A Solo Traveller’s Guide to Chiang Mai

Check in to the Anantara for sleek Japanese-minimalist design a mere stroll from the buzzing night market. Book a glass-sided deluxe balcony suite in warm teaks and soft whites for sweeping Ping River views at this intimate haven that’s home to the best spa in the city. Ask the concierge about the many activities suitable for a solo Chiang Mai traveller – from happy hours consulates to cooking classes.

Ping Nakara feels like a French-colonial mansion, garnished with traditional Thai gables. Solo travellers love the speakeasy cocktail bar hidden behind a secret bookshelf door and the sun loungers by the atrium pool. Balcony-fronted rooms come with faux-French furnishings, silks and art-nouveau murals. With tropical fruit, eggs, French pastries and juices, the included buffet breakfast will keep you going all day. The night market is on the doorstep.

The Suneta Hostel is great for solo travellers. It feels like a boutique hotel with parquet panelling in airy balcony rooms offset by minimal whites and bright Andalusian tiles. Generously portioned breakfasts are served in a rough-brick dining area that feels like a Manhattan cafe, while dorms come with plush wooden bunks and the rooftop bar is a great place to meet fellow solo travellers. This spot sits in a great location too – just outside the old city and close to the bar-lined streets around Tha Pae Gate.

The best food in Chiang Mai? Mix has won multiple gongs for its ultra-modernist Thai-European menu in the trendy Nimmanahaemin Road district. Food is served al fresco in a jasmine-scented garden, and the pre-dinner lounge bar, serving 80 different cocktails and 500 wines and beers, is a great place to meet.

It’s all about eating together at this farm-to-table Thai restaurant just east of the city on the banks of the Mae Khao river. On the menu is healthy organic international comfort food, salads, soups and light lunches at long communal benches in a small garden – perfect for a solo traveller. And together with turmeric shakes and ginger shots, are great original cocktails.

Want to meet locals rather than travellers? Head to this coffee shop on arty, studenty Nimmanhaemin Road – it won the Thailand National Latte Art Championship three years in a row. The great roasts, high-end snack food and intricate coffee-cream art has made this a place of pilgrimage for locals and visiting Thai tourists.

Meander meditatively through the teak temples of Wat Chedi Luang and Wat Phra Singh, marvelling at the carvings and ancient stupas, as the dome-like Buddhist monuments are known. Take a moment out for mindfulness at the Phra Buddha Sihing – one of the most revered effigies in Thailand – sitting golden and serene in front of an ornately painted lacquer screen.

Join a street art and street food cycle ride through Chiang Mai, stopping at bustling markets to sample spicy local Lanna food, cruising the university district where artists such as Sanchai, Mauy and Waris work the walls and seeing the sights along the way.

The jaunt mentioned above features on Culture Trip’s 10-day small-group adventure Welcome to the Jungle: Exploring Northern Thailand, led by a Local Insider.

Trek off to Doi Inthanon just west of Chiang Mai. It’s the highest mountain in Thailand and the views over a stupa-scattered garden and endless rainforest-swathed ridges will leave you gasping. It’s easy to do too – with a group of like-minded adventurers.