Chiang Rai is a small city located 3 hours from Chiang Mai by bus and is often used as a stop-off en route to the famous slow boat in Laos. There are also day trips available from Chiang Mai to visit the popular White Temple, meaning many visit Chiang Rai for a few short hours before returning to Chiang Mai. Alternatively, they stay for one night to break up their journey towards the Thai-Laos border. However, Chiang Rai surprised me and has a lot more to offer than expected, making it worth spending 2-3 days of your trip here to observe the other sights of the city. 

Here is a 2-3 day itinerary for a stay in Chiang Rai when on a budget:

Day 1

Arriving 

Buses arrive frequently from Chiang Mai between 11:00 and 22:00. Once in Chiang Rai most hotels/ hostels are within walking distance of the bus station making it easy to drop your bags off and get some food before exploring.

Local Market

After settling in and finding something to eat for lunch, there is a local market selling clothes and fresh produce close by which is worth checking out. Located only a 10 minute walk away from the bus station, the market is aimed at locals so will be a more authentic market experience over the touristy night markets. I managed to bag a pair of slides for 60 baht (£1.30) that lasted me the rest of our 5 months of travels with no issues. 

Night Market 

Depending on what time you arrived in Chiang Rai will determine if you have much time to do anything else on your first day. Assuming you arrived mid-to-late afternoon then you won’t have much time to do much else on your first day. In this case visiting the Chiang Rai Night Bazaar can be a great way to spend your first evening in the city with plenty of cheap food options. Should your stay happen to fall on a Saturday then the Saturday Night Market is worth a visit as it is longer with more stalls.

Day 2

White Temple 

Wat Rong Khun is one of those temples you see everywhere on Instagram that you instantly add to your bucket list. Being the most visited attraction in Chiang Rai means it does draw in the crowds so try and visit early before the tour buses arrive from Chiang Mai. Entrance is 100 baht (£2.16), which is well worth it to see the beautiful White Temple but this price also includes entrance to another temple in the grounds that is less popular but still stunning.

Buses run between the Chiang Rai bus station in the centre and the temple for only 25 baht (£0.54), making it easily accessible without the need for a scooter. 

Before we left we ate at one of the restaurants on sight which was reasonably priced despite being in a tourist hotspot. 

Singha Park

From the White Temple we took a Grab (like Uber) to Singha Park for only 115 baht (£2.48). The park was free to enter but the grounds were way too big for us to walk around it all so we paid 150 baht (£3.24) each to use the hop on, hop off bus service which ran from each of the 7 stops every 15 minutes. If you don’t want to get the bus then you can hire a scooter or bicycle for 90 minutes for 300 baht (£6.48) or 200 baht (£4.32) respectively, instead.

The park has a lot to see and do including; a fish pond, tea plantation, fields of flowers for pictures, rock climbing, zip lining and a mini zoo. Overall we spent a lot longer than we expected here before heading back into the city centre for dinner. 

Day 3

Blue Temple

The Blue Temple or Rong Suea Ten Temple, is only a few miles outside of the centre of Chaing Rai so is only a short 7 minute Grab or Tuktuk ride away. As you’d expect, the temple is entirely blue with gold trimmings. Although not as busy as the White Temple, it is also remarkable and still brings in the odd tour bus so it can become slightly crowded.

Chivit Thamma Da Coffee House

Only 400m away from the Blue Temple is this quaint cafe by the river that we found on TikTok. The cafe is run out of an old colonial house with a mix of indoor and outdoor seating. With the location being popular among Thai tourists, there may be a waiting time for seats during the weekend. 

With its popularity, the menu is slightly more expensive than other local cafes but the scenery and western food more than make up for it.

Leaving

In the afternoon we picked up our bags from our hostel and got on the bus from Chiang Rai bus station to the border crossing point into Laos between Chiang Khong and Huay Xai. We decided to do the border crossing the day before getting the slow boat to avoid having to rush the morning of the boat when queues at border control can be long and slow. 

Other Information 

We tend to travel quite slowly and spend a while taking photos in each location so activities end up taking longer for us than for others. If you aren’t like us then you could most likely fit in what we did on day 3 into the afternoon of day 2 or, alternatively, into the afternoon of the day you arrived and then leave first thing in the morning of day 3. 

We were travelling on a budget so missed out other activities available in the area such as visiting the Golden Triangle between Thailand, Laos and Myanmar or going to a long necked village to name a few. 

Accommodation – During our time in Chiang Rai we stayed in the Spinomad Hostel, a bar/ restaurant with rooms upstairs. The room was a little loud from music until 10pm but not as bad as many other hostels we stayed in. It came with free water and was only 5 minutes away from the bus station so very central.

Food – There was a noodle bar called ‘Big Noodle Cafe’ opposite our accommodation where they had hundreds of different flavours of instant noodles from around the world. After picking your noodles there was a topping station to customise your own meal and stations to cook it all. This was more of a unique experience rather than a culinary one but worth checking out when in Chiang Rai. 

Near to the 7-Eleven there is a stand selling roti. If you haven’t tried it already it is a sweet, fried dessert served with condensed milk or Nutella and banana. At only 20 baht (£0.43) for one, they are a cheap option to satisfy your sweet tooth.

Activity Map