the floor around the khantok, which serves 5 or 6 persons. The tradition of wearing northern mohom costume for a khantok dinner is no longer observed today.

The main dishes on the khantok usually comprise sticky rice, kaeng hang-le (northern-style pork curry), kaeng ho (spicy curry of bean vermicelli), kaeng om (spicy curry of entrails), sai ua (Chiang Mai sausage), lap (minced meat, half cooked and highly seasoned), nam phrik ong (chilli paste with minced pork and tomatoes), which usually goes with khaep mu (crispy pork rinds) and khao soi (chicken/ pork /beef curry soup with noodles). Eating with (the right) hand, they scoop up a handful of sticky rice from the bamboo basket and dip it into the curry or chilli paste and eat it.

After the meal, a dessert called khao taen, which is made of fried sticky rice covered with caramel, is served. Also served are khiyo cigars and fermented tea, which is chewed to help digestion. The khiyo cigar is made of shredded tobacco and ground tamarind bark (khiyo), which can reduce the strong odour of tobacco.

While dining, Northern music and classical dances are performed to entertain guests. One of the most popular is fon lep or fingernail dance, in which women dancers are dressed in Northern Thai style, wearing long pointed brass fingernails. The programme of dances and dishes may vary from place to place.

Visitors can have a khantok dinner at some hotels and restaurants which organize this activity.

Getting around Chiang Mai

From Airport, Train & Bus Terminal to Town

There is an airport taxi service which can be contacted at the taxi kiosk. From the airport, train station and bus terminal, you can easily get a mini-bus (or song thaew in Thai) to town. If you would like to charter a minibus or car, better check the correct fare at the TAT counter first. Normally, first-class hotels provide free transportation between the airport, railway station or bus terminals and the hotel for their advance booking guests.

In Town

Minibuses The major means of public transport in Chiang Mai town is mini-buses. Plying around town, they are in vivid colours and look like small pick-up with a roof. Tell the destination to the driver and negotiate the price before getting on. Normally the rides cost between 10 and 20 baht.

Three-wheeled Taxis (Tuk Tuks) and Motorcycle Taxis These types of taxis are available around the town. Fares are to be negotiated.

Bicycles Many travellers prefer to use a bicycle to get around and this is very convenient as everywhere in Chiang Mai town as well as the suburbs is accessible by bike. Bicycles can be rented at bicycle shops and certain guesthouses.

Motorbikes, Mountainbikes & Private Cars These can be hired from any car rent company in Chiang Mai town.

Out of Town

From Chang Phuak Bus Station near Chang Phuak Gate, there are regular buses and minibuses going to the following destinations:

For more information, call Chang Phuak Bus Station, 0 5321 1586.

Getting to/from Other Provinces

By Bus

From Arcade Bus Station on Kaeo Nawarat Road, there are ordinary and air-con buses going to other northern provinces, e.g. Chiang Rai, Mae Hong Son, Sukhothai, Phitsanulok and Phrae and some major provinces in the northeastern, e.g. Khon Kaen, Udon Thani and Ubon Ratchathani.For detailed information, call Arcade Bus Station, 0 5324 2664.

By Train

Besides Bangkok, tourists can travel between Chiang Mai and some northern and central provinces by train, too.For details, call Chiang Mai Railway Station, 0 5324 4795, 0 5324 2094, 0 5324 5363 to 4, or Bangkok Railway Station, 0 2223 7010, 0 2223 7020.

By Air

Apart from Bangkok, domestic airlines operate flights between Chiang Mai and other northern provinces, e.g. Mae Hong Son, Sukhothai, Nan, Phrae, Mae Sot (Tak province) as well as Udon Thani, Samui and Phuket. International fights operating are from Chiang Mai to Kunming and Chiang Mai to Xishuangbanna in China.