Experience The Best Of Chiang Rai

Experience the best of Chiang Rai, a lovely bustling city in the north of Thailand, missed by most travellers who instead venture east to the larger city of Chiang Mai. Add this charming place to your itinerary, you will not be disappointed, and here is why.

The White Temple and Its Surprising Art Wall

You can see this temple in the above image, all white apart from a load of sparkles! The walkway to enter the temple is lined with hundreds of outstretched hands reaching out of the ground…it is quite a bizarre but stunning building. Inside, make sure when you enter the main door that you turn around and view the wall behind you. See if you can make out batman, Harry Potter amongst so many other famous characters and real life celebrities. This temple can be found a short tuktuk ride south of the city, maybe 5-10 mins at the most.

Visit A Cat Cafe – Cat ‘n’ A Cup

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It may sound a bit weird, but do you fancy having a drink and something to eat surrounded by cute felines? Well look no further than the Cat ‘n’ A Cup Cafe located right in the centre of the city. With only a limited number of customers allowed in the cafe at one time, you may have a little wait. The cat can roam around wherever they like, and the have escape routes galore for when they are fed up of being petted.

The Famous Clock Tower

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You can’t miss this golden structure which is used as a roundabout at a major junction in town. At night it is worth revisiting as it is all lit up.

Hill Tribe Museum

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Learn about ancient and current cultures at the Hilltribe Museum in the heart of Chiang Rai. With numerous tribes still living their traditional lives, this is a fascinating insight in to alternative cultures and traditions, far from our own.

Experience Chiang Rai’s Karon Village

You can visit examples of several tribes which have been ‘recreated’ just outside town in a settlement. Although it is a recreation of how these people would have lived, these villages are inhabited permanently but offer an insight in to their life. When we visited we go to see the interesting Karon tribe, where the women and girls wear rings around their neck, increasing them in number over years.

Flower Festival Time

Every year there is a flower festival in Chiang Rai, and it’s not just about flowers – although they are the main attraction. We stumbled across this by chance and it totally enhanced our visit, so Google when it is on and aim to arrive during it. Free to walk around (yes I know! Amazing!), you will be wowed by the displays and the scent of millions of floral arrangements. This wisteria heart was so pretty. But what really made the festival for us was the street food which came with it. A whole new market popped up along the entire road for us to walk the length of, feasting as we went along.

Darunaman Mosque

Thailand is a multi-faith country and you can see examples of beautiful mosques in many areas. This mosque can be found in the centre of town as has lovely colourful domes and intricate minarets.

Experience Chiang Rai Street food

‘When in Rome’…this only goes so far to be honest. The Spicy chicken on the left was so good we went back for more, whereas the dried crickets were left for others to enjoy. Regardless of whether you are after sweet, savoury, fruit, veg, drinks or a pudding, it can all be found in a good old walking street market. Get stuck in, you may even like insects??

The Naval City Pillars

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This shrine consists of one main pillar surrounded by 108 smaller ones which go around the centre on 6 large circular steps.

Experience The Best A Little Further Out Of Chiang Rai

Don Soi Palace and gardens

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North of Chiang Rai, up in the mountains is a beautiful palace with stunning gardens. Aisles of orchids, multicoloured borders and much more await.

Fish and Monkey Cave Temple

North of Chiang Rai is a lovely temple with a bit of a difference. It is a temple complex consisting of numerous buildings, one located up a large number of steps which are lined with dragons. The view from the top is totally worth the aching legs it takes to get there. Beware though of the monkeys scampering around which will steal anything you do not have hold of tight enough. At the entrance you are given a stick, not to hit them with, but just to use as a warning shoo.

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A large lake containing fish is at the base of the steps leading up to the temple. When we visited there was a floating platform with a skeleton riding a bike on it…random. The other end of the complex has very unusual statues of people. Not for the faint hearted, they are depicted as being tortured due to their bad ways! Again, interesting if not slightly odd. Well worth a visit if you are also heading out to the Palace and gardens which are nearby.

Golden Triangle Sign

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There is a village called Chiang Saen where you must climb up to the viewpoint. Here you are able to look out and see Thailand, Loas and Myanmar. The village has some lovely temples, restaurants and is a good place to stay for crossing over the border.