10 Best Sights in Beyond the Old City, Chiang Mai

The varied collection at this museum, more than 1,000 pieces of traditional crafts from the hill tribes living in the region, is one of the finest in the country and includes farming implements, hunting traps, weapons, colorful embroidery, and musical instruments. The museum was extensively renovated in 2021. It's off the road to Mae Rim, about 1 km (½ mile) from the National Museum.

Sandwiched between the Old City and the riverside, this market opens for business every evening at around 6 pm. More than 200 stalls—selling food, fake fashion brands, knickknacks, and some pretty handicrafts—line a half-mile section of Chang Klan Road. Some people find the scene a bit too chaotic and commercial, but many love it, especially for the many food purveyors and souvenir opportunities. The area is also a major nighttime entertainment zone. Loi Kroh Road, which bisects the market, is Chiang Mai's (perfectly safe) red-light district.

Chiang Mai's version of Bangkok's hip Sukhumvit area is simply called Nimman (the full Nimmanhaemin is a bit of a mouthful), a mile-long strip west of the Old City. Cafés, pubs, bars, restaurants, art galleries, boutiques, and the trendy One Nimman shopping plaza line the street, which is usually packed with students from the nearby Chiang Mai University. It's definitely worth exploring the jumble of side streets off the main drag, too, where hipper restaurants, shops, and nightlife venues jostle for space.

Chinese traders originally settled this area 1½ km (1 mile) east of the Old City, and some of their well-preserved homes and commercial premises now house upscale and midrange restaurants, guesthouses and hotels, galleries, boutiques, and antiques shops. Unlike in Bangkok where many of the riverfront spots tend to be full of foreigners, the restaurants, hotels, and bars along the river are enjoyed by Thai couples and families on evenings out.

Chiang Mai’s oldest market is a great place to explore during the day. This is where locals actually do their shopping so prices and quality tend to be better than what you’ll see at the more tourist-oriented markets.

Although rarely visited, this small temple is well worth the journey. Its little chedi contains holy relics, but its real beauty lies in the serenity of the grounds. Outside the Old City near the Mae Ping River, it has fewer than 20 monks in residence.

Wat Photharam Maha Viharn is more commonly known as Wat Ched Yot, or Seven-Spired Monastery. Built in 1455, it's a copy of the Mahabodhi temple in Bodh Gaya, India, where the Buddha is said to have achieved enlightenment. The seven intricately carved spires represent the seven weeks that he subsequently spent there. The sides of the chedi have striking bas-relief sculptures of celestial figures, most of them in poor repair but one bearing a face of hauntingly contemporary beauty. The temple is just off the highway that circles Chiang Mai, but its green lawns and shady corners are strangely still and peaceful.

In the heart of Chiang Mai’s Shan Burmese community, this rarely visited temple was built in 1613 to inter the remains of Tharawadi Min, son of King Bayinnaung, who ruled the then-Lanna kingdom from 1578 to 1607. The temple incorporates Burmese design elements and has a distinctive chedi (stupa) made up of five stone spheres, rising largest to smallest. With its bulbous shape, it's been nicknamed “the watermelon stupa” ("tao" is the word for watermelon in Northern Thai dialect). Every spring, the festive Poy Sang Long coming-of-age ceremony takes place here, drawing most of the Shan community.

One of Chiang Mai's largest temples, Wat Suan Dok is said to have been built on the site where bones of Lord Buddha were found. Some of these relics are believed to be inside the chedi; others were transported to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep. At the back of the viharn is the bot housing Phra Chao Kao, a superb bronze Buddha figure cast in 1504. Chiang Mai aristocrats are buried in stupas in the graveyard.

One of the most unusual temples in Chiang Mai, Wat Umong dates from 1296 and is set in a forest near Chiang Mai University—this style of temple is usually far from urban areas and hard to access. According to local lore, a monk named Jam liked to go wandering in the forest. This irritated King Ku Na, who often wanted to consult with the sage. So he could seek advice at any time, the king built this wat for the monk in 1380. Along with the temple, tunnels were carved out and decorated with paintings, fragments of which may still be seen. Beyond the chedi is a pond filled with hungry carp. If you come early enough in the morning you might see people on mediation retreats clad in white doing their walking meditation around the vast property. Throughout the grounds the trees are hung with snippets of Buddhist wisdom such as "Time unused is the longest time."

Within the Old City is a small temple with the same name. For the bigger Wat Umong, tell your driver you're going to Wat U Mong Thera Jan.