San Patong Buffalo Market & Sacred Temples Tour

San Patong Buffalo Market & Sacred Temples Tour

The San Patong Buffalo Market

Your guide and driver will meet you at your hotel at 0800. We will drive to San Patong, where a vast Saturday morning market takes place every week. It is the biggest outdoor market in North Thailand. Local people know it as the San Patong Buffalo Market because it is the only market where local people trade buffaloes, cows, and oxen. It is the largest outdoor market in North Thailand and definitely the most authentic. Even though it is not far from Chiang Mai very few tourists visit this huge market. Try a herbal tea and enjoy roaming around this fantastic market where you can buy everything you can think of. We continue to Lamphun, the ancient capital of the Hariphunchai Kingdom. This small town is several hundred years older than Chiang Mai. Our first stop will be at Wat Ku Kut, aka Wat Chama Thewi. The two chedis of this temple are Lamphun’s oldest structures. Also Lamphun gets few overseas visitors.

Wat Phra That Hariphunchai

From Wat Kukut, we will drive to the Nong Dook fresh market, enjoy a delicious snack, called Khanom Babin, at the market. After this, we follow the old city walls and moat to Wat Phra That Hariphunchai, one of the most revered temples of North Thailand. We will visit the former house of the Lamphun rulers, the Sampantawong Palace.

Our tour ends at Wat Phra That Hariphunchai, which is the main attraction of Lamphun and draws many visitors, mainly Thai people. We will have lunch at local restaurant. We walk through the attractive local handicraft market to the tiny but delicate Tai Yong textile museum. Many people in Lamphun are descendants of Tai Yong, Tai Lue people from Muang Yong in Northern Shan State in Myanmar, and they migrated about 200 years ago to Lamphun.

Wat Phra That Doi Suthep and Wat Pha Lat

After that, we will continue to Doi Suthep. Visit Wat Pra That Doi Suthep, the most famous temple of Chiang Mai. Along the way, we will stop at the Kruba Srivichai shrine. His followers constructed the road up to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep in 1935. Walk up the 300 steps of the famous Naga staircase to the temple. Views over Chiang Mai are spectacular. When the skies are clear, you can see the Chiang Mai International Airport. Your guide will explain the history of this temple and answer all your questions about Theravada Buddhism. Then we will drive down the mountain and stop briefly at Wat Pha Lat, a lovely forest temple.

It is time to go back. Your guide and driver will drop you off at the hotel. We hope you enjoyed our Buffalo Market, Lamphun, and Doi Suthep Temple tour.