Amazing Temples of Chiang Mai

Temples by traditional bicycle taxi

You will be picked up at your hotel at 0800 for your Chiang Mai Temples Day tour. Drive to Thapae Gate. Your samlor driver will be waiting for you at the Thapae Gate. Start your Chiang Mai Temple Tour by samlor. In the morning you will visit some very famous but also some lesser-known temples that are located within the Old City of Chiang Mai.

First of all, we will head off to Wat Lam Chang. This temple has a very old brick chedi. Next up is Wat Chiang Man. This is Chiang Mai’s oldest temple. King Mengrai, the founder of Chiang Mai, built this temple in 1296. After this, we head for Wat Phra Singh. This is probably Chiang Mai’s most revered temple. Wat Phra Singh currently houses Phra Chao Thong Tip, the most venerated Buddha statue in northern Thailand.

Unknown Chiang Mai Temples

From Wat Phra Sing we make our way to Wat Phuak Hong, one of the lesser-visited temples with a characteristic Mon style chedi. We continue to Wat Phuak Taem where local people make ornaments for temple roofs by hand. Next stop with be the Chiang Mai Gate market, the most popular market located within the moat. We taste some of the local delicacies on offer before we hop on the samlor to go to Wat Chedi Luang with its giant chedi. An earthquake in 1545 damaged the chedi. Next to Wat Chedi Luang is Wat Phantao which is a beautiful wooden temple. Here your vehicle will wait for your afternoon tour.

Wat Umong and Wat Doi Suthep

Lunch will be at a local restaurant. After lunch, we will visit Wat Suan Dok, one of the most important temples in Chiang Mai. Within the temple, compound are a white mausoleums, which house the cremation ashes of members of the royal family of Chiang Mai. We continue to the unique forest temple Wat Umong. “Umong” is the Thai word for tunnel.

From Wat Umong we drive to the foot of Doi Suthep mountain. We stop briefly at the statue of Kruba Srivichai, the “engineer monk, whose followers constructed the road you will drive up to Wat Doi Suthep, Chiang Mai’s most famous temple. From Wat Doi Suthep you have a great view over Chiang Mai. On the way down we will stop at Wat Palad, a seldom-visited temple hidden in the forests. Drive back to the hotel where your Chiang Mai Temples day tour ends.