Deluxe Hotels and Resorts in Chiang Mai
If you haven’t tasted Khao Soi or seen the view from Doi Suthep, you haven’t been to Chiang Mai.” This famous Thai saying clearly rings true, as visitors to Northern Thailand will find that there are certain things to try in order to fully experience the city. Chiang Mai is definitely more relaxed than Bangkok, and its northern mountain air definitely offers respite from the country’s normally hot and humid weather.

Anantara Chiang Mai *****
Step off a busy Chiang Mai road into the serene world of Anantara Chiang Mai, a wonderfully understated urban retreat on the banks of the Ping river. This contemporary-style property with minimalist touches, arranged around the former British consulate, offers stylish, retro-fitted rooms and great facilities. The hotel is located on historic Charoen Prathet Road, not far from the Governor’s Residence. The night market is a five-minute stroll away, while Tha Pae Gate and the old city can be reached on foot in 10 minutes. A taxi to the airport takes 15 minutes. Anantara Chiang Mai goes for minimalist aesthetics. The main three-storey building housing the rooms, all sheer white walls and dark wooden cladding, stretches at a 90-degree angle around the resort’s architectural centerpiece: the 100-year-old former British consulate. Rectangular ponds and wide walkways offer a sense of space, enhanced by the gleaming river views.
Staff are friendly and forthcoming, yet quite formal, while facilities are geared towards adults. The rectangular pool runs parallel to the river and is 34 metres long, while the gym is well-equipped with the latest state-of-the-art fitness technology. The spa offers a cannabis oil (CBD) range of treatments – a signature theme of Anantara Chiang Mai – that includes massage oils, essential oils, scrubs, herbal balls and cannabis tea. For anyone still restless after a spa session, there’s complimentary morning yoga. The 52 spacious Deluxe rooms all look out over the river and garden. Wooden floors and wall cladding, simple wooden furniture and sparse Northern Thai style décor continue the retro-minimalist feel. Bathrooms have free-standing tubs and rain showers, separated from the bedrooms with sliding wooden doors. The 32 suites repeat this ambience on a larger scale. All rooms come with balconies equipped with daybeds and good views. The only complaint – due to the 90-degree shape of the main building, it is possible to see into some lower rooms from rooms on the upper floors when the blinds aren’t lowered.
The Service 1921, a British Secret Service-themed restaurant housed in the beautifully restored British consulate, serves a winning combination of Northern Thai and Chinese Sichuan cuisine. The cannabis theme continues with several tasty main dishes – the stir-fried beef tenderloin with sesame, capsicum, coriander, garlic, chili and cannabis is a spicy proposition. The Restaurant, right by the river, serves an excellent breakfast buffet that’s trumped by a wide range of à la carte Western and Asian choices. There’s avocado feta salad, a cheese platter and vegetarian options include scrambled tofu and eggplant bruschetta. The bar, also in the heritage building, goes for a crime theme with a photo montage of notorious 1920s gangsters and serves a number of cannabis-laced beverages – the Genmicha cannabis latte is not bad.

Akyra Manor Chiang Mai *****
The artsy Akyra Manor is Chiang Mai's hippest boutique hotel, luring in visitors and locals alike with its chic rooftop pool and bar, buzzing restaurant and top location on Nimmanhaemin Road. Art installations, curvaceous sofas and designer lighting embody contemporary Chiang Mai chic. Around a 15-minute drive from the airport, on happening Nimmanhaemin Road, an area renowned for its alfresco coffee shops, independent boutiques, food trucks and live music venues. The city's main attractions – temples, night markets, the Ping River – are all within easy reach. A great choice whether you’re in Chiang Mai for the night or hanging out for a week. Art installations, curvaceous sofas and designer lighting that mimics the famous Yi Peng lantern festival – Akyra Manor embodies contemporary Chiang Mai chic. The rooftop pool is a welcome to retire to after a hard day's sightseeing, with the adjacent bar adding some extra pizazz. The hotel’s popularity with locals means there’s always a pleasant buzz about the place.
For a hotel of this size the facilities are excellent. Aside from the rooftop pool (the only one in Chiang Mai), there's a small gym and spa treatments can be arranged in your room. Keeping their finger firmly on the city’s creative pulse, the hotel’s excellent English-speaking staff can arrange everything from art lessons with local university professors to temple photography tours and cooking classes. Guests can also take advantage of complimentary bicycles. The 30 suites are spacious smoky-hued sanctuaries with hardwood floors, mirrored walls and sumptuous beds wrapped in Egyptian cotton sheets. Each also has an outdoor courtyard-style bathroom (within the room, but with a floor-to-ceiling window and pebbles underfoot). But, as stylish as they, being overlooked by nearby residential buildings means that you’ll have to close the blinds to use the tub – which kind of defeats the purpose of having an outdoor bathroom. Being at the epicentre of a thrumming neighbourhood will be a draw for many, but light sleeper should be aware that the surrounding bars and clubs play loud music until midnight – ask for a room at the back of the building to avoid being disturbed.
Breakfast is worth getting up early for – a moreish mix of tropical fruits and freshly-baked breads and pastries from the buffet and hot dishes from the a la carte menu. The hotel’s only restaurant, Italics, serves mainly Italian cuisine throughout the rest of the day – delicious and well-priced. End the day with a cocktail at the rooftop bar Rise, watching the sun sets over Chiang Mai’s twinkling spires and rooftops.
The Inside House *****
Step into a Lanna Colonial-inspired fairytale at The Inside House, the Old City’s most lavish boutique accommodation and among Thailand’s most photogenic hotels. Of the 31 light and luxurious rooms and suites, 13 come with marbled private pools. Design lovers: Prepare to be wowed by this opulent urban oasis. Based in Old City’s southwest quadrant, The Inside Hotel stands out like an expensive sore thumb along Samlarn Road. It sits two blocks from a tiny cluster of hipsterfied venues such as the acclaimed Nophaburi Bar; further exciting city life can be found along Ratchamanka Road, a two-minute walk in the other direction. Chedi Luang Temple is half a mile away, and a five-minute stroll heading north or south will bring you to the Wat Phra Singh or Buak Hard Public Park, respectively.
A whitewashed reverie. Stirrings of awe are elicited from the moment one enters the high-arched, intricately carved wooden façade and through to the courtyard, where an outstretched Bodhi tree lends shade and serenity. A consistent white-and-green palette with dollops of gold cloaks the Lanna Colonial-style property. Though a compact hotel, there is a judicious amount of traditional Thai details and artwork to keep the eye busy, but never overwhelmingly so, and the ornate patterned carvings and room mouldings seem to draw from upper crust Arabic and Indian influences. Despite a few hiccups on my visit – an afternoon tea sitting where the server knew not of what finger treats were presented to me, for instance – staff interactions were friendly and accommodating.Guests not staying in the coveted pool suites can still dip in the attractive outdoor communal pool one floor above the reception wing. There is a restaurant and a multi-purpose lounge room, but it is surprising that a hotel of this calibre (and region) does not have a spa.
The delight is in the details in each of the 31 individually designed rooms and suites. Guests are given proper keys (a nice old-school touch) to access their room, and all enjoy terrace space, a complimentary minibar with snacks, an espresso machine, bedside plugs/ports and lovely jade-coloured ceramics and tea set which match the floor tiles. Bathrooms have L’Occitane toiletries, a separate shower and Victorian bathtub and marble-topped vanities. Rooms face the main courtyard or their genius 10 metre-high vertical garden filled with green flora. Of the 13 palatial pool suites, three are The Inside House’s star attractions, and consequently the most in-demand for the Instagram-literate. These are: Top floor’s Doi Suthep Pool Suite – a glassed-walled beauty with a seven metre-long private pool overlooking the broadened peaks of Doi Suthep National Park – and the ground level’s two Waterfall Pool Suites, the largest of the bunch, tropically themed in their outdoor portion with low-hanging ferns and faux-rock waterfalls streaming next to their personal pools and outdoor showers. Children are permitted, but the hotel’s more suited to coupled adults. Cribs are free, babysitting services are available and additional charges apply for kids older than age six. Since a lion’s share of rooms come with a pool, you’ll have to keep a watchful eye on any little ones.
There is one restaurant, Ghin, a bijou space open for breakfast, afternoon tea and dinner. Northern Thai dictates the breakfast and dinner offerings, the former with a set menu – featuring the likes of fried egg with nam prik ong and spicy sausage – complemented by buffet selections of charcuterie, salads, fruits and other continental bits. A generous if not uneven afternoon tea spread is complimentary for guests. An extensive and classic-leaning dinner menu has several satisfying variations of satays, curries, soups and stir-fries available. For a more fun and offbeat beverage experience, order one of their signature cocktails like the Dragon House (tequila, lime, passionfruit syrup, triple sec, soda) which appears in a large, hollowed dragon fruit.
Four Seasons Chiang Mai *****
This stunning Northern Thai Lanna-style retreat is set amidst a luscious garden dotted with lily ponds. With wonderful hospitality, two pools, two restaurants, intriguing on-site activities and opportunities to explore the countryside, guests may choose to forego a visit to town altogether. The resort is located in the pretty Mae Rim Valley, a 30-minute car ride from the centre of Chiang Mai. A taxi to the airport takes 45 minutes. The resort offers half or full-day bicycle tours through the surrounding landscape of rice fields and hilltop pagodas. The tone here is set by the huge garden, the placid ponds, the rice paddies surrounded by turreted pavilions. Four Seasons Chiang Mai is a contemporary Lanna-style resort, where traditional wooden furnishings and décor with plenty of nods to country life and history are well paired with modern amenities. Despite the natural surroundings, the resort is quite formally designed, as if every tree knows its place.
The key pillars of Four Seasons Chiang Mai are wellness and agriculture. Besides two pools – the larger one just large enough for a proper swim – there’s a well-equipped gym and the Wara Cheewa Spa with seven treatment rooms set up for couples. Multi-day wellness packages include a naturopathic consultation and a programme of spa treatments, yoga activities, meditation and a plant-based diet for those looking to cut out sugar and carbs. Then there’s Chaan Baan, a recreation of a farmer’s terrace that offers immersive experiences designed to introduce guests to traditional rural lifestyles. There is an introductory class to pottery, guests may be able to plant rice seedlings, and the bathing of four resident water buffalo is a favourite choice for child guests. Masterclasses in ceramics and tie-dye are refreshingly unusual, and there are cooking classes on offer.
There are 66 pavilions that form the heart of the resort and stand clustered around the central pond. Upstairs and downstairs rooms are identical with beige and brown tones dominating the décor, furnishings, huge beds and spacious bathrooms with tubs and rain showers. All have outdoor salas, which are wonderful spaces to while away hours of quietude – those on the upper floors are definitely preferable. There are also 12 larger pool villas that offer more privacy but lack the open vistas of the pavilions. A number of two- and three-bedroom residences with shiny hardwood floors offer plenty of space and seclusion. Children will find plenty of things to do. Besides the popular water buffalo bathing, there’s rice planting and visits to a seedling house, perfect for young visitors to Thailand. Families will love the residences, which come with kitchens and private pools.
North, designed by Bill Bensley, is an open-air terrace restaurant with an impressive wood-fired grill and great views across the central pond. The menu is a little short, divided into Western choices, particularly pizzas and pasta dishes and a number of Northern Thai standards. The fettuccine carbonara is indescribably rich, although steaks imported from Australia that sizzle on the grill are the North’s culinary highlight. A few vegetarian choices are also on offer – the quinoa salad with fried pumpkin is delicious. Kao serves a great buffet breakfast with healthy fresh juices, cold cuts including salmon, cheeses and meats, eggs in all shapes and forms and pancakes, as well as a plethora of Asian choices.
If you haven’t tasted Khao Soi or seen the view from Doi Suthep, you haven’t been to Chiang Mai.” This famous Thai saying clearly rings true, as visitors to Northern Thailand will find that there are certain things to try in order to fully experience the city. Chiang Mai is definitely more relaxed than Bangkok, and its northern mountain air definitely offers respite from the country’s normally hot and humid weather.
Anantara Chiang Mai *****
Step off a busy Chiang Mai road into the serene world of Anantara Chiang Mai, a wonderfully understated urban retreat on the banks of the Ping river. This contemporary-style property with minimalist touches, arranged around the former British consulate, offers stylish, retro-fitted rooms and great facilities. The hotel is located on historic Charoen Prathet Road, not far from the Governor’s Residence. The night market is a five-minute stroll away, while Tha Pae Gate and the old city can be reached on foot in 10 minutes. A taxi to the airport takes 15 minutes. Anantara Chiang Mai goes for minimalist aesthetics. The main three-storey building housing the rooms, all sheer white walls and dark wooden cladding, stretches at a 90-degree angle around the resort’s architectural centerpiece: the 100-year-old former British consulate. Rectangular ponds and wide walkways offer a sense of space, enhanced by the gleaming river views.
Staff are friendly and forthcoming, yet quite formal, while facilities are geared towards adults. The rectangular pool runs parallel to the river and is 34 metres long, while the gym is well-equipped with the latest state-of-the-art fitness technology. The spa offers a cannabis oil (CBD) range of treatments – a signature theme of Anantara Chiang Mai – that includes massage oils, essential oils, scrubs, herbal balls and cannabis tea. For anyone still restless after a spa session, there’s complimentary morning yoga. The 52 spacious Deluxe rooms all look out over the river and garden. Wooden floors and wall cladding, simple wooden furniture and sparse Northern Thai style décor continue the retro-minimalist feel. Bathrooms have free-standing tubs and rain showers, separated from the bedrooms with sliding wooden doors. The 32 suites repeat this ambience on a larger scale. All rooms come with balconies equipped with daybeds and good views. The only complaint – due to the 90-degree shape of the main building, it is possible to see into some lower rooms from rooms on the upper floors when the blinds aren’t lowered.
The Service 1921, a British Secret Service-themed restaurant housed in the beautifully restored British consulate, serves a winning combination of Northern Thai and Chinese Sichuan cuisine. The cannabis theme continues with several tasty main dishes – the stir-fried beef tenderloin with sesame, capsicum, coriander, garlic, chili and cannabis is a spicy proposition. The Restaurant, right by the river, serves an excellent breakfast buffet that’s trumped by a wide range of à la carte Western and Asian choices. There’s avocado feta salad, a cheese platter and vegetarian options include scrambled tofu and eggplant bruschetta. The bar, also in the heritage building, goes for a crime theme with a photo montage of notorious 1920s gangsters and serves a number of cannabis-laced beverages – the Genmicha cannabis latte is not bad.
- Address: 123-123/1 Charoen Prathet Road, Changklan, Muang, Chiang Mai 50100, Thailand. Phone: 00 66 53 253 333
- Website
Akyra Manor Chiang Mai *****
The artsy Akyra Manor is Chiang Mai's hippest boutique hotel, luring in visitors and locals alike with its chic rooftop pool and bar, buzzing restaurant and top location on Nimmanhaemin Road. Art installations, curvaceous sofas and designer lighting embody contemporary Chiang Mai chic. Around a 15-minute drive from the airport, on happening Nimmanhaemin Road, an area renowned for its alfresco coffee shops, independent boutiques, food trucks and live music venues. The city's main attractions – temples, night markets, the Ping River – are all within easy reach. A great choice whether you’re in Chiang Mai for the night or hanging out for a week. Art installations, curvaceous sofas and designer lighting that mimics the famous Yi Peng lantern festival – Akyra Manor embodies contemporary Chiang Mai chic. The rooftop pool is a welcome to retire to after a hard day's sightseeing, with the adjacent bar adding some extra pizazz. The hotel’s popularity with locals means there’s always a pleasant buzz about the place.
For a hotel of this size the facilities are excellent. Aside from the rooftop pool (the only one in Chiang Mai), there's a small gym and spa treatments can be arranged in your room. Keeping their finger firmly on the city’s creative pulse, the hotel’s excellent English-speaking staff can arrange everything from art lessons with local university professors to temple photography tours and cooking classes. Guests can also take advantage of complimentary bicycles. The 30 suites are spacious smoky-hued sanctuaries with hardwood floors, mirrored walls and sumptuous beds wrapped in Egyptian cotton sheets. Each also has an outdoor courtyard-style bathroom (within the room, but with a floor-to-ceiling window and pebbles underfoot). But, as stylish as they, being overlooked by nearby residential buildings means that you’ll have to close the blinds to use the tub – which kind of defeats the purpose of having an outdoor bathroom. Being at the epicentre of a thrumming neighbourhood will be a draw for many, but light sleeper should be aware that the surrounding bars and clubs play loud music until midnight – ask for a room at the back of the building to avoid being disturbed.
Breakfast is worth getting up early for – a moreish mix of tropical fruits and freshly-baked breads and pastries from the buffet and hot dishes from the a la carte menu. The hotel’s only restaurant, Italics, serves mainly Italian cuisine throughout the rest of the day – delicious and well-priced. End the day with a cocktail at the rooftop bar Rise, watching the sun sets over Chiang Mai’s twinkling spires and rooftops.
- Pricing: 3,500 - 11,500 THB
- Address: 22/2 Nimmanhaemind Road Soi 9, T. Suthep, A. Muang, Chiang Mai, 50200 Chiang Mai, Thailand. Phone: 00 66 53 216 219
- Website
The Inside House *****
Step into a Lanna Colonial-inspired fairytale at The Inside House, the Old City’s most lavish boutique accommodation and among Thailand’s most photogenic hotels. Of the 31 light and luxurious rooms and suites, 13 come with marbled private pools. Design lovers: Prepare to be wowed by this opulent urban oasis. Based in Old City’s southwest quadrant, The Inside Hotel stands out like an expensive sore thumb along Samlarn Road. It sits two blocks from a tiny cluster of hipsterfied venues such as the acclaimed Nophaburi Bar; further exciting city life can be found along Ratchamanka Road, a two-minute walk in the other direction. Chedi Luang Temple is half a mile away, and a five-minute stroll heading north or south will bring you to the Wat Phra Singh or Buak Hard Public Park, respectively.
A whitewashed reverie. Stirrings of awe are elicited from the moment one enters the high-arched, intricately carved wooden façade and through to the courtyard, where an outstretched Bodhi tree lends shade and serenity. A consistent white-and-green palette with dollops of gold cloaks the Lanna Colonial-style property. Though a compact hotel, there is a judicious amount of traditional Thai details and artwork to keep the eye busy, but never overwhelmingly so, and the ornate patterned carvings and room mouldings seem to draw from upper crust Arabic and Indian influences. Despite a few hiccups on my visit – an afternoon tea sitting where the server knew not of what finger treats were presented to me, for instance – staff interactions were friendly and accommodating.Guests not staying in the coveted pool suites can still dip in the attractive outdoor communal pool one floor above the reception wing. There is a restaurant and a multi-purpose lounge room, but it is surprising that a hotel of this calibre (and region) does not have a spa.
The delight is in the details in each of the 31 individually designed rooms and suites. Guests are given proper keys (a nice old-school touch) to access their room, and all enjoy terrace space, a complimentary minibar with snacks, an espresso machine, bedside plugs/ports and lovely jade-coloured ceramics and tea set which match the floor tiles. Bathrooms have L’Occitane toiletries, a separate shower and Victorian bathtub and marble-topped vanities. Rooms face the main courtyard or their genius 10 metre-high vertical garden filled with green flora. Of the 13 palatial pool suites, three are The Inside House’s star attractions, and consequently the most in-demand for the Instagram-literate. These are: Top floor’s Doi Suthep Pool Suite – a glassed-walled beauty with a seven metre-long private pool overlooking the broadened peaks of Doi Suthep National Park – and the ground level’s two Waterfall Pool Suites, the largest of the bunch, tropically themed in their outdoor portion with low-hanging ferns and faux-rock waterfalls streaming next to their personal pools and outdoor showers. Children are permitted, but the hotel’s more suited to coupled adults. Cribs are free, babysitting services are available and additional charges apply for kids older than age six. Since a lion’s share of rooms come with a pool, you’ll have to keep a watchful eye on any little ones.
There is one restaurant, Ghin, a bijou space open for breakfast, afternoon tea and dinner. Northern Thai dictates the breakfast and dinner offerings, the former with a set menu – featuring the likes of fried egg with nam prik ong and spicy sausage – complemented by buffet selections of charcuterie, salads, fruits and other continental bits. A generous if not uneven afternoon tea spread is complimentary for guests. An extensive and classic-leaning dinner menu has several satisfying variations of satays, curries, soups and stir-fries available. For a more fun and offbeat beverage experience, order one of their signature cocktails like the Dragon House (tequila, lime, passionfruit syrup, triple sec, soda) which appears in a large, hollowed dragon fruit.
- Pricing: 2,800 -8,100 THB.
- Address: 56 Samlarn Rd, Tambon Phra Sing, Amphoe Mueang Chiang Mai, Chang Wat Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand. Phone: 00 66 53 904 699
- Website
Four Seasons Chiang Mai *****
This stunning Northern Thai Lanna-style retreat is set amidst a luscious garden dotted with lily ponds. With wonderful hospitality, two pools, two restaurants, intriguing on-site activities and opportunities to explore the countryside, guests may choose to forego a visit to town altogether. The resort is located in the pretty Mae Rim Valley, a 30-minute car ride from the centre of Chiang Mai. A taxi to the airport takes 45 minutes. The resort offers half or full-day bicycle tours through the surrounding landscape of rice fields and hilltop pagodas. The tone here is set by the huge garden, the placid ponds, the rice paddies surrounded by turreted pavilions. Four Seasons Chiang Mai is a contemporary Lanna-style resort, where traditional wooden furnishings and décor with plenty of nods to country life and history are well paired with modern amenities. Despite the natural surroundings, the resort is quite formally designed, as if every tree knows its place.
The key pillars of Four Seasons Chiang Mai are wellness and agriculture. Besides two pools – the larger one just large enough for a proper swim – there’s a well-equipped gym and the Wara Cheewa Spa with seven treatment rooms set up for couples. Multi-day wellness packages include a naturopathic consultation and a programme of spa treatments, yoga activities, meditation and a plant-based diet for those looking to cut out sugar and carbs. Then there’s Chaan Baan, a recreation of a farmer’s terrace that offers immersive experiences designed to introduce guests to traditional rural lifestyles. There is an introductory class to pottery, guests may be able to plant rice seedlings, and the bathing of four resident water buffalo is a favourite choice for child guests. Masterclasses in ceramics and tie-dye are refreshingly unusual, and there are cooking classes on offer.
There are 66 pavilions that form the heart of the resort and stand clustered around the central pond. Upstairs and downstairs rooms are identical with beige and brown tones dominating the décor, furnishings, huge beds and spacious bathrooms with tubs and rain showers. All have outdoor salas, which are wonderful spaces to while away hours of quietude – those on the upper floors are definitely preferable. There are also 12 larger pool villas that offer more privacy but lack the open vistas of the pavilions. A number of two- and three-bedroom residences with shiny hardwood floors offer plenty of space and seclusion. Children will find plenty of things to do. Besides the popular water buffalo bathing, there’s rice planting and visits to a seedling house, perfect for young visitors to Thailand. Families will love the residences, which come with kitchens and private pools.
North, designed by Bill Bensley, is an open-air terrace restaurant with an impressive wood-fired grill and great views across the central pond. The menu is a little short, divided into Western choices, particularly pizzas and pasta dishes and a number of Northern Thai standards. The fettuccine carbonara is indescribably rich, although steaks imported from Australia that sizzle on the grill are the North’s culinary highlight. A few vegetarian choices are also on offer – the quinoa salad with fried pumpkin is delicious. Kao serves a great buffet breakfast with healthy fresh juices, cold cuts including salmon, cheeses and meats, eggs in all shapes and forms and pancakes, as well as a plethora of Asian choices.
- Address: 502 Moo 1, Mae Rim-Samoeng Old Road, Chiang Mai 50180, Thailand. Phone: 00 66 53 298 181
- Website
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