We went up to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep Chiang Mai Thailand, a Buddhist temple on top of the big mountain bordering Chiang Mai. In all the times I have been to Chiang Mai, I hadn’t been up there!
I’ve driven by a number of times, and have always meant to stop. Finally went up and I am glad we did. All the times before I had gone up to the Hmong village (Doi Pui) Chiang Mai Thailand, or to look at the cherry blossoms on another part of the mountain.
It’s a beautiful temple with great views of the valley below. It was full of haze, unfortunately.
If you’ve got some extra time, you can check out the village at the base of the temple. There are restaurants, coffee shops, gift and other types of shops there. We didn’t have a lot of time to explore the area on the day we were there. You can really make a day of it on the top of the mountain by continuing on to Doi Pui or the gardens at Khan Chang Khian. The gardens here are beautiful, and are quite popular in February when the cherry blossoms are in bloom.
I am glad we were able to take the tram (aka funicular) up to the top. It’s 30 Baht for foreigners to go to the temple, and an extra 20 Baht for the tram. You can take the stairs up or down if you like though. 50 Baht is $2.09 Cdn.
I’d like to return to Doi Suthep, but at sunset or sunrise. I think sunset is the better option for me, but on a clear day, sunrise would be really nice too. I have been up the mountain and been able to view the valley when it’s not full of smoke.
In all the times I’d driven by Doi Suthep before, on the way up to the Hmong village, or to see the cherry blossoms, I hadn’t realized that there was a parking lot off to the left behind the shops you see. I’d thought that there was only parking on the road. If it’s busy, you may not have much luck finding a parking spot. We did this time!
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