Destination · Northern Thailand
Chiang Rai
- Airport
- Chiang Rai (CEI)Or 3 hrs by road from Chiang Mai
- Best months
- Nov–FebCool and clear. Avoid Mar–mid Apr
- Temperature
- 14–33°CColder than Chiang Mai in winter
- Nights to allow
- 2 to 3Usually added to Chiang Mai
- Money
- CashCards in town only
Three hours north of Chiang Mai and a good deal quieter, in the corner of Thailand where the Mekong meets Laos and Myanmar. Chiang Rai is known for three extraordinary modern temples and for the hills behind them — tea, coffee, hill tribe villages and a border country with a complicated recent history.
Decide second
When to come, month by month.
Thailand does not have one season. Bar height is that month’s typical rainfall here, the symbol above it is the weather to expect, and the figures below it how busy it gets.
Pick a month to read it in full.
Peak season
January
Genuinely cool, especially at night and in the hills. Clear skies, clean air and the best month of the year up here.
- Typical rain
- 12 mm
- Conditions
- Cool, clear
- Crowds
- Busy
Very good
February
Still cool and dry, though haze can begin to build late in the month as the first fields are cleared.
- Typical rain
- 10 mm
- Conditions
- Cool, clear
- Crowds
- Moderate
Avoid
March
Burning season. Agricultural smoke fills the valleys and air quality is among the worst in the world for weeks at a time. Views disappear and it is genuinely unpleasant for anyone with a chest complaint. We will say so rather than sell you the month.
- Typical rain
- 25 mm
- Conditions
- Smoke haze
- Crowds
- Quiet
Poor to fair
April
Very hot, and the haze usually persists into the first half of the month before the first rains clear it. Songkran is celebrated harder here than almost anywhere.
- Typical rain
- 90 mm
- Conditions
- Hazy, hot
- Crowds
- Quiet
Clearing
May
The rains arrive and wash the air clean. The landscape turns green within a fortnight and the hills come back into view.
- Typical rain
- 220 mm
- Conditions
- Green
- Crowds
- Quiet
Green season
June
Warm and wet, with rain mostly in the afternoon. The countryside is at its most beautiful and the rooms are cheap.
- Typical rain
- 190 mm
- Conditions
- Green
- Crowds
- Quiet
Green season
July
Reliably green, reliably wet in the afternoons, and reliably good value.
- Typical rain
- 230 mm
- Conditions
- Green
- Crowds
- Moderate
Wettest
August
The wettest month. Waterfalls are at full force and mountain roads can be washed out.
- Typical rain
- 320 mm
- Conditions
- Wet
- Crowds
- Moderate
Wet
September
Still very wet, and the last month before the season turns. Quiet and cheap.
- Typical rain
- 290 mm
- Conditions
- Wet
- Crowds
- Quiet
Turning
October
Rain easing through the month and the air clearing. Loi Krathong and Yi Peng usually fall in late October or November.
- Typical rain
- 140 mm
- Conditions
- Clearing
- Crowds
- Moderate
Peak season
November
The month everybody wants: cool, dry, clear air and the festival season. Book months ahead.
- Typical rain
- 50 mm
- Conditions
- Cool, clear
- Crowds
- Busy
Peak season
December
Cold at night in the hills, sometimes near freezing on the peaks. Bright, dry days and the busiest fortnight of the year at new year.
- Typical rain
- 20 mm
- Conditions
- Cold, clear
- Crowds
- Busy
Decide third
How long, and what shape.
Three shapes we actually sell. The nights are real and so is the pace — each one is a starting point we rebuild around who is travelling, not a fixed menu.
1 night · 2 days
Touch & Go
Three temples, none of them like the others, all within twenty minutes of the centre. One night covers them if you time the first one right.
Day 1
In, and the White Temple late
Wat Rong Khun in the last hour before closing, once the Chiang Mai coaches have started south. It is a working artwork rather than an old temple, and it is extraordinary.
Day 2
Blue and black, then out
Wat Rong Suea Ten — the Blue Temple — and the Black House, which is a museum of a very different mind. Out after lunch.
The White Temple closes at five and last entry is earlier. An afternoon drive up from Chiang Mai often misses it entirely, so we either fly you or start early.
2 nights · 3 days
Quick Getaways
Two nights adds the Mekong and the Golden Triangle, which is a genuine day out rather than a photo stop.
Day 1
In from Chiang Mai or by air
The White Temple in the late afternoon.
Day 2
The Blue Temple and the Black House
Both in a morning, Singha Park in the afternoon, and the night bazaar for dinner.
Day 3
The Golden Triangle
Where Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet on the Mekong, with the opium museum at Sop Ruak — much better than the viewpoint everyone photographs. Out in the evening.
The Golden Triangle is ninety minutes each way. Build it as a day or do not build it at all; squeezed into a morning it is just a long drive to a sign.
4 nights · 5 days
Destination Deep Dive
Border country: the Mekong, a Yunnanese tea village in the hills, and the mountain roads that connect them.
Day 1
Arrive
The White Temple, and the night bazaar afterwards.
Day 2
Blue, black and green
The Blue Temple, the Black House and Singha Park, none of which take a whole day on their own.
Day 3
The Mekong
Sop Ruak and the opium museum, then Chiang Saen’s old walls and chedis on the river on the way back.
Day 4
Mae Salong
A tea village in the hills settled by Kuomintang soldiers who never went home. Yunnanese food, terraced tea and a morning market unlike anywhere else in Thailand.
Day 5
Doi Tung, then out
The royal villa and the Mae Fah Luang garden on the way down, and CEI in the afternoon.
These are mountain roads and the days are long in the car. Four nights is what makes them bearable — three would fold two of these days into one.
What you came for
Three things worth the day.
Wat Rong Khun, the White Temple
A contemporary artist’s vision of hell and rebirth in white plaster and mirror glass, still unfinished. Strange, immaculate and unlike any temple in Thailand.
- Time
- 1–2 hrs
- Best at
- Opening
- Entry
- ฿100
The Blue Temple and the Black House
Wat Rong Suea Ten in cobalt and gold, and Baan Dam — a collection of dark timber halls filled with bone and hide. The three together make a full and very odd day.
- Time
- Half day
- Where
- Both in town
- Entry
- ฿0 / ฿80
The Golden Triangle and the Mekong
An hour north to where three countries meet, with the opium museum at Sop Ruak that treats the history seriously rather than as a souvenir.
- Time
- Full day
- Where
- 1 hr north
- Museum
- ฿200
For Indians
Entry requirements
- Route
- Visa exemption
- Maximum stay
- 30 days
- Fee
- None
When this starts India was moved to this 30-day exemption by the Thai Cabinet on 16 July 2026. It commences 15 days after the Ministry of Interior announcements are published in Thailand’s Royal Gazette. We confirm in writing which rule applies to your travel dates before you fly, and we will not let you travel on the wrong one.
Every traveller must also file the Thailand Digital Arrival Card (TDAC) online within 72 hours of arrival. It is free, and airlines check it at the gate — without it you will not be allowed to board.
Applies to Indian passport holders. Last reviewed 12 August 2026. Entry rules change; we confirm the current position at the time of booking.
Packages through Chiang Rai
Nothing published through here yet, which usually means the trips we run to this part of Thailand are built to order. Tell us your dates and who is travelling, and we will price one.
Plan my ThailandWorth knowing
What we would tell you on the phone.
The same burning season as Chiang Mai
March and early April are hazy and unpleasant. The hills make it worse, not better.
Hill tribe visits need care
Some are dignified community tourism and some are close to a human zoo. We will only arrange the former, and we will explain the difference.
It is colder than you expect
Winter mornings in the hills can be under 10°C, and most accommodation has no heating.
The White Temple has rules
No hats inside, no photography in the main hall, and shoulders and knees covered. It is a working temple, not an installation.
Pairs well with
Where most people go next.
Chiang Mai
Three hours south, and where most trips to the north are based.
Chiang Khong
The Mekong crossing into Laos and the slow boat to Luang Prabang.
Mae Salong
A Yunnanese tea village in the hills, and a genuinely different Thailand.
Chiang Rai, built around you.
Tell us who is travelling and when. We will build the rest around the season.