Chiang Mai Trip 2026

March 13, 2026 13 minute read

The last time my wife and I went to Chiang Mai is in 2018, way before any of the lockdowns… Such a good time. We missed the relaxing moments of the café and market hopping back in the days, and now are wanting to re-visit them.

This time it’s a very chill trip, consisting on resting in hotel for many of our time :E

Flight

Cast of the massive airplane on the field. Wonder how is it feel like to be hit by the shadows of the plane. Might make a very impressive plane silhouette.

Cast of the massive aeroplane on the field. Wonder how is it feeling like to be hit by the shadows of the plane. Might make a very impressive plane silhouette.

Hotel

Himku Hotel

Our flight touched down around 9am, means we stayed up the whole night before the flight, and are in a zombie mode. Luckily we are able to check in early at 11.20am. Slept 2 hours plus to recharge then only go out xD.

Highly recommend this hotel. Friendly staff, spacious yet serene environment. Water and snacks are replenished daily, comfortable king-size bed.

The rate goes for RM230 / night. Some might say it is on the high side for Chiang Mai, but it serves very well for a resting space after a long day.

Interior of the hotel

Meals

Aoyjai Kitchen

We choose to come here after our walks from Baan Kang Wat, as we made a conscious choice to have more Thai Food throughout of the trip, as opposed to say, eating pizza at the marketplace.

Boss is friendly and recommended us to go to the nearby Old City Night Market after the meal.

Click or hover on the pictures for captions.

Pad Khra Prao with Pork. Quite salty with just hints of basil taste, which is not enough

Tom Yam Kung, which even though without the coconut milk in it, taste surprisingly light on the mouth with just the nice amount of sourness and spice. Quite a refreshing and easygoing soup

Well, stir fry vege with peppers. A bit salty.

Khao Soi

At the third day, we are craving for Khao Soi, which is a curry “Yuan Yang” noodles. Deep-fried and cooked egg noodles soaked in a tangy, curry soup, with hint of lemongrass and turmeric.

Pasta Ama

It’s in our to-go list to try some Western-Thai fusion pasta (although I did just say I want to eat more Thai food x))

Spinach Soup - Hearty and savoury soup, can’t go wrong.

Pesto Pasta - Overall quite a good pasta, with the pesto sauce has less intensity on the basil (not sure is it due to local variation on basil), and more on the cheese, nuts savoury (too bad almond flake is used instead of pine nut). MVP dish.

Cold Angel Hair Yuzu - Me being wanting to try some light and refreshing flavour dish, I went for this, fully knowing that chilled Angel Hair pasta tends to be a bit mushy, which is of course the case here… Fish is fresh, but the sauce seems to miss the mark and is bland.

Simple Thai Cafe

We initially planned for Phu Khao Fai Udompol Noodle as they are famous for their garlic grilled pork, but it’s not open… No choice, we have to settle for a… umm… Simple Thai Cafe.

The taste is indeed, simple. But, it’s good enough for the price, and most importantly, filled up our empty stomach in a seemingly quiet street.

Wang Roast

Yet again, planned for the renowned Guay Jub Chang Moi Tat Mai for their noodle soup, and it is closed again… No choice, have to go around and look for other foods to eat. After hitting some shuttered doors, finally came to this shop that looks decent for hungry tummies.

However, what I can say that it is a generic Cantonese style roast meat, which I had way better ones back in my home country.

Café

A Day in Chiang Mai

Since our flight has been delayed (AirAsia :3) by 2 hours, we manage to squeeze in some time to visit this café before we make way to the airport. I’m glad for it as this café surprised us with its drinks and atmosphere.

One of the travel author (@datorick) that we follow frequently visits here too, which thanks to his recommendation that bring us to this café.

Mango jelly tart. The mango is with just the right sweetness, coupled with some stiff jelly-ish texture, creamy and pleasant. The tart base is fragrant, although slightly hard to the tooth.

Top is Nicaragua Single Origin, which cost only 100 baht but surprisingly very, very good tasting coffee. It has the smoothness of hand brew, and did not leave any bitter aftertaste whatsoever. I’m left imagining if 100 baht coffee taste this good, what’s more on the 300 baht coffee beans that they are offering?

At the bottom is Dirty, which comes with a frozen milk balls (!?). When it served, we are like “This ain’t conventional dirty huh”, but one sip is all it takes to fell in love with this variation. The creaminess of the Dirty is on point, not overpowering the espresso shot, co-existing with each other harmoniously.

This place has made to one of my top coffee to-go list, that I will surely remember when I revisit.

One of the travel author (@datorick) that we follow frequently visits here too, which thanks to his recommendation that bring us to this café.

Mango jelly tart. The mango is with just the right sweetness, coupled with some stiff jelly-ish texture, creamy and pleasant. The tart base is fragrant, although slightly hard to the tooth.

Top is Nicaragua Single Origin, which cost only 100 baht but surprisingly very, very good tasting coffee. It has the smoothness of hand brew, and did not leave any bitter aftertaste whatsoever. I’m left imagining if 100 baht coffee taste this good, what’s more on the 300 baht coffee beans that they are offering?

At the bottom is Dirty, which comes with a frozen milk balls (!?). When it served, we are like “This ain’t conventional dirty huh”, but one sip is all it takes to fell in love with this variation. The creaminess of the Dirty is on point, not overpowering the espresso shot, co-existing with each other harmoniously.

This place has made to one of my top coffee to-go list, that I will surely remember when I revisit.

Café Baan Piemsuk

We came here due to the online recommendation of the Coconut Cream Pie here is rated as one of the best. We managed to get in 40 minutes before closing, where there is still some pie up for grabs.

Honestly, the reviews did not lie. It is indeed one of the best Coconut Cream Pie that we had ever eaten. The chilled temperate of the cream, salted just nice to bring out the sweetness of the coconut. The fluffy texture of the cream dancing with the coconut flesh, the occasional macadamia nuts to refresh the palate and also the tart which is also full of fragrance. Thoughout eating this we are like Rakko @ Chiikawa

Next is Banoffee, which I don’t taste any coffee but rather in the middle is BIG MIGHTY BANANA and chocolate layer. The banana isn’t the super sweet kind, providing firm texture with hint of banana flavour. The real star comes from the chocolate layer which is slightly bitter to taste, and how it came crashing with the cream layer and the tart layer to create a symphony of flavours that it warrants me to put this GIF again.

Honestly, the reviews did not lie. It is indeed one of the best Cream Coconut Pie that we had ever eaten. The chilled temperate of the cream, salted just nice to bring out the sweetness of the coconut. The fluffy texture of the cream dancing with the coconut flesh, the occasional macadamia nuts to cleanse the palate and also the tart which is also full of fragrance. Thoughout eating this we are like Rakko @ Chiikawa

Next is Banoffee, which I don't taste any coffee but rather in the middle is BIG MIGHTY BANANA and chocolate layer. The Banana is not the super sweet kind, more to providing texture and hint of banana flavour. The real star comes from the chocolate layer which is slightly bitter to taste, and how it came crashing with the cream layer and the tart layer to create a symphony of flavours that it warrants me to put this GIF again.

WE WILL BE BACK!!!!!!

Lot of Taste

Visited here after a tiring walk at One Nimman Market. Heard that their “Soft Latte” is good. And actually, it is similar to the 奶盖 drink, but I can say that the saltiness of the cream and the milk is on point, when paired with the strong espresso shot.

At the back is a Dirty Latte, which is quite a repeat on the Soft Latte, but it is pleasant to drink as well.

Ristr8to

Ahh finally, back to the café that we missed the most. Their coffee has left a strong impression back on our first trip to Chiang Mai, that we make sure to revisit again this time.

However, it is just for a short interlude where we wait for our grab driver (and turned into a drink-and-dash situation, as the imminent grab driver shocked me to dunk my drink, only for the apps to bug out and say the driver is still 5 mins away ~.~)

Market

Baan Kang Wat

It’s been on our re-visit list as we bought some artistic handcrafted items like coffee cup, cat tote bag back in the days. I can say that it’s more lively and hectic than before, with lines forming at F&B shop, workshop seats filled to the brim.

I love Pepper Poppy! (our cat name, and actually no, not sure what the PP means here, have to find any journal scattered around From Those Who Came Before)

Didn’t get to try the foods here as it is too crowded, and not in the mood to eat pizza. In the end we only get some taiyaki snacks for lunch at other place later, which we then exchanged some funny looks as we bite on it.

Jing Jai Market

The timing to this market is not right. We initially want to visit for the hand-drawn cat-kitchenwares by @naruceramic. However, they are only open on Sat and Sun (and in fact most of the stalls). We are only able to schedule a visit on our last day of Tuesday, and when we went there, most of the stalls are closed, except for the long-term retail fashion and souvenir shops.

But we didn’t walk away empty-handed, at least we bought some perfume, tea leaves, fabric coaster, and also, cat pictures x>

One Nimman

I still remember the first time we went to One Nimman, where I prescribed my glasses there, ate rainbow toast and what not. When we revisit, it is still as lively as before, probably due to last day of Year of Horse event.

This place is for you if you like the shop till you drop vibes, as there is many local brand shops on the second floor as well.

Joyce know about this chocolate shop and wanted to buy Tom Yum flavour, unfortunately it's sold out. Oh well, but we able to try a various other flavour like Coffee Crunch, Khao Soi (which has fragrance of fried shallot), Bullet chilli (whis is fking spicy), Coconut curry, lots and lots of other flavour. Worth to come here and have a try.

Street

The Booksmith Bookshop

A small indie bookshop with mostly English books. There is once of the thought that flash past by my mind, that if I were to start a business, perhaps it will be bookshops, and this kinda fits on what I have in my mind.

Cute Book! Should have bought it, regretttt.

Photography

Banana Rotee (Roti Pisang in Malaysia). Kinda crisp and sweet

Forgot what is this, crispy glutinous ricecake or smth. Only know that it tastes healthy.

Banana Rotee (Roti Pisang in Malaysia). Kinda crisp and sweet

Funsies

Colour Hunt

On the trip we tried something called colour hunt, where we picked a colour (Me being Teal, and Joyce being Yellow) to force ourselves to observe the city better. And these are what we got. Honestly, this is a fun activity as you might be surprised what you are able to pick up, and taking photos of it is fun!

Grandma Cooking School

We always thought of being able to make some authentic and tasty Thai dish, and that is why we pre-booked a cooking course on our Chiang Mai trip.

Morning Market Tour

The tour first started with them picking us up from our hotel, and then we went to a morning market to learn various kinds of fruits, vegetables and ingredients for the course we will be making. Having said that, having an energetic instructor is a must as it will make the whole activity more interesting!

Instructor say whoever that dances with her together can get a free Thai Milk Tea

Herb garden tour

After that, we then went to the cooking school, which has its own farm and a few different cooking areas. At here, we are further introduced with the various herbs and spices used to make the curries and dishes.

Cooking time!

Feels like participating in the Korean Culinary Wars variety show

On the cooking, we are able to choose what kind of curries we wanted to do (Red, Green, Panaeng, Khao Soi), fixed Phad Thai, and Tom Yum Kung or Coconut Soup.

And also, two refreshment drinks along the way. Thai Milk tea, and Butter pea flower drink it is.

One thing we find it funny is that we saw some influencer taking videos of her posing on the ingredients, but when come to actually prepping, cooking and tossing of the ingredients, it is done by other ppl of her “team” lol. When the dishes are done, there she is to reclaim the finished dishes and pose again on the video.

Others

Damn she's on fire!

Random

Our new photography buddy that we found in Baan Kang Wat (Her name is "Mai Mai")

Hmm... What sauce pack to buy before going back?

Notables

This trip make me realize that I have so much to improve on my photography, as the photo I take is consist of various aspect ratio and orientation, which proves to be an editing nightmare. And also, didn’t take enough photos that I went ahh, wish I took a photo of those.
Chill weather, slight rain. Enjoyed it compared to 2018 trip which is very hot.
Grab here tend to be coming from far away, has a bit of wait. Bolt tends to have shorter wait time, and cheaper in general.
Too damn many people in Old City Night Market, stuck in there for 2 hours. Didn’t feel very pleasant and too chaotic for us, so we skipped many of it.
Flight delay, immigration checks took 40 mins. Have a mini heart attack. Burger King as late flight meals.
Got went to some select shops but not really able to find things to buy as we are too rationale person xD. Just to enjoy the vibes.
Met two people on the plane back to KUL, one are from the USA and are very excited to explore Malaysia, and another who is from Argentina, but has stayed in Malaysia for 9 months for his job. He is very enthusiastic and shared many tips and knowledge for the USA bros. I exchanged some Instagram details with the USA bros, and hopefully it can foster to something.
We did go for a Foot Massage (Joyce say no feel, but I heheheh hahhaha very itchy sorry awkward smile to masseuse).