Three Weeks Road-Tripping In Northern Thailand By Rental Car.

Sarah Steiner

5 years ago

Considering a trip in Northern Thailand? We can really recommend the north for a great – and different – Thai destination that can be explored independently and easily by rental car.

Northern Thailand
Best time to visit?
Places in Northern Thailand
Chiang Mai
Chiang Rai
Lake Phayao
Sop Ruak – Golden Triangle
Mae Sai
Lampang
Getting around
Where we stayed
Budget
More about travel in Asia

Choosing to visit Northern Thailand this time

This trip was our fifth visit to Thailand, and we wanted something different.

We have done our days of Khao San Road and been excited by the attractions of Southeast Asia that used to be so authentically Thailand. This time we wanted to try Thailand differently.

We had never been further north than Bangkok, so we booked flights in to Chiang Mai directly.

We wondered how we would enjoy Northern Thailand, without the iconically touristic beaches and sights of the south.

But the verdict? We were very pleasantly surprised by the north!

What is the best time visit Northern Thailand?

The best time to visit Northern Thailand is during the cool and dry season, from November to February.

Rainy season in Thailand is from June to October. Which I can confirm that in June when we visited, we did experience daily showers!

Places to visit in Northern Thailand

As far as getting lost-in-the-right-direction goes, I’m claiming Northern Thailand as a win.

It really surprised us!

With two weeks and a rental car in Northern Thailand we visited:

Chiang Mai
Chiang Rai
Lake Phayao
Sop Ruak (Golden Triangle)
Mae Sai
Lampang

Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai is the largest city in northern Thailand.

The city is known for its stunning temples, bustling markets, and incredible food and coffee scene.

Things to do in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand

Chiang Mai is home to over 300 temples in the city and surrounding areas, but there is more than temples to see.

Chiang Mai City: The old city is a fascinating place for a wander.
Wat Chedi Luang: This historic Buddhist Temple is huge and worth a visit – if only for the street food stalls outside!
Central Market: Kad Luang is the city’s primary market district. The main market has a huge wet market, food market, flower market as well as areas for food and homewares.
Wat Phra Singh: This is the old city’s most revered temple, home to ancient Buddhist scripts.

The iconic style of temples in Thailand.

Muay Thai Boxing in Chiang Mai – Northern Thailand

We found a great AirBnB in Chiang Mai. It felt so relaxed with our own space after the rush of the past months travelling.

We explored the Old City, and made sure to check out Wat Chedi Luang. But in honesty we loved relaxing in to the local neighbourhood and finding out bearings for a few days of stability.

There was a small vegetable market within five minutes walk of our AirBnB. After five days of daily market-ventures we had found our favourite stalls.

When we returned two weeks later after our road trip in Northern Thailand we were recognised again by the stall-holders. They loved meeting the boys and gave them little sweets and treats when we returned!

We made one chore-run to a mall to sort out a few errands. But we all happily and quickly retreated to our little neighbourhood, pleased by the sense of familiar in staying put for more than a few days.

Gavin met the local owner of a Muay Thai boxing gym just around the corner from our house. He ended up having a few morning sessions which he really enjoyed!

Chiang Rai

Mueang Chiang Rai is the largest city in Northern Thailand beyond Chiang Mai.

The city is famous for the beautiful White Temple. Though it is often a last stopping point near the borders of Laos and Myanmar.

Things to do in Chiang Rai, Northern Thailand

Wat Rong Khun: This is the famous White Temple in Chiang Rai.
Rong Suea Ten Temple: This beautiful blue temple was quite near to where we stayed in Chiang Rai.
Lake Fishing: We did this for Harry’s birthday!
Chiang Rai Night Bazaar: A bustling and busy market in the city that is renowned for delicious street food.

Visiting the famous White Temple in Chiang Rai.

Pu Kaeng – Chiang Rai, Northern Thailand

“Pu Kaeng” refers to Huay Pu Keng, a village in Mae Hong Son province of Northern Thailand, not far from Chiang Rai.

We have so many memories from finding trails and bush tracks, and pulling over when we saw a sign for a waterfall or a hike signposted from the roadside.

Which is exactly how we found Pu Kaeng.

Pu Kaeng was particularly stunning.

We had no intentions of stopping, and knew nothing of Pu Kaeng previously. But it was past lunchtime when we spotted the small signpost all in Thai, with a tiny picture of a waterfall on it.

It was a sought picnic-spot that turned into a grand jungle adventure!

On the trail to Pu Kaeng Waterfall, Northern Thailand

Lake Phayao

Kwan Phayao is situated in Mueang Phayao District of Northern Thailand.

It is the biggest freshwater lake in Northern Thailand and the fourth biggest in Thailand after BuengBoraphet, Nong Han Lake and BuengLahan.

Things to do in Lake Phayao, Northern Thailand

The small town of Phayao doesn’t have a whole lot of things to do. But we found some beautiful temples, a bustling night market and we went for a drive right the lake.

It is also easy to hire bicycles from your accommodation and cycle along the lake promenade.

Phayao Lake: This is the main and most popular attraction of Phayao.
Wat Tilok Aram: You can take a short boat ride on the lake to see what is known as the ‘Submerged Temple’ ashore a tiny island.
Pho Khun Ngam Muang Monument: See the huge statue of Phayao’s most famous king.

Otherwise, we found one of the best things was a small night market along the lake shore.

Lampang – Northern Thailand

Lampang is the third largest city in northern Thailand and capital of Lampang Province.

I hadn’t honestly heard of Lampang before.

But on the map the geographic location of the city looked as if it would work out as a last stop on our Northern Thailand roadtrip.

I looked it up, and the first image of Lampang was of the stunning Wat Chalermprakiat high above the clouds. So we decided unanimously we needed to go see it!

Things to do in Lampang, Northern Thailand

Hike to Wat Chalermprakiat: A temple high above the clouds in Lampang.
Visit Wat Chiang Rai: Yes, you read that right. There is a Wat Chiang Rai in Lampang, and it looks strikingly similar to the renowned White Temple in Chiang Rai.
Eat street food at the market: If you are in Lampang on a Friday, the place to be is the Tha Mai Lampang Cultural Road. This night market runs from 4:30pm til 9:00pm with all kinds of Thai street food and souvenirs.
Admire the City Walls: They aren’t quite as impressively preserved at Chiang Mai, but the walls of Lampang’s ancient city date back to the seventh century and are still standing strong in parts.

Hiking to Wat Chalermprakiat in Lampang, Northern Thailand

The hike to Wat Chalermprakiat is well worth a stop.

Right about the time when I didn’t think we could actually climb much further (and Oscar definitely didn’t) we heard the jingling sound of prayer bells ringing in the wind from the summit temple.

You emerge out above the clouds surrounded by pagodas perched on all angles of the cliff tops!

It’s a magical spot.

The hike to Wat Chalermprakiat turned out to be well worth the extra early start.

There was the roadside snake sighting, and the concerning number of jungle roads that even the GPS didn’t seem to know about…

But it was even worth the grumbles at the final 800 metre climb up!

It’s a beautiful walk. I highly recommend adding this to your Northern Thailand roadtrip itinerary.

At the top of Wat Chalermprakiat in Lampang, Northern Thailand.

Sop Ruak and the Golden Triangle – Northern Thailand

We loved the days road trip to the far, far north of Northern Thailand.

It took us about 1.5 hours from Chiang Rai to reach the Sop Ruak and the Golden Triangle. This is the point in Thailand where you can see Laos and Myanmar from the one spot on the river bank.

It was an interesting spot, and a place for us with a whole lot of memories from each country.

But in truth, the actual site of the Golden Triangle was slightly underwhelming if Im honest. The area was filled with tourist buses and cheap little market stalls and vendors touting their far-from-authentic wares.

The map at the Golden Triangle in the far north of Thailand.

However, our day had only just begun. From there we wound out into some of the back roads with plans to find one of the the highest villages of the Akha hilltribe.

We had read that from up at the village the lookout spans right down over the entirety of the Golden Triangle: Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand.

Highlight of the mission to climb up into the hills and find the hilltop village was definitely the chance to ride the old tractor up the last part – AND discovering a couple of different Akha swings made out of four bamboo poles and a swing with a view!

Finding a local swing at the top of the hill village.

Mae Sai – Northern Thailand

We visited Mae Sai twice too. One the first day trip to the Golden Triangle we checked the small border town out. Then a few days later we returned by bus and crossed over the border from Thailand to Myanmar at Mae Sai.

Read about visiting Taichileik in Myanmar and crossing the border from Mae Sai, Thailand to Myanmar.

A very random amusement park set up in the Burmese town of Tachileik, Myanmar.

Visiting Northern Thailand with kids

I sometimes wonder how we luck out and find ourselves in these situations, meeting such incredible people on our travels and seeing such beautiful places.

But this time I credit it to Harry.

Once again his passion for fishing has led him to make connections with a group of fishermen.

This time we ended up out in the middle of nowhere, on Gea’s farm, fishing for catfish and tilapia for Harry’s sixth birthday.

Relaxing after lunch and fishing efforts of the morning.

One thing that challenged us traveling in Northern Thailand?

Finding culture underneath the tourism.

We were wary. The changes even we have seen in Thailand due to tourism over the last ten years are massive.

It doesn’t feel authentic to us anymore. It is almost like the local people on a general scale don’t have a huge tolerance for tourism thee days. Aside from the much-anticipated money that comes from the size of the industry that is.

It takes a bit more digging to find genuine culture amongst the mass tourism in Thailand now.

But we did find it. We felt both very lucky that we did – and happy that it is still there – and that tourism hasn’t destroyed a culture so beautiful underneath.

Northern Thailand felt like a great choice to seek culture beneath the tourism overload.

Meeting friendly locals – and crabs – in Northern Thailand.

Where we stayed in Northern Thailand

We had a few double ups staying in the same place twice in Northern Thailand. We returned to the same spot in Lake Phayao a week or so later and I was doubling Oscar on my bike through the neighbourhood.

As we rode past a cafe we heard, “Oscar. Osssscaaaar!” – and the hotel receptionists were all out having dinner.

A few days later Gavin was back at the same Muay Thai boxing class in Chiang Mai and the guys are all waving out to Harry.

It is always special to return to the same place and feel that comfort in the familiar!

These are the places we stayed and can recommend in Northern Thailand:

Chiang Mai: AirBnB
A 3-bedroom house, good location, self-contained and very clean and spacious. Within five minutes walk to convenience stores and vegetable market. We stayed here twice!

Phayao: The Cozy Nest
A huge room, nice breakfast, bikes to borrow and a restaurant across the road.

Chiang Rai: Na Na Doo Homestay
Amazing! Our favourite place to stay in Thailand. The host, Moo, is fantastic and suggested perfect outings that really did suit us and the kids – not just standard packages. We loved the swimming pool, and Moo’s breakfast each day. We stayed twice and highly recommend!

Lampang: Martin Place Lampang
Very basic accommodation, easy to find. Fine for base to explore from.

Staying with host Moo at Na Na Doo Homestay in Chiang Rai was our favourite place in Northern Thailand!

Getting around Northern Thailand

Northern Thailand is easy to get around!

In Chiang Mai we used tuk tuks and Grab taxis to get around. We walked a lot from the neighbourhood we were staying in, into the Old City Walls of Chiang Mai.

But the best part of our adventure in the north was hiring a car to explore Northern Thailand independently.

We hired a car for two weeks from rentalcars.com.

This turned out to be the best decision for us to explore Northern Thailand with the freedom to stop whenever we pleased!

You can get around Northern Thailand by rental car – or tuk tuk!

Our budget for three weeks in Northern Thailand

Average accommodation: $50 USD per night
Average daily spend (food, transport, necessities): $48 USD

If we went again we would…

Explore more of the North and Central regions of Thailand.

We loved the chance to find places that we hadn’t heard of, and learn so much more about the culture in different states and regions that are less travelled.

The North is totally worth it!