The Magnificent Temples of Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai’s magnificent Buddhist temples

Morning tour by samlor, Chiang Mai’s living heritage

You will be picked up at your hotel at 0800 for your Chiang Mai Temples Day tour. Drive to Thapae Gate, where your samlor driver will be waiting for you. 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 by samlor. After lunch we will visit Wat Doi Suthep, Chiang Mai’s most famous temple, amongst others, by minivan. Here you can find more information and pictures of the temples that are featured in today’s tour.

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, Chiang Mai’s oldest temple. King Mangrai, 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.

Lesser visited magnificent 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. We will say goodbye to our samlor drivers.

Wat Phra That Doi Suthep

We will enjoy lunch a local restaurant. After lunch, we will drive to the foot of Doi Suthep mountain. We stop briefly at the statue of Kruba Srivichai, the “engineer monk, whose followers in 1935 constructed the road, along which you will drive up to Chiang Mai’s most famous temple. From Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, you have a great view over Chiang Mai. On the way down we will stop at Wat Pha Lat, a temple hidden in the forests. The last temple of the day is Wat Chet Yot, the temple of the seven spires. Few tourists visit this unique complex. The main structure is Maha Chedi, which was inspired by the Mahabodhi Temple of Bodh Gaya in northern India, where Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, attained Enlightenment. This is not the only interesting building on this beautiful and impressive complex.

Drive back to the hotel where your Chiang Mai Temples day tour ends.