Give Chiang Rai three days. One covers the three built statements the province is known for, Chalermchai Kositpipat’s White Temple south of town, the Blue Temple across the Kok river and Thawan Duchanee’s Black House beyond it. The second goes north to the Golden Triangle at Sop Ruak, the Mekong and the old Lanna walls at Chiang Saen. The third climbs: Doi Tung for the Princess Mother’s villa and garden, or Doi Mae Salong for Yunnanese noodles and high-mountain oolong. Come between November and February, when the air is cool and clear.
Chiang Rai is the oldest city in the north and the least hurried. King Mangrai founded it in 1262, a generation before he moved his capital to Chiang Mai, and the town that grew back around the Kok river is small enough to cross in a morning. What pulls people this far is what surrounds it: contemporary temples built by artists rather than committees, tea mountains that were opium hills within living memory, and a river junction where Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet.
Temple· Pa O Don Chai, Mueang Chiang Rai, Chiang Rai
A working temple and a lifetime art project at once. Chalermchai Kositpipat began it in 1997 and has funded it largely from sales of his own paintings, which is why it belongs to no committee and looks like nothing else in Thailand. The approach is the point: a bridge over a field of outstretched hands, then a mirrored white ordination hall whose murals fold aircraft, comic-book figures and burning towers into a very old lesson about desire. The route through is one way, so walk it slowly rather than doubling back. The gilded building alongside, the one most people assume is the treasury, is the restroom.
The counterweight to the White Temple, and a quicker visit. Putha Kabkaew, who trained under Chalermchai Kositpipat, finished the ordination hall in sapphire and gold on the site of an abandoned temple whose name means the house of the dancing tiger. Inside, a tall white seated Buddha holds the far wall against a ceiling of cobalt and flame patterns, and the blue reads very differently in the last hour of light than it does at midday. Entry is free, the grounds are small, and it sits on the north bank within a few minutes of the Black House.
Not a temple, whatever the tuk-tuk drivers call it. This was the estate and studio of Thawan Duchanee, a Thai national artist who spent four decades assembling roughly forty black timber buildings across the grounds. Inside them: banquet tables laid with buffalo horns, crocodile hides stretched like rugs, drums, bones and Lanna carpentry pushed toward something deliberately unsettling. It works best read against the White Temple on the other side of the city, one reaching for purity and this one refusing it. Budget an hour and take the outbuildings, which are where the strangest pieces sit.
The white figure visible from half the valley is Guan Yin, the bodhisattva of compassion, not the Buddha, and she stands roughly 79 metres above a hill northwest of the centre. An elevator runs up inside to small windows level with her eyes, which give the widest view anyone gets of Chiang Rai without leaving the ground. The nine-tier pagoda below is the better building: Chinese in form, carved through with dragons, and quiet on weekday mornings. The whole complex is modern and free to enter.
Where the Ruak flows into the Mekong, Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet in a single view, and the name the region carried through the opium decades is now painted on souvenir stalls. The viewpoint itself takes ten minutes. What justifies the hour north is the Hall of Opium, the museum built into the hillside above it, which traces the poppy from Chinese trade wars to the crop-substitution programmes that reshaped these hills. Longtail boats run short loops on the river from the landing below.
Doi Tung: the Royal Villa and Mae Fah Luang Garden
Garden· Mae Fa Luang, Chiang Rai
The Princess Mother built her house here in the late 1980s, a hybrid of Lanna timber and Swiss chalet, and the development project that grew around it replaced opium on these slopes with coffee, macadamia and cut flowers. The garden below the villa is the formal set piece, terraced and planted for the cool season, and the shops and cafe on site sell what the project grows. It is an hour of switchbacks from the city, so give it a morning and combine it with Mae Salong or Mae Sai rather than doubling back.
A working estate rather than a theme park: Boon Rawd’s farm southwest of the city runs oolong terraces, fruit and vegetable fields, a lake and a small menagerie across a very large piece of land. Entry to the grounds is free and the ways of covering them are not, so pick one, the tram loop, a rented bicycle, the zip line over the tea. In February the fields become the launch site for the international balloon fiesta, which is the single best morning of the year to be here.
Mountain village· Mae Salong Nok, Mae Fa Luang, Chiang Rai
A Yunnanese town on a Thai ridge, settled by soldiers of the Kuomintang 93rd Division who crossed out of China and never went home. Mandarin is still spoken in the shops, the morning market sells wheat noodles and pickles rather than sticky rice, and the slopes below grow some of the best oolong in Thailand. Come for the market at first light, then work along the ridge road between tea houses; the temple at the top, Wat Santikhiri, gives the view over the whole range. Roughly two hours of climbing road from the city.
The most consequential temple in the city and the quietest of the famous ones. In 1434 lightning split the octagonal chedi here and exposed a stucco Buddha; when the plaster flaked, the green stone underneath turned out to be the image that would travel through Lampang, Chiang Mai and Vientiane before ending up in Bangkok’s Grand Palace as the Emerald Buddha. A jade replica now sits in its own hall on the grounds, alongside a small museum of Lanna bronzes. Entry is free and the compound is shaded, which makes it the right stop at midday.
Waterfall· Mae Korn, Mueang Chiang Rai, Chiang Rai
The tallest fall in the province, roughly 70 metres of single drop, reached by a forest trail of about 1.4 km from the car park. The walk is easy enough in trainers and crosses bamboo stands and a couple of bridges, though the last stretch turns slick after heavy rain. The spray at the base is strong enough to soak a camera, which is part of the appeal in April. It sits about 30 km southwest of the city in Lam Nam Kok National Park, and there is no charge at the trailhead.
Three. The first covers the White Temple, the Blue Temple and the Black House, which sit on opposite sides of the city and take a full day with the travel between them. The second runs north to the Golden Triangle, the Hall of Opium and the ruins at Chiang Saen. The third climbs to Doi Tung or Doi Mae Salong. A fourth day buys you Phu Chi Fa at sunrise or the waterfalls southwest of the city.
Is Chiang Rai worth visiting if you have already seen Chiang Mai?+
Yes, and it is a different trip rather than a smaller version of the same one. Chiang Mai is the old-town-and-night-market city. Chiang Rai is thinner on street life and much stronger on landscape and on contemporary art, with the border country, the Mekong and the tea mountains all inside a day’s drive. Three days here after Chiang Mai does not repeat anything.
When is the best time to visit Chiang Rai?+
November to February. The air is cool and dry, the flower festival and the balloon fiesta both fall inside it, and the mountain viewpoints are clear at dawn. Avoid March and April, when agricultural burning across the north pushes air quality down sharply and the mountain views disappear into haze. June to October is green and wet, with the waterfalls at their strongest.
How do you get from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai?+
By road. Green Bus runs the route through the day in several coach classes and it takes roughly three to four hours, arriving at Terminal 2 on the superhighway before continuing to Terminal 1 in the centre. Minivans are faster and tighter. There is no train to Chiang Rai, and flights between the two cities exist but rarely beat the bus once airport transfers are counted.
Do you need a scooter or a car in Chiang Rai?+
For the city itself, no: the old town is walkable and Grab covers the rest. For everything else, yes. The sights that justify the trip are spread over 30 to 100 km of the province, public transport between them is thin, and a rented scooter or a car with a driver is what makes a day trip work. Mountain roads to Mae Salong and Phu Chi Fa are steep and best not attempted on a first ride.
Temples
Best temples in Chiang Rai
Six worth the stop, from the two the province is famous for to the hill chedi that predates the city.
The province’s cool-season set piece, planted in the riverside park in the middle of the city and running across the turn of the year with night lighting and food stalls.
Jan
King Mengrai the Great Day
Chiang Rai marks the founder of the city and of Lanna with ceremonies at the King Mengrai monument on the eastern edge of the old town.
Dec–Jan
Tea and cherry blossom season, Doi Mae Salong
The wild Himalayan cherries along the ridge flower in the cold months and the tea houses run tastings around them. Dates move with the bloom, so check locally.
Jan–Feb
Chinese New Year at Mae Salong
The Yunnanese town keeps the lunar new year properly, with lion dances, firecrackers and a market that turns almost entirely Chinese for a few days.
Feb
Chiang Rai International Balloon Fiesta
Balloons launch from the fields at Singha Park at first light, with evening glow displays. The single busiest weekend of the year for city hotels.
Apr 13–15
Songkran
The Thai new year. Chiang Rai runs the water at a smaller scale than Chiang Mai, with processions of Buddha images and rituals at the older temples.
May
Chiang Rai Lychee Fair
Three days at the city stadium built around the province’s lychee harvest, with growers’ stalls, agricultural produce and folk performances.
Nov
Loy Krathong and Yi Peng
Krathong floated on the Kok river and lanterns released across the province, on the full moon of the twelfth lunar month.
Getting around
Chiang Rai transport & airports
How to arrive and move around the city.
CEI
Mae Fah Luang Chiang Rai International Airport
The province’s airport sits about 8 km north of the centre on the Mae Sai road, run by Airports of Thailand. Domestic services connect it to both Bangkok airports and to other Thai cities; a taxi into town takes around 15 minutes.
Green Bus runs the northern network, including the Chiang Mai route. Long-distance services call at Terminal 2 on the superhighway south of town, while Terminal 1 sits beside the night bazaar in the centre; a shuttle songthaew links the two.
There is no city bus network. Shared songthaews cover fixed routes for a few baht, tuk-tuks handle door-to-door hops for a negotiated fare, and Grab works reliably inside the city. A rented scooter is what most visitors end up on.
No rail
Rail and river
No railway reaches Chiang Rai. The nearest station is Chiang Mai, three to four hours away by road, and most people fly or take the bus instead. The other approach is the Kok river: longtail boats run down from Tha Ton in Chiang Mai province to the pier north of the city.
Traditional food
Must-try dishes in Chiang Rai, Thailand
The classics to order before you leave.
Khanom jeen nam ngiao
The dish Chiang Rai is judged on. Fermented rice noodles under a tomato and pork broth built on fermented soybean and dried red cotton flowers.
Khao soi
Curried egg noodles with a fried noodle nest on top, served with pickled mustard greens, shallot and lime to cut the coconut.
Sai ua
Northern pork sausage worked through with lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime leaf and chilli, grilled in coils and sold by weight.
Nam prik num
Roasted green chilli relish pounded with garlic and shallot, eaten with sticky rice, steamed vegetables and crackling.
Nam prik ong
The milder red relish of minced pork and tomato, cooked down long and scooped with the same sticky rice and vegetables.
Khao kan jin
A Tai Yai speciality of rice steamed in banana leaf with pork and blood, topped with fried garlic. Cheap, and a Chiang Rai breakfast.
Larb mueang
Northern larb, dry-spiced rather than sour, with a house blend of roasted spices instead of the lime and fish sauce of the northeast.
Yunnanese braised pork leg
From Mae Salong and the Chinese kitchens of the hills: pork leg braised soft in soy and star anise, served over wheat noodles or with steamed buns.
Chiang Rai fact sheet
Chiang Rai at a glance
The essentials worth knowing before you go.
Country
Thailand
Region
Chiang Rai Province, northern Thailand
Population
About 70,000 in the city
Founded
1262, by King Mangrai
Nickname
Gateway to the Golden Triangle
Language
Thai, with Kam Mueang widely spoken
Currency
Thai baht (THB)
Time zone
ICT (UTC+7)
Calling code
+66, area code 053
Airports
Mae Fah Luang Chiang Rai International (CEI)
Power
220V, 50Hz, plug types A, B and C
Emergency
191 police, 1669 ambulance, 1155 tourist police
Interesting facts
King Mangrai founded Chiang Rai in 1262 and ruled Lanna from here for more than three decades before moving his capital south to Chiang Mai in 1296, which makes this the older of the two cities.
The Emerald Buddha that now sits in the Grand Palace in Bangkok was found in Chiang Rai in 1434, when lightning broke open a chedi at Wat Phra Kaew and exposed a stucco image with green stone underneath.
Wat Rong Khun is privately owned. Chalermchai Kositpipat began building it in 1997 and has funded the work largely through sales of his own paintings, which is why it answers to no committee.
Baan Dam is a museum rather than a temple: the estate and studio of national artist Thawan Duchanee, who spent four decades filling around forty black timber buildings with horn, hide and Lanna carpentry.
The hills around Doi Tung grew opium poppy within living memory. The development project founded by the Princess Mother replaced the crop with coffee, macadamia and cut flowers, and now sells all three under its own brand.
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