How many days do you need in Chiang Mai?
Three days. That is the length of the itinerary we built for Chiang Mai.
Here is what each day holds. Every stop below carries its time, and every gap says how to get to the next stop, with the walk or drive time wherever both stops are mapped.
Chiang Mai · 3 days Thailand
Best time: November to February for cool dry days.
The old cityDay 1
⛩️9:00 AMWat Phra Singh
The most revered temple inside the moat, with a gilded Lanna-style assembly hall and a working monastery around it.
🚶 ~9 min · 🚗 ~1 min · 0.3 mi
⛩️12:30 PMWat Chedi Luang
The ruined fifteenth-century brick chedi at the centre of the old city, partly collapsed by an earthquake and left that way.
🚶 ~12 min · 🚗 ~1 min · 0.4 mi
🌆6:00 PMSunday Walking Street
If your stay covers a Sunday, the main east-west street closes to traffic and fills with craft stalls and food carts.
Doi Suthep and the westDay 2
⛩️8:30 AMWat Phra That Doi Suthep
The mountain temple above the city, reached by road then a 300-step naga staircase, with the valley spread out below.
🚶 ~48 min · 🚗 ~6 min · 1.8 mi
📍1:00 PMHuay Kaew Waterfall
A short forest walk on the lower slope of the same mountain, a cool break in the middle of the day.
🚶 ~35 min · 🚗 ~5 min · 1.3 mi
📍6:00 PMNimmanhaemin
The university-side district of coffee roasters, design shops and small bars, busiest in the early evening.
Crafts and the riverDay 3
📍9:30 AMSan Kamphaeng craft road
The road east of the city lined with umbrella, silk and silverware workshops where you can watch the making rather than just buy.
🚗 ~40 min · 11 mi
⛩️2:00 PMWat Umong
A forest monastery west of the moat with brick meditation tunnels and a wooded grounds full of birds.
🚗 ~11 min · 3.2 mi
📍6:30 PMNight Bazaar
The nightly market along Chang Khlan Road, the older and more commercial of the city’s night markets.
This is how Petrel lays out a trip. Upload your own confirmations and it builds this for your dates: flights and hotels included, with live flight status and the travel time between stops.
This is one of 126 free itineraries. Open it, change anything you want, and it becomes your trip.