Optional Activities in Northern Thailand

A roadside cafe selling locally grown, organic coffee

A poster for Monk Chat

Cooking class in Chiang Mai

Successful cooking class!

Wat Chedi Luang

This is a sample of activities we can organize for your free time. They can be arranged once you get to Chiang Mai. Additional fees apply for all options (except those in the “Free Activities” category).

FREE ACTIVITIES

Volunteer for the day–teach English, help out in a village or animal shelter;
Visit the Markets (Night Market, Saturday and Sunday walking street markets, produce and flower markets, food markets… );
Walk to Suan Buak Hat Park in the center of Chiang Mai, a popular place for Chiang Mai residents to enjoy some outdoor space with their families. Have a picnic or we can invite some locals to teach us how to play Takro Lot Huang, a popular Thai sport, and then challenge them to a match. We can also pull together a soccer game if enough people would like to play;
Visit any of the dozens of wats (temples) in the city;
Attend a Monk Chat: A group of monks meet with the public so that you can ask questions and they can practice their English;
Attend a meditation: Nightly meditation and chanting session at the local temple is a wonderful way to experience Buddhism as it’s practiced by the average layperson (and you will probably be the only Westerner there!);
Offer alms to the monks as they make their morning walk through the city.

CLASSES

Cooking classes
- We can set you up with all varieties of cooking classes tailored to your interests: on farms, in the city, vegetarian, all curries, all Northern Thai, macrobiotic, Burmese
- Orn at BaanBooLoo will spend an afternoon cooking with your family and then you can enjoy a nice dinner in the courtyard. Her classes begin with a walk to the market and take place in the open air traditional kitchen at BaanBooLoo, using produce picked fresh from her organic garden on the property.
Learn Thai crafts (paper lanterns, beading, pottery) with local artisans
Yoga
Thai Boxing
Massage
Traditional dance and music

OTHER ACTVITIES

Have a Thai massage (kids too!) or other spa treatment;
Try a massage from inmates being trained as massage therapists at the women’s prison;
Have your feet nibbled at a fish spa;
Walking tours: temples, markets;
Visit a traditional healer;
Jungle survival program;
Chiang Mai Zoo;
View the night sky at the National Observatory atop Doi Suthep;
Cook for monks: Learn abou the traditional practice of offering alms to the monks and the importance of this ritual for Thai Buddhists. Learn to prepare the traditional offering foods, such as rice wrapped in banana leaves, and some Thai dishes and then enjoy dinner with our hosts. [The second part of this activity will be delivering the food to the monks early the next morning as they come down the mountain from the monastery.]
A night out listening to Thai rock bands or traditional style music;
Museums.

DAY TRIPS

Zip lining
Hiking in the forests outside Chiang Mai
Biking through country villages
Bike tour of Chiang Mai
Nature hike to a forest temple
Rock climbing/caving course
Bamboo rafting
White water rafting
Kayaking
Mountain biking

View from Doi Suthep

Wat Palad, Chiang Mai