Chiang Mai is a beautiful city in the North of Thailand that’s city walls and moats remind you of the Lanna kingdom from the 13th century. Chiang Mai was built in 1296 to be the Capital of Lanna Kingdom. This was the country of a million rice fields. Now, Chiang Mai is a bustling city known for its temples, history, festivals, and delicious food.
If you have limited time, you must see these 5 Temples of Chiang Mai. They are Wat Sri Suphan – Silver Temple, Wat Chedi Luang, Wat Pra Singh, Wat Prathat Doi Suthep, and Wat Lok Moli. Also if you have time check out the Night Bazaar and Tha Pae Gate.
In this Blog though, we’ll be sharing our favorite activities in Chiang Mai and the top 5 favorite temples of Chiang Mai you most want to visit when you come to Chiang Mai.
We started our sight seeing at Tha Pae Gate which is a great place to see the old defensive city walls of the Lanna Kingdom. The gate, the walls, and the moat were used to defend the city of Chiang Mai from invaders from Burma and Mongolia. Parts of the original city walls are still visible today making them over 700 years old. Once you enter the gates of this majestic city of Chiang Mai you are now inside what was once known as the Lanna Kingdom.
While we were there, there were vendors selling bird food and It was so fun to feed the birds and have them eat right out of your hand. There was also vendors there taking pictures for people while they were walking through the birds. They really can get some great photos for you so I highly recommend it! You may also feed the birds. It was a lot of fun for us. This square also has lively music, festivals, and markets on the weekends, so we got to see them setting up decorations for Loy Khathong. Loy Khathong is the festival of lights or festival of lanterns.
Wat Sri Suphan Silver Temple
Sri Suphan known simply as the Silver Temple is covered in ornately decorated silver plates. The temple was first founded in 1501 by King Mungrai. The most recent renovation and designs shows the impressive silversmith techniques by local artisans from the Ancient Lanna Art Study Centre. You will love the intricate details and the metallic luster of this temple. No women are allowed inside the main Silver Temple, so I sent David in to get this footage of the inside. There’s plenty of activities and beauty to behold on the outside of the main temple though, so don’t feel disappointed ladies, there are still plenty of things for you to see and do.
I really enjoyed this temple because it was easy to get a blessing from the monks and to learn more about the practice of meditation. David and I meditate regularly and find it extremely helpful for increasing our peace and enhancing our level of happiness.
We were happy to meet a very nice temple representative that talked with us about meditation and even taught us the practice of dynamic meditation which is moving your hands in with your in breath to bring in good energy and moving our hands out with your out breath to expel bad energy. I really enjoyed learning this new meditation practice and enjoyed hearing about their meditation center. They used to host meditation classes here at this location but now they have been moved to the meditation center due to the pandemic.
This is why the silver temple is on the top of list of places to visit for those interested in learning more about Buddhism and meditation. Information in English is easily accessible.
Wat Chedi Luang
We loved Wat Chedi Luang because of the 700 year old pagoda that still remains at the back of this Chiang Mai temple. This pagoda once held the sacred emerald Buddha that is now at the Grand Palace in Bangkok. The pagoda was once twice as tall as it is now but it was damaged due to an earthquake. The part of the pagoda that remains is amazing to see. With Golden Buddha’s inside and lines of sculpted elephants outside.
Wat Phra Singh
Another favorite right in the city of Chiang Mai is Wat Phra Singh. It also has two big golden stupas in the back perfect for doing a walking meditation and for admiring the golden sparkle.
Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep
30 minutes up a mountain is one of the most popular temples in the region Wat Phra That Doi Suthep. This temple in Chiang Mai is popular as a pilgrimage site and it’s a common practice to buy bells as offerings for the Buddha.
The 300 step climb is worth it though. As you get to see great views of the city and beautiful golden stupas. There is an available Tram if you are unable to take the stairs.
They really do make information about traditions easily accessible. I enjoyed participating and learning about these traditions while I was there. You can walk around the golden stupa four times and recite the mantra and you can even shake the sticks to see what your fortune is.
Wat Lok Moli
And our 5th favorite temple in Chiang Mai was Wat Lok Moli. This charming temple has two big elephants guarding the entrance. For Loy Khathong, they had hanging lanterns for sale and we enjoyed writing our wishes on lanterns and hanging them up on the temple grounds. It’s such a nice tradition. What would you write on your lantern?
Night Bazaar
I remember coming to the night bazaar last year and it was full of vendors inside and outside lining the streets. Due to the pandemic, and the lack of tourists the night bazaar is only a small fraction of what it used to be. It’s still worth going to see all the interesting stalls, but it is a little sad to know that so many vendors have gone out of business due to these troubling times.
I daresay Chiang Mai has some one the best food in Thailand. We recently went vegetarian and were impressed by the quantity and quality of vegetarian restaurants in Chiang Mai. The food was very healthy and delicious.
We truly enjoyed this lantern tradition, we think you will too. Also, while you are in north Thailand you should visit Chiang Rai and Pai.
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