Three Chiang Mai tours I loved for very different reasons

Chiang Mai is one of those places where it’s tempting to stay put. Between the temples, cafés, night markets, and endless passion fruit smoothies and foot massages, you could easily spend a week without leaving the city. But some of Northern Thailand’s best experiences lie just beyond the city walls.

My own day trips from Chiang Mai weren’t entirely the result of careful planning. After winning a complete trip to Thailand for two, I discovered it included a two-day jungle trek. As someone whose idea of roughing it is a hotel without a swimming pool, this was not ideal. Fortunately, the travel agency agreed. They replaced it with a visit to an ethical elephant sanctuary and a countryside cooking class instead. Looking back, I have absolutely no regrets.

Over the next few days, we found ourselves driving through the countryside for cooking lessons, spending time with rescued elephants, and being rattled out of town in a songthaew before cycling through rice fields, small villages, and some of the sweatiest scenery I’ve ever encountered. Along the way, we discovered that some of the most memorable experiences in Northern Thailand happen far beyond Chiang Mai’s Old City.

The day trips in this article are all ones we went on ourselves during our stay in Chiang Mai. Rather than rounding up every possible excursion from the city, I’ve focused on the places we actually visited and what I learned from each of them.

Doi Inthanon National Park (Best overall day trip from Chiang Mai)

If you’re looking for a day trip that packs a lot into a single outing, Doi Inthanon is hard to beat. It’s home to Thailand’s highest mountain and combines waterfalls, mountain scenery, rice terraces, and forest walks into one very photogenic day out. This tour also includes the Pha Dok Siew trail, which takes visitors through farmland and forest.

It’s easy to see why this is one of the most popular day trips from Chiang Mai. If you can only fit one full-day excursion into your itinerary, this is a strong contender. It’s the closest thing Northern Thailand has to an all-in-one sampler platter.

This is one of the longer and more active excursions on the list. Expect an early start and a full day away from Chiang Mai. Hotel pick-up, transport, lunch, and national park fees are included. Someone else does the thinking; you just get in the van and do as you’re told.

The Pha Dok Siew trail involves some walking, but you don’t need to be an experienced hiker. It was absolutely doable for me and regular readers will know that I’m not exactly the benchmark for outdoor athleticism. This isn’t a leisurely stroll, but neither does it require ultra-marathon-level fitness or mountain goat qualities. Anyone reasonably comfortable on uneven ground should be fine. If your ideal holiday involves alternating between cafés and sun loungers, however, one of the shorter trips on this list may be more your speed.

Cooking class and market visit (Best foodie day trip)

This was one of the day trips I was most looking forward to, and it didn’t disappoint. Our instructor, Natty, picked us up from our hotel and immediately taught us the official Team Natty yell before driving us out into the countryside. On the way, we stopped at a local market where she introduced us to the ingredients we’d be using later. It turns out there are far more varieties of herbs, chillies, and mysterious-looking roots involved in Thai cooking than I’d realised.

The class took place on an organic farm outside Chiang Mai. Before we started cooking, Natty showed us around the herb and vegetable garden, where many of the ingredients were grown. We then moved to an open-air kitchen cooled by fans and, naturally, spent some time posing in oversized traditional farming hats before getting down to business. Unlike some cooking schools, we were able to choose which dishes we wanted to prepare. Under Natty’s cheerful guidance, we chopped, stirred, pounded, and tasted our way through the day before sitting down to enjoy the results. I came away with a collection of recipes, a much greater appreciation for Thai cooking, and absolutely no room left for dinner.

👉 This is the cooking class we did and can really recommend:

There are two versions of this class: a half-day option and a full-day option with a couple of extra dishes and dessert in the form of mango sticky rice. We chose the half-day class, which ran from around 8:00 am until 2:30 pm and felt about right. Our daughter opted for the full-day version a year earlier and reported that by the afternoon she’d reached her personal limit for chopping vegetables.

In terms of effort, this is one of the easiest day trips from Chiang Mai. The most strenuous part is probably carrying your plate from the cooking station to the dining table. If you know which end of the knife to hold and can follow basic instructions, you’ll be absolutely fine.

A cycling tour around the Lanna countryside (Most unexpected day trip from Chiang Mai)

We spent the morning cycling through the Lanna countryside. We passed rice fields, small villages, local businesses, and several things I never expected to encounter on a cycling tour. All of that after rattling out of the city in a songtaew and before lunch.

Despite my well-documented ambivalence towards bicycles, I thoroughly enjoyed this trip. The route was mostly flat, the scenery was beautiful, and the frequent stops meant it never felt like an athletic challenge. The heat, however, combined with my refusal to ask the guide to slow down, made it rather more strenuous than it probably needed to be.

👉 This is the cycling tour we went on, which included lunch and several unexpected cultural phenomena, both Dutch and Thai.

This is a half-day tour, with hotel pick-up, bike rental, lunch, and refreshments included. Someone else does the thinking; you just get in the songtaew and do as you’re told.

In terms of effort, it’s more manageable than it sounds. The route is mostly flat, there are plenty of stops along the way, and the pace is generally relaxed. That said, cycling in Northern Thailand is still cycling in Northern Thailand. The heat and humidity have a way of making even gentle exercise feel more energetic than advertised. If you’re reasonably comfortable riding a bike and don’t mind breaking a sweat, you’ll be absolutely fine.

Final thoughts

One of the best things about Chiang Mai was how easy it was to escape the city for a day. During our stay, we found ourselves standing on Thailand’s highest mountain, learning to cook Thai food on an organic farm, cycling through rice fields and quiet country lanes, and spending time with rescued elephants. Each trip showed us a different side of Northern Thailand. All of them left me very glad I’d ventured beyond the city walls.

You may notice one notable omission from this list: elephant sanctuaries. We did visit one during our stay, and it was one of the most memorable experiences of our trip. However, because ethical standards vary considerably between operators, I felt the subject deserved more than a brief mention in a roundup article. If meeting elephants is on your Chiang Mai wish list, I’ve written a separate post about our elephant sanctuary experience and the considerations that went into choosing a sanctuary.

Whether you’re looking for nature, food, culture, or simply an excuse to spend a day somewhere new, Chiang Mai has no shortage of memorable excursions. Just don’t blame me if you return with a collection of Thai recipes, a newfound appreciation for mountain roads, or an inexplicable desire to shout “Team Natty!” at strangers.

More adventurous or just more time?

Chiang Mai offers far more than I could fit into a single trip. There are waterfalls to climb, mountains to conquer, jungles to sleep in and an alarming number of staircases waiting to test your commitment to sightseeing. If any of that sounds appealing, take a look at the tours below. I’ll be over here recovering with a passion fruit smoothie.

More reading

We arrived in Chiang Mai by train from Bangkok. This is what our night on the sleeper train to Chiang Mai was like.

I’ve written in more detail about the cooking class at Smile Organic Cooking Farm here.

Chiang Mai was not the only place where we got on a bike; for someone who is not necessarily a fan of cycling, I tend to end up on cycling tours a lot. This is what cycling through Bangkok was like.

Still in the planning stages of a trip to Thailand? You can check out our easy 2-week Thailand itinerary here.

More information about travelling to Thailand in our Thailand guide.