A TRAVZ STARTING POINT
Chiang Mai at a walking pace
A considered 7-day shape for Thailand, ready to be adapted around your dates, pace and people.
THE IDEA
A route with room
for your story.
Northern Thailand is cooler, greener and considerably slower than the coast, and it is the part of the country that people tend to return to. This itinerary stays in and around Chiang Mai for the whole week rather than touring the north, on the theory that a place you stay in for six nights becomes somewhere you know.
The old city is a square kilometre inside a moat, which makes it one of the few Asian cities where walking is genuinely the best way to get around. You stay inside it or just outside, and most days start on foot.
The activities are chosen for being things you do rather than things you look at: a cooking day that starts at the market, a morning at an elephant sanctuary that has never offered rides, a session with a weaver in a village south of the city.
It works particularly well for families with older children and for anyone who has done the beach version of Thailand and wants the other one. November to February is the best window; March and April bring agricultural burning and we will tell you honestly if your dates fall in it.
DAY BY DAY
The shape of
the journey.
Every day has intention, with enough breathing room to follow a recommendation or change your mind.
- 0101
Arrive, walk the moat
Fly in and check in inside the old city. A slow orientation walk in the late afternoon, taking in three or four temples and ending at a night market.
- 0202
Market, then cook
A full cooking day starting at the produce market, learning what the ingredients actually are before using them. Four dishes, cooked properly, eaten for lunch.
- 0303
Elephants, no riding
A morning at a sanctuary that has never offered rides or performances. You feed and walk with the herd. Back by mid-afternoon.
- 0404
Up the mountain
Doi Suthep early, before the buses, then the Hmong village further up. The afternoon is free and most people spend it doing nothing much.
- 0505
Weaving village
South to a village where the weaving is still a working craft rather than a demonstration. A long session on a loom, and you keep what you make.
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Your day
Nothing planned. Cycling, a massage course, a second run at the market, or the pool.
- 0707
Home
Transfer to Chiang Mai airport, which is fifteen minutes from the old city.
A SENSE OF PLACE
The look
of it.
THE PRACTICAL PART
What's in.
What isn't.
INCLUDED
- Six nights in or beside the old city
- Daily breakfast
- Airport transfers both ways
- Full-day market and cooking course with lunch
- Elephant sanctuary morning, entry and transport included
- Weaving session in the village, including materials
NOT INCLUDED
- International flights and the domestic leg from Bangkok
- Thailand visa where required
- Meals other than breakfast and the cooking course lunch
- Massages and optional courses
- Travel insurance
THE NEXT CHAPTER IS YOURS
Keep the route.
Change everything else.
Your dates, your people, your pace — one thoughtful brief is enough to begin.
Personalise this trip