10 Best Chiang Mai Temples

Best Chiang Mai Temples

It can seem that almost every street and lane in Chiang Mai comes with its own venerable old, northern Thai – Lanna – style, Buddhist wat. You’ll see them in the old town, the new town, out in the suburbs and atop many of the hills which surround the valley city so, which, in our opinion, are the best Chiang Mai temples; the most attractive, most interesting; the ‘must sees’.

You’ll probably have neither the time nor inclination to visit all 10 of our best Chiang Mai temples and in so far as our recommendations are widely scattered it also depends upon which part of town you’re staying in and how your Chiang Mai tour programme pans out. Several are iconic city sites and will be shoo-ins on any itinerary, others are far less known, while you may well come across a tucked away little temple of your own.

We’ll split them into old town sites – including adjacent areas – and out of centre locations but will keep to Chiang Mai city wats rather than the whole of Chiang Mai Province.

Finally, for both well-known and rarely visited temples please dress and behave respectively and keep to the wat rules – whether you agree with them or not!

Old Town Temples

As you’d expect, the square mile of Chiang Mai’s old town houses the highest concentration of Buddhist wats and includes many of its oldest and most prestigious. This is the intra-mural area, surrounded on four sides by the moat, and featuring the five entrance gates. (Called prathu in Thai, these are: Suan Dok – west, Chang Puak – north, Tha Pae – east and Prathu Chiang Mai and Suan Prung Gate on the south side.)

According to standard Thai history, Chiang Mai was founded in 1296 by King Mengrai and the original moat, city walls and earliest temples date to this period although even in those days the city appears to have sprawled somewhat and many ancient temples are also found in what are today the suburbs. (There was a preexisting Lawa settlement on the site but since this wasn’t Thai, it receives short thrift in Thai history books.)

1. Wat Phra Sing

In its original form Phra Sing dates to 1345 and is both one of the oldest and most prestigious Chiang Mai temples. With a central location it is also one of the city’s most visited. The wat lies at the western end of Ratchadamnoen Road, the old town’s main thoroughfare and location of the famous Sunday Walking Street Market.

It’s far from being Chiang Mai’s largest temple complex but it does pack a lot in and the grounds are picturesque so allow plenty of time. Obviously, combining a Sunday afternoon visit with the market makes sense but any morning or late afternoon is good although earlier or later is better as it can get busy. (Foreign visitors are obliged to pay a 50 baht entrance fee.)

2. Wat Chedi Luang

Slightly south of centre in the old city and a five minute walk or so from Wat Phra Sing which is rivals for Chiang Mai’s most prestigious Buddhist temple, Wat Chedi Luang is also de- rigeur on any city tour itinerary and consequently also charges a 50 baht entrance fee.

It was originally completed in the mid 15th century only to suffer extensive damage 100 years later due to an earthquake after which the wat was partially abandoned. The temple and its huge chedi saw a series of restorations and repairs resulting in the site you see today. Don’t miss the adjacent Wat Phan Tao, a small wat which used to be part of Chedi Luang and dates to the same period. The classic Lanna-Style, teak assembly hall is a must and if we’d extended our 10 best temples list to 12, Phan Tao would definitely have figured.

3. Wat Chiang Man

Said to have been constructed in 1297 Wat Chiang Mai is the oldest, still active temple in Chiang Mai. The peaceful grounds are picturesque, the classic Lanna style halls spectacular and the elephant chedi unique and while the slightly accentuated location in the old city’s northeastern quadrant means the wat sees relatively few visitors – so much the better. Under the radar but a shoo-in on our best Chiang Mai temples list.

4. Wat Lok Molee

Another much over-looked wat which deserves to see more visitors is tiny Lok Molee, (sometimes written Lok Moli), overlooking the old town from the north side of the moat. Crossing the 6 lanes of the busy moat ring road probably puts a lot of people off but its worth the effort and there’s a lot to see in a small temple. (If you cross the footbridge from Wat Lok Molee you’ll see Khao Soi Khun Yai – our favourite khao soi joint in Chiang Mai, so combine the two!)

5. Wat Sri Suphan

Also just outside the old city area, but this time on the south side, is Wat Sri Suphan, commonly known as the Silver Temple. It’s situated on Wualai Road which is both the city’s silver-making district as well as housing the lively Saturday Walking Street Market.

The silver makers traditionally crafted jewelry and smaller ornaments but in this case appear to have constructed an entire temple. The walls, roof, decorative friezes, statues in the grounds and even the signposts orientating visitors around the grounds are all silver-coloured making for a highly impressive and unique sight. We say silver-coloured and we’re not sure as to the actual silver content with some elements appearing to us more pewter-like although Wiki describes it as a mixture of silver, nickel and aluminium. We’re no metallurgist and whatever the material it is certainly impressive and one wat that looks at its best at night time, or at least dusk, when the lighting reflects off the silver.

Very convenient as it means you can combine a stroll around the street market – better and less crowded than the Sunday version – with a visit to Wat Sri Suphan.

6. Wat Pansao

A personal favourite, tiny Wat Pansao overlooks the moat from the west side – next door to the large Chiang Mai Ram Hospital. It comes with a small but very cute garden, an attractive Lanna-style worshipping hall while a crumbling, ancient brick chedi suggests that it was once part of a larger temple complex. It won’t take long to visit but is worth the detour if you’re in that part of town plus you’ll have the whole place to yourself.

Outside of town

Aside from the unique silver temple, one potential complaint about our old city, Chiang Mai temple suggestions would be that they are all in a broadly similar style. They all feature Lanna-style halls and libraries and usually gold leaf-clad chedis while downtown locations restrict the size of their compounds and gardens. Suburban wats then have more room to expand and often include additional features not seen in the smaller city sites. The below are larger complexes showing differing architectural features so you’ll need to allow more time for visits while bear in mind the first, in particular, can get very busy so timing is important

7. Wat Prathat Doi Suthep

There’s a local saying that if you haven’t visited Wat Prathat Doi Suthep then you haven’t visited Chiang Mai so we guess you really should try and squeeze it in at some stage of your visit. You can see the spires and chedis of the wat, situated on the summit of Doi Suthep, (the higher mountain behind is Doi Pui), from pretty much anywhere in the city so to begin with it involves a taxi or red songthaew (pick-up truck taxis) ride to the top.

As you’d expect the views across the city are spectacular but it is east facing so don’t go for sunset. A lot of descriptions and photos can be found online regarding what is certainly one of Chiang Mai’s and even Thailand’s most prestigious wats so we won’t attempt to describe all the details but info and photos can be found at this Tourism Thailand site for example. As we said, in high season in particular, it gets busy so going early is a good move.

8. Wat Umong

An unusual and also popular temple, the forest monastery, Wat Umong, is situated at the foot of Doi Suthep around 3 kilometres west of the old town. This is a sprawling complex and includes a small lake, park and woods in addition to the usual temple structures. The name derives from a small brick tunnel complex under a low hill, atop which is a large brick chedi.

Although outside the old town, this is another ancient temple and is said to date to the reign of Mengrai himself in the late 13th century. You can wander the grounds and check out the bird life and occasional deer sightings, feed the turtles and fish in the pond or join a meditation class while the parking area features snack and coffee stalls. It is popular but its 15 acres means it avoids a crowded feel while we’d recommend combining it with the adjacent Choeng Doi Suthep Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre. (You can walk between the two by going past the lake until you reach the complex’s western gate where a right turn takes you up the Centre’s carpark.)

As well as housing wild cattle (bantengs) and various endangered deer species which are being rehabilitated prior to release in Doi Suthep National Park, the forested site includes extensive ancient temple ruins which we assume were once part of the overall Wat Umong complex.

You’ll need a full morning if you include both sites but that’ll make for a varied and very interesting trip. Wat Umong is a short cab ride from town and for a return from the Rehabilitation Centre, walk down the lane to the main road and book one to pick you up at Number 39 Cafe on the corner – one of the city’s fanciest and best-known coffee shops.

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9. Wat Jet Yot

Another historic, interesting and unusual wat that sees very few visitors is Wat Jet Yot, situated aside the superhighway ring-road slightly northwest of the city centre. The ‘Temple of the Seven Spires’ dates to the mid-15th century and is unusual in that it displays Indian architectural influences. There’s a lot to see in this sprawling complex while a 500 metre walk east takes you to the Chiang Mai National Museum. This is another excellent site that falls well under the tourist radar so combine the two for an interesting, off-the-beaten-track, half day tour. (On our last visit, Wat Jet Yot had a particularly good coffee shop in its carpark making for a good break spot between the two sites.)

10. Wat Khu Kham or Wat Chedi Liam

In listing Wat Chedi Liam, also known as Wat Khu Kham, we’re referring to the entire ancient city of Wiang Khum Kham of which that particular monastery is just one of the numerous temple sites. Chedi Liam is an attractive, still-functioning, riverside temple and provides a focal point for a visit to the sprawling ruins of the surrounding ancient city.

The city is said to predate Chiang Mai and was the first settlement built by Mengrai towards the end of the 13th century. Its proximity to the Ping River however, caused frequent flooding problems, (with which it still suffers today), and so the new town was moved north and slightly away from the river to the present location of Chiang Mai ancient city.

While this is not Angkor Wat, and few of the brick ruins are spectacular in their own right, it is a very pleasant area to explore, (bicycle would be ideal), plus you’d have an entire ancient city to yourselves.