3 Days in Chiang Mai

If you want to go somewhere in Thailand where you can both embrace city life and connect with its natural beauty, you should definitely put Chiang Mai on your trip itinerary. In this city we experienced some of the best food I’ve ever had in my life, walked with elephants and ventured to Thailand’s famous night markets. I would absolutely love to go back to Chiang Mai because there is so much to do and I feel like I could go there multiple times and still not have done everything. 

Day 1 - Exploring Old Town 

We landed at the Chiang Mai Airport around 12:40pm, checked into our hotel and then went to lunch at the See You Soon Cafe in Old Town Chiang Mai. We had to order the Khao Soi since it is one of the famous dishes in the region. It definitely lived up to the hype.  It is a perfect comfort meal and I truly don’t believe that I will have better Khao Soi unless I go back to Thailand.  After a morning of travel, this cafe was the best place we could have gone to. They played Taylor Swift, it was beautifully decorated and the staff was friendly.

After Lunch, we went to The Old City Massage to get Thai Massages. After all our time spent on planes, I believe these massages are what kept us from experiencing discomfort for the rest of our travels. We went to this massage place twice - the first time it wasn’t super busy and it was very calm and quiet for our massage but the second time it was a more chaotic time of day and our massages felt rushed.

At night, we went to the Wau Lai walking street market in Old Town. At this night market we were able to get dinner and I purchased a linen skirt and capri’s from one of the stalls there. I really liked this street market because it wasn’t super packed and I felt like there was enough space for us to walk around and not be too crowded. Afterwards, we got drinks after at The FACES Gallery & Gastro Bar which had the coolest vibe and was super relaxing after the street market. 

Day 2: Elephant Nature Park 

Going to Elephant Nature Park was one of the coolest things I have ever experienced. We got picked up at our hotel at 8am for the Care for Elephants Nature Park Excursion. This is an all day excursion to ENP, which is an ethical elephant sanctuary near Chiang Mai. We would 100% recommend this to anyone planning a trip to Thailand. 

Since we did the “Care for Elephants” package, we were allowed to spend the entire day with the elephants; walking alongside them, feeding them, and bathing them in the river. It felt unreal to be right next to these gentle giants and honestly a bit intimidating. Although they weren’t aggressive, being next to a creature that big felt surreal. They provided lunch that overlooked the Thai countryside, which was absolutely gorgeous. Pro tip - don’t forget to pack sunscreen since you’ll be out in the sun most of the day. 

At night we went to the Chiang Mai Night Bazaar which was extremely busy. The streets were totally packed so we decided to stray from the main walkway and just focus on the side shopping areas. My favorite thing we got from the night bazaar were the banana crepes!  After the night bazaar, we walked around and explored Old Town at night. We listened to some street musicians and eventually found a bar/restaurant called Chang Phueak. This was the cutest littel place where we drank Thai Beer and played Connect Four. It was the most wholesome and perfect way to end a great day. 

Day 3: Old Town and Nimman

We started off our day getting coffee from one of Chiang Mai’s numerous coffee shops - Hanna Cafe. Chiang Mai is a common place for digital nomads so there is no shortage of coffee shops available to get your daily dose of caffeine. One of our main objectives of the day was to get Khao Soi from Khao Soi Khun Yai. SO. GOOD. 

We spent the rest of the early afternoon exploring more of Old Town and for dinner we went to Black Itch - A sustainable artisan kitchen that uses locally sourced food in their ingredients. In total, 14 different dishes. I think that this may have been the most special and thoughtful restaurant experience I’ve ever had. 

After dinner at Black Itch we decided to go for a walk around the Nimman neighborhood, and it was nothing like what we expected. All of a sudden we were in a big city atmosphere where there was live music on every street, young people were on dates and out with friends and shops and restaurants lined the sidewalks. We wish we had known how cool this area was so we could have spent more time there. I would recommend spending your entire 3rd day in the city instead of just the evening. I wish we had more time to explore there. 

Accommodations: 

El Barrio Lanna in Old Town: BEAUTIFUL hotel at a reasonable price. Great location for walking all over Old Town.