Chiang Mai Travel Guide: A Weeklong Trip to Chiang Mai, Thailand for $200, Full of Greenery

Every summer vacation, I would give myself a vacation and Travel with Maozi. The key point: Traveling in the first and last week of summer vacation has the cheapest air tickets. So at the end of August 2023, when school was about to start and everyone was rushing back to China, I bought a round-Trip ticket to Chiang Mai and was ready to go!



Travel plan

My flight was for 6 days and 5 nights, and I booked 3 hotels/homestays to experience different services. I also exchanged 200 US dollars for Thai baht, which I used for tickets, shopping, and food. I paid for hotels and car rentals online. You don't need a visa to travel to Thailand, so you can go on a trip now.

Refer to the online guides to find the most popular spots. The attractions are divided into the old city and the old city. The old city does not need to drive to walk, and the old city can be driven to play. The old city is divided into Chiang Mai and Pai and Chiang Rai. After confirming the distance, I decisively gave up Pai and Chiang Rai, so this week was very relaxing.

In recent years, Chiang Mai has improved its tourist experience through rural design. So I gave up the temples/attractions that tourists often visit and continued to improve more niche destinations. They may be handicraft villages, cafes, schools or hotels. The premise is that you have to drive or charter a car, and most of them are in remote locations.

Essential APP

Although I rented a car, I still downloaded the Thai taxi app Bolt. Because there is a lot of traffic jams in the old city of Chiang Mai, you can take a motorcycle at this time. Convenient! Bring the phone card bought on Taobao in China, register and start using it when you arrive at the airport.



Of course, Google Maps is indispensable. You can enter all the addresses of your homework into the map and save them for easy viewing. You can also check the store ratings, opening hours, and even the menu!



Highlights of the trip

Baan Kang Wat Art Village is near Chiang Mai University, and it is a collection of many small handicraft shops. Although I don’t like shopping, I can’t resist the small houses of different shapes. You have to go shopping whether you want to buy something or not.





Baan Kang Wat

Kaomai Lanna Resort was originally the Kaomai Manor, which was founded in 1955 and mainly engaged in tobacco planting and roasting. It has now been redeveloped into a comprehensive facility with a hotel, open-air theater, museum, and cafe. Admission is free and you can come in even if you don't eat or stay.





Kaomai Lanna Resort

Most markets are concentrated on weekends. We didn’t come at the right time, so we sorted them out for next time. Although they were not open, I still checked in at two markets to see the environment.




JJ market has fixed shops, so it is open every day, but there are more stalls on weekends.




JJ market

The main reason I came to Chiang Mai was to find bamboo buildings designed by CLA. The first step was to find their office. There are experimental bamboo buildings here, and you can see the construction process and raw materials. It's really amazing.




Chiangmai Life Architects & Construction

According to the official website, CLA also built the Bamboo Cahedral on the outskirts of Chiang Mai. This is private land, so you can't go in, so take photos outside.


Bamboo Cathedral

CLA's most famous building is the school building built for Panyaden International School. You can visit the school, but you must apply in advance on the official website.




Panyaden International School

CLA's latest work is the kitchen designed for Zabb e Lee Cooking School. It is full of imagination and imagination.



Zabb e Lee Cooking School

Hot springs and massage. San Kamphaeng Hot Spring is in the mountains, and it takes 40 minutes to drive. The ticket is very cheap, 100 baht for foreigners and 50 baht for locals.


Sanganphaeng Hot Spring

They sell boiled eggs, just like in Japan. You can also soak your feet with the locals. You can also get a massage here for a little more money.


San Kamphaeng Hot Spring

Make sure to go for a massage at this place, 250 baht/hour. It's cool inside, air-conditioned and quiet. But children can't go in. So Maozai stayed at the door to chat with the aunties and teach them Chinese. When I came out, they were already very familiar with each other, hahaha.




Street Food

Thailand's service industry is very complete, and English can be spoken in many places. For street food, I also reviewed the Thai menu.

Note: Marijuana is legal in Thailand, so please do not eat it by mistake. Do not drink beverages with leaf logos in convenience stores, and do not approach stores with leaf logos on the map.


Chicken Rice

Food in Thailand is relatively cheap, but many small restaurants do not have air conditioning, and some do not even have menus.


Barbecue, stir-fried vegetables

If you don't want to bother, go to a larger place with air conditioning and a menu. If you don't want to bother or get too hot, you can eat at a roadside stall.


Soup curry pancake, seafood fried rice

Maozi and I didn't spend all the $200 in 6 days, so we spent all the remaining cash at the supermarket.










Coffee & Desserts

Chom Cafe, a beautiful environment like Alice in Wonderland, you can enter the courtyard to take photos only after dining.




Chom Cafe

Far away cafe is a coffee space built with old windows, which is quite remote.


far away cafe

Landin cafe, an award-winning building in Thailand, next to Baan Kang Wat.


Landin cafe

Pakamon Factory cake shop, self-service refrigerator, convenient and cheap. The main feature of the house cat is laziness.



Notice Factory



Pakamon Factory

Hotels & B&Bs

I booked 2 hotels/B&Bs in the city and 1 outside the city, with an average price of 30 USD per room. Now with visa exemption, the price should be higher. The first B&B is close to the airport, does not include breakfast, and the room is large and clean.



wanmai house

The second hotel, breakfast included, Western and Thai style, large rooms, and a swimming pool.




Breakfast at Gategaa Village

The third farm is far from the city, with a traditional Thai building where you can fall asleep to the sound of frogs.



Baan Tung Boon Lom


Baan Tung Boon Lom

The week passed quickly, but I didn't visit all the places I wanted to go. It was a perfect trip. I look forward to coming back next time~