In case you seek for the most well-liked digital nomad areas, Chiang Mai is bound to seem on that record. In case you don’t need to be immediately hooked, don’t look any additional—that is one place so intoxicating that you simply’ll be planning your journey immediately. There are numerous execs of dwelling in Chiang Mai; it’s no surprise that so many distant staff and vacationers alike flock there yr after yr.
Having spent a number of months dwelling in Chiang Mai myself, I’d love to return, and I completely will in some unspecified time in the future. It’s a sociable place, widespread with numerous different distant staff and pleasant locals. The professionals of dwelling in Chiang Mai far outweigh the negatives in my view, nevertheless it’s vital to find out about either side of the coin to make your individual knowledgeable resolution earlier than taking the plunge.
15 Execs and Cons of Dwelling in Chiang Mai
For me, Chiang Mai is the jewel in Thailand’s crown. Sure, Thailand is an enormous nation with wonderful seashores, like Koh Samui and Phuket, and the vibrancy of Bangkok is unbeaten, however there’s nothing fairly like on a regular basis life within the northern metropolis of Chiang Mai. It has its challenges, in addition to its main benefits, and having skilled most that Chiang Mai has to supply, I really feel fairly well-informed that can assist you out.
Execs of Dwelling in Chiang Mai
As a result of I prefer to concentrate on positivity earlier than the rest, let’s begin with the benefits of dwelling in Chiang Mai. By the tip of this record, you’ll most likely have one foot on the aircraft and be planning your first few days within the metropolis.
1. A Nice Place to Meet Different Digital Nomads
Undoubtedly, one of many largest execs of dwelling in Chiang Mai is simply how straightforward it’s to satisfy different distant staff. In 2023, an enormous 3.9 million individuals handed via the doorways of Chiang Mai airport, with a good proportion of these certain to be digital nomads. Regardless of while you go to, you’re assured to satisfy loads of different like-minded individuals, which is able to make your keep a lot extra fulfilling.
I’ll speak about coworking areas shortly, however most have common social evenings, with a concentrate on bringing individuals collectively—the identical goes for hostels across the metropolis. It’s really easy to mingle in Chiang Mai, and I met many new mates whom I nonetheless be in contact with at this time. The town presents many nice alternatives to collaborate, but when socializing is all you take note of, you actually gained’t wrestle to discover a new buddy or two.
2. Price-Effectiveness
Chiang Mai is a reasonably cost-effective place to remain over the long run. For instance, you’ll be able to often discover an condo within the metropolis middle and even fashionable Nimman, for round 7800-14,000 THB ($220-$390) with utilities on prime. If yow will discover a coliving area or just share with one other distant employee, you’ll save much more on lodging.
It’s low cost to eat out too, so long as you persist with native meals; if you’d like Western-style meals then you’ll be able to anticipate to pay extra. One in all my favourite locations was the Chiang Mai Night time Bazaar, the place it’s attainable to fill your self with road meals for a really small amount of money. Even espresso retailers are low cost—yow will discover a cappuccino for round 55THB ($1.50), and these are nice locations to work from too.
3. Security
While you’re wanting on the execs and cons of dwelling in Chiang Mai, you’ll little question need to find out about security to start with. I can hand on coronary heart say that I by no means felt unsafe for even a second throughout my keep, at the same time as a solo feminine traveler. In actual fact, a 2023 report acknowledged that Chiang Mai is the most secure metropolis to go to in Southeast Asia total.
In fact, like some other metropolis on the planet, you shouldn’t take undue dangers, and customary sense ought to all the time be practiced. Total, nonetheless, Chiang Mai is taken into account a protected metropolis to go to by way of low crime charges; providing you with peace of thoughts when seeing the sights and going about your day by day enterprise. Regardless of this, visitors is a completely separate topic which I’ll speak about later.
4. Nice Web High quality & Coworking Areas
One other of the highest benefits of dwelling in Chiang Mai is the variety of coworking areas and the standard of web accessible. In keeping with Speedtest, the typical add and obtain speeds in Chiang Mai are 169.21 and 198.03 Mbps respectively. I by no means struggled with the web connection as soon as, together with video calls and lengthy durations on-line.
There are some incredible coworking areas across the metropolis too—Yellow Coworking Area is certainly one of my prime suggestions, however you’ll discover many dotted round. There are some low-cost choices to select from, equivalent to HeartWork, a coworking cafe that fees a low price for the usage of their web for a couple of hours. Once more, these are nice locations to satisfy individuals, community, and recharge on inspiration.
5. Pleasant Locals
You’ll discover a few of the friendliest individuals on the planet in Chiang Mai and loads of locals who need to let you know about their traditions and customs. Whereas it may be difficult with the language barrier typically, it’s not one thing you’ll be able to’t overcome. I had many conversations with espresso store and meals stall house owners and even made some native mates.
Locals in Chiang Mai are very accustomed to worldwide guests, and I by no means felt something aside from solely welcome. So long as you do your finest to immerse your self within the conventional methods, you’ll meet individuals from all walks of life. In fact, you’ll be able to assist your self a bit of by studying a couple of phrases within the native language.
6. Excessive-High quality Healthcare
One of many largest advantages of dwelling in Chiang Mai is the accessible, high-quality, and inexpensive healthcare. This must be one thing you consider irrespective of the place on the planet you’re. In Chiang Mai, you’ll discover private and non-private hospitals, each of that are inexpensive in comparison with different nations.
I needed to go to Ram Hospital in Chiang Mai after tripping and injuring my arm. I anticipated it to be an advanced course of, nevertheless it was fortunately tremendous straightforward, and there have been English-speaking employees. In fact, be sure to have good medical insurance, and also you gained’t have any issues if a health-related difficulty occurs to come up.
7. Lots to See and Do
There are such a lot of issues to see and do in Chiang Mai throughout your break day. I questioned what I’d do in my spare time as town doesn’t have a seaside, however I shouldn’t have even questioned it—I used to be by no means bored for a second. I cherished strolling across the night time markets, and there are a number of: the Sunday Strolling Market is vibrant and enjoyable and is all the time a very good possibility.
A day journey to Inthanon Nationwide Park is a must-do in addition to a tour across the temples within the metropolis, equivalent to Wat Umong. I additionally advocate a day journey to Sticky Waterfall, which is a superb strategy to beat the warmth. In case you’re a nature lover, there are some nice mountain climbing trails round, together with Huai Cho Reservoir Loop, which I actually loved.
8. Great Climate
Heat climate is undoubtedly one of many execs of dwelling in Chiang Mai. Throughout the yr, the common temperature hardly ever dips under 22°C/71°F. August is the rainiest month, with the wet season stretching between Might and October. Throughout this time, there are various heavy showers, however they’re usually short-lived, and the climate sometimes clears up in a short time.
April and Might are the most well liked months, with common highs of 30°C/86°F, and fortunately, most locations have air-con and loads of followers! In the course of the wet season, it may possibly develop into a bit of humid, however I didn’t really feel it was too overwhelming. Waking as much as the solar most days is unquestionably a plus and one of many main pulls towards Chiang Mai.
9. A Cultural Place to Discover
The factor I favored most about Chiang Mai is that though it’s very easy to seek out residence comforts, it’s a very cultural place with a special lifestyle. Simply strolling down the streets and seeing the superbly adorned temples and tuk-tuks passing by reveals you that you simply’re in nearly one other world. I’ve already talked about the night time markets, however these are a beautiful strategy to simply immerse your self within the tradition.
Absorbing the native tradition is a good thought, and by doing this, you’ll admire your time in Thailand way more. Thai tradition is wealthy and simple to find out about; native individuals will fortunately present you their traditions so long as you present respect always. I don’t suppose I’ve skilled tradition in some other nation as a lot as I did right here, and it’s certainly one of many explanation why I need to return.
10. Superb Meals
One of many main advantages of dwelling in Chiang Mai is the meals, undoubtedly. It’s very straightforward to strive native delicacies, and the native markets are an important place to start out. Thai road meals is scrumptious and extremely low cost, serving to you to maintain money in your pocket. I developed a severe love of Pad Thai in Chiang Mai and I grew to become way more adventurous with attempting new issues.
Khao Neow Ma Muang, or sticky rice and mango, is certainly one of my favourite dishes and it’s really easy to seek out from road distributors. Thai meals can be actually wholesome and made with the freshest produce. I took a cookery class, and I discovered a lot about native delicacies; I’d extremely advocate it if you wish to throw your self into native life and take a look at one thing new.
Cons of Dwelling in Chiang Mai
Nowhere on the planet is 100% good, and there are some cons of dwelling in Chiang Mai you want to concentrate on. They’re not main deal breakers, not less than not for me, however they’re issues that would have an effect on your keep in case you’re not clued up beforehand.
1. Visas Can Be Tough to Get
One of many largest disadvantages of dwelling in Chiang Mai is that getting a visa over the long run is usually a problem. It’s under no circumstances unattainable, however the necessities are a lot stricter than they was and there’s a number of paperwork concerned. Rules change usually so it’s vital to double-check earlier than you propose to journey to keep away from discovering your self in a difficult state of affairs.
Total, most individuals can go to Thailand for 60 days on a vacationer visa, however this varies in accordance with nationality so, once more, double-check. You’ll be able to then apply to increase this for one more 30 days in case you select to. To assist make your particular state of affairs a bit of simpler to know, you’ll be able to enter your passport particulars into this website and discover out what your choices are.
2. Attainable Language Barrier
When you’ll discover English audio system round vacationer websites and in coworking areas, in case you enterprise away from these areas you’ll possible expertise a slight barrier. I by no means bumped into too many issues, however I did have to make use of Google Translate a couple of occasions, which might be irritating, particularly in case you’re looking for vital info otherwise you need assistance.
I made a decision to view this as an important excuse to be taught a couple of phrases of Thai. You don’t should be fluent to get by, however the fundamentals will serve you effectively in case you enterprise into rural areas otherwise you meet somebody who doesn’t converse nice English. I discovered that talking even just some phrases made individuals need to assist me be taught much more, and so they appeared to understand my makes an attempt, irrespective of how dangerous!
3. Burning Season
For me, one of many largest downsides of dwelling in Chiang Mai is the burning season. In actual fact, many individuals both keep away from the realm throughout this time or go away and return as soon as it’s over. Burning season occurs between January and April throughout a lot of northern Thailand, when farmers burn their fields to prepare for the following rising season and harvest.
Throughout this time, air high quality is fairly poor, and it may possibly make even strolling round pretty tough. Some years are higher than others, however there’s a basic haze over the whole metropolis between these months it doesn’t matter what. In case you’re somebody who suffers from respiratory points, equivalent to bronchial asthma, you would possibly need to keep away from these months and go to when it’s over.
4. Visitors
It’s no shock that in 2019, Chiang Mai ranked as primary on the record of most harmful locations to drive in Thailand; It even beat Bangkok, which is sort of shocking in case you’ve ever been to the capital. One of many cons of dwelling in Chiang Mai is attempting to navigate visitors, and in case you select to drive, you’ll should be very cautious certainly. Even strolling might be perilous as there are only a few respectable sidewalks.
Chiang Mai’s roads are famously congested, and many individuals driving scooters weave out and in of the visitors or drive at excessive velocity. Personally, I most popular to get round through public transport, and I by no means discovered it tough to make use of; it definitely works out cheaper than gasoline and supplies a extra genuine expertise. I used the songthaew very often and I even made some mates on there.
5. Twin Pricing
Many individuals see this as one of many downsides to dwelling in Chiang Mai, however I personally don’t thoughts it an excessive amount of and may perceive why it occurs. Twin pricing implies that as a foreigner, you’ll be charged extra for some sights than a neighborhood individual, and typically the distinction might be fairly vital. I’ve observed twin pricing in lots of different nations, however not as clearly as I skilled in Thailand.
It’s annoying, however what you must bear in mind is that native wages are significantly lower than what most foreigners obtain and these costs replicate that. The excellent news is that this solely occurs on admission charges and also you gained’t see it on markets, public transport, or common day by day purchases. It’s one of many belongings you merely have to just accept, nevertheless it’s a draw back all the identical.
Is Dwelling in Chiang Mai Price It?
Like wherever else on the planet, there are execs and cons of dwelling in Chiang Mai. It’s obviously apparent that my record has much more execs than cons, and that’s not an accident. Your complete expertise of dwelling in Chiang Mai was optimistic sufficient for me to see these downsides as small annoyances somewhat than huge deal-breakers, aside from the visa difficulty.
As one of the widespread locations for digital nomads, Chiang Mai has one thing for everybody and delivers all of it with a cultural and genuine vibe. Typically it’s frenetic and loud, different occasions it’s peaceable and chilled out—the whole metropolis is a contradiction in all the perfect methods attainable. It’s additionally the primary place to satisfy different individuals, a few of whom might find yourself your finest mates for all times.
I can’t wait to return; when are you going?
