Chiang Mai Food Tour: A Walking Guide to the Old City's Best Eats

Chiang Mai is a square. Almost literally. The Old City is a 1.5km by 1.5km moated grid built by King Mengrai in 1296, with red brick walls, four corner bastions, and four city gates pointed at the cardinal directions. You can walk the whole thing in an hour. You can eat your way around it in a day. This is the route.

We had four days here in 2017, on what was then our biggest trip together: Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket, the works. Chiang Mai was the surprise. Bangkok had been impressive and exhausting, Phuket was the beach reward, and Chiang Mai was the in-between leg I expected to like and ended up loving. The Old City has the density of a great food city: everything worth eating is within fifteen minutes of everything else worth eating.

Where should you eat breakfast in Chiang Mai?

Khao Soi Khun Yai, on the western edge of the Old City just inside Suan Dok Gate. They open at 8am and close at 2pm, and they run out of food, so early morning is when you want to be there.

Khao soi is the Chiang Mai dish: a coconut-curry noodle soup with crispy noodles on top, pickled mustard greens on the side, lime, shallots, and your choice of chicken or beef. At Khun Yai it costs 50 baht (about £1.10). The broth is yellow with turmeric and aromatic with cardamom, and the chicken thigh on the bone has the kind of slow-stew tenderness that makes you want a second bowl immediately. We had two.

Which temple should I visit in Chiang Mai?

Wat Chedi Luang, the 14th-century chedi in the centre of the Old City. The brick stupa was once the tallest building in Northern Thailand and an earthquake in 1545 took the top off, and it's been beautifully unrestored ever since. The crumbled aesthetic is genuinely more interesting than gold-plated. Spend forty minutes. Sit on the shaded platform and listen to the monks chanting from the ordination hall.

Wat Chiang Man (the oldest temple, founded 1297) is also worth a quick visit. The elephant-supported chedi at the back is the photograph.

What is sai oua and where do you find it in Chiang Mai?

Walk south of the Old City to Chiang Mai Gate Market, the biggest morning market in the southern half of the city. The stall to find is the woman doing sai oua: the Northern Thai herb sausage stuffed with lemongrass, kaffir lime leaf, makhwaen pepper and chilli.

Buy a 50-baht piece grilled, add a sticky rice basket from the vendor next to her, and sit on the curb. Sticky rice you eat with your fingers (this is the rule). Sai oua and sticky rice and a beer and the smell of grilled meat. This is the Chiang Mai street food experience that'll stay with you.

For dessert, mango sticky rice from the stalls on the same street. We went to a stall whose name we never caught and it was the best mango sticky rice we had in Thailand. The ratio of mango to rice tilts in your favour here.

Should you rest in the afternoon in Chiang Mai?

Non-negotiable. The temperature in Chiang Mai in August was 33 degrees and 90% humidity. We retreated to our Airbnb on Chang Klan Road and slept from 2pm to 5pm in a fan-cooled room. Don't try to walk through the early afternoon. Your appetite will thank you.

What is the Sunday Walking Street in Chiang Mai?

The whole length of Ratchadamnoen Road from Tha Phae Gate to Wat Phra Singh becomes a kilometre-long food market from 4pm to 10pm every Sunday, with stalls running both sides and live music in the squares and temple courtyards.

We ate, in order: pad thai (40 baht), khao kha moo (slow-stewed pork leg over rice, 50 baht), Thai egg crepe (kanom buang, 30 baht for two), grilled river prawn (200 baht, the splurge), and a Chang beer to wash it down. About £15 between us for dinner. Saturday Walking Street on Wualai Road is a smaller, quieter alternative.

How much does a Chiang Mai food day cost for two people?