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Top Places To Shopping In Chiang Mai
Shopping is one of the premier activities in Chiang Mai, where nearly every souvenir product found elsewhere in Thailand is available for sale. The advantage of shopping in Chiang Mai is that visitors may learn about handicrafts production by watching artisans making the products firsthand. Both in the city itself and in several outlying villages, particularly along the Bo Sang-San Kamphaeng road, there are establishments where visitors can purchase handicrafts and works of art directly from the people who produced them. In addition to other goods, Chiang Mai produces parasols, silk and cotton textiles, jewelry, woodcarvings, silverware, celadon, and lacquerware. For the more casual shopper, the Chiang Mai night market features numerous street stalls and shops, the Sunday Market offers more unique, independently created souvenirs and products, and the indoor, air conditioned Central department store shopping complex on Huay Kaeo Road sells international brand name products.
San Kamphaeng District:
Umbrella Making Centre
Bor Sang Village
San Kamphaeng
Mueang District:
Warorot Market
Muang Noi Market
Ton Lamyai Market
Baan Tawai
Chiang Mai Night Bazaar
Central Airport Plaza
Market
Umbrella Making Centre
Location : San Kamphaeng District
Formerly made as offerings to the monasteries, the beautiful hand-made bamboo and paper umbrellas of Bosang are now produced in quantity. Still reflected in the work of the skilled village craftsmen is the sheer beauty of a tradition that began generations ago. In addition to umbrellas and parasols made of sa paper, cotton and silk, many other decorative handicraft items are made featuring the same hand-painted designs and fine skills of the local artisans.
Bor Sang Village
Location : San Kamphaeng District
Bor Sang Village is located at Highway 1006. This road serves as the location to the largest amount and the most popular of handicraft factories and shops in Chiang Mai. It begins at the Chiang Mai – Sankampaeng intersection and continues to the Sankampaeng district at km. 13. It is lined on both sides by showrooms and factories where you have the opportunity to observe the production of crafts, as well as purchase them. Thai silk, cotton, lacquerware, ceramics, leather products, silverware, umbrellas, woodwork, jewelry, and antiques can all be found along this road.
San Kamphaeng
Location : San Kamphaeng District
13 km (8 miles) east of the city centre, you will find the thriving crafts district of San Kamphaeng. While Ban Tawai is the destination for woodcarving and furniture, San Kamphaeng is the place to go for Thai silk, considered to be the best in the world because its coarser weave can withstand heavier dyeing. Rounding out the selection of products are lacquerware, ceramics (including fine Thai celadon) and the distinct, brightly coloured umbrellas that are a northern specialty. Shops and mini factories line both sides of the Chiang Mai-San Kamphaeng Road, where local artists practice their craft with a skill born of centuries-old tradition.
While the peaceful click-clack of the silk weavers’ hand looms has largely been replaced by machines these days, the extra efficiency reduces the price and there are still a few traditionalists left who make silk the traditional way. Although machine produced silk is of wonderful quality, the personal touch of hand woven silk has an indefinable superiority to it (with an accompanying rise in price).
Lacquerware is another popular item and shops can be found all over the San Kamphaeng Road. Thai lacquerware is characterized by a glossy black base with intricate details picked out in gold. The art of pottery is another craft skill mastered long ago and passed down in San Kamphaeng. For over 600 years the artisans of the area have been producing fantastic pottery, including the extremely fine ceramic known as Celadon. Visitors to the area can see the ancient kilns of the first Lanna potters as well as pay
Warorot Market
Location : Mueang District
Warorot Market located on Wichayanon Road, near Ping Riverside. Warorot Market was built in 1910 by Jao Warorot, the Lanna royal family member. After that Chinese come to settle their residents and business in this area since then this area is the China Town of Chiang Mai.
At the present time this market is the biggest shopping centre in Chinatown and a place to see real Chiang Mai. The most famous souvenir here is northern style food. Kaeb mu (crispy pig skin), mu yo (traditional Thai pork sausage), and nam phrik num (traditional northern style green chilly paste). Beyond the market on Praisani Road are dozens of stalls where hilltribe people sell various kinds of tribal handicrafts and tropical fresh fruits and flowers from the highland farms.
Outside the market building there are about thousand of stalls that sell various of foods, clothing, souvenirs, house equipments, and etc. This area also has Song Thaew stations to interchange Song Thaew from inbound line (Red Song Thaew) to outbound district such as Sankampaeng (White Song Thaew), Sansaii (Green Song Thaew), and Doi Saket (Yellow Song Thaew).
Muang Noi Market
Location : Mueang District
Ten minutes’ walk north from the Warorot Market will take you to the Muang Noi Market, Chiang Mai’s best place for fresh fruit. This is the place where local restaurateurs come for pineapple, watermelon and bananas. The pickings are best early in the morning, when the farmers have just delivered their produce and the air is still as crisp as the cucumbers.
Ton Lamyai Market
Location : Mueang District
While ambling around the Warorot Market you might be treated to a sudden sweet waft of scent on the breeze from the river. That’s Ton Lamyai, the flower market. Located just opposite the river bank the Ton Lamyai is the oldest wet market in Chiang Mai. Wet markets, so named for the water on the floor, are places where fresh fruits, vegetables and meats are sold. Ton Lamyai has all of the above and is a great place to stock up on the interesting and unusual varieties of fruits in Chiang Mai, especially strawberries, which are rare in Thailand, but readily grown on the slopes of Chiang Mai’s hills and mountains.
The thing that sets Ton Lamyai apart from the other food markets is the flowers. All year round you will find the market bursting with colour and perfumed by a hundred different blossoms. Orchids, Roses and countless other varieties of flowers are on sale, either cut or arranged, perfect for brightening up your hotel room. Even if you don’t want to buy, the market is worth a trip just to marvel at the beauty and scent of all those flowers.
Baan Tawai
Location : Mueang District
Simply the best place in Thailand to buy antiques, antique reproductions, home furnishing and decorative art, Ban Tawai is well worth the trip out of town. Located 20 km (12 miles) south of the city centre on the road towards Doi Inthanon, Ban Tawai is one of the most important craft centres in Thailand. Many of the fantastic items sold in Bangkok, Phuket and Samui are produced right here and by going straight to the source you can get some truly fantastic deals.
Woodcarving is the medium of choice for the majority of the artisans at Ban Tawai, a skill passed down for generations. Thai woodcarvers are among the best in the world and Ban Tawai artisans are incredibly versatile, producing exquisite works in an incredibly diverse array of styles. Aside from décor items and furniture Ban Tawai will impress with its wonderful selection of Thai silk, bamboo products, soaps and oils, ornaments and vases.
Night Bazaar
Chiang Mai Night Bazaar
Location : Mueang District
The Night Bazaar on Chang Klang Road is the city’s most famous shopping location and is a must for all visitors. It is a lively area with department stores, shops and stall vendors.
It begins to come to life in the early evening and buzzes till midnight, but a few shops are open all day. If you are looking for all kind of Antiques, paintings, textiles, silverware and woodcrafts then this is the right place and in general everything is cheaper than Bangkok. You can also find faked designer cloth and a lot of other things.
Shopping Mall
Central Airport Plaza
Location : Mueang District
A newer, cleaner and more modern version of Kad Suan Kaew, Central Airport Plaza is the upmarket shopping destination of Chiang Mai. The Robinson’s department store is the main feature but there are plenty of specialty shops selling everything from wine to sunglasses. A unique feature of this mall is the Northern Village, a three storey complex offering very high quality handicrafts and housewares.
The Northern Village is part of the highly successful OTOP – One Tambon (Village), One Product – program, which was designed to help small businesses prosper. As opposed to the night bazaar, the items on display here are all of very high quality and authenticity and the prices, while fixed, are still quite reasonable.
Central Plaza (Kad Suan Kaew)
Location : Mueang District
Located on Huay Kaew Road, this sprawling shopping mall is located in a four storey red brick building. This is closer to a western idea of shopping than traditional markets or the night bazaar, with department stores, fast food chains and movie theatres showing the major Hollywood releases (in English). Homesick shoppers looking for some familiarity will be comforted by the presence of Starbucks, Adidas and Sony, often at much lower prices than back home. This is still a Thai version of a shopping mall, however, and there are still rabbit warrens of small clothing shops and electronics stalls. If you’re in the market for a mobile phone this is the best place to come as many of the latest models are on offer for next to nothing. Even if shopping malls aren’t your thing a trip to Central might be worth your time, if only to enjoy some air-con for a while
Pantip Plaza
Location : Mueang District
This technology bazaar has a wide range of computer products, audiovisual equipment, software and general technical goods. If you can think of it, it is more than likely they will have it. A smaller version than the epic Bangkok cousin but still laden with the sort of goods that have made Pantip Plaza a name across with Southeast Asia. Expect to see big names such as Sony, Hewlett Packard and Acer inside, as well as a number of shops selling the components needed to make or fix a computer.
The Plaza Chiang Mai
Location : Mueang District
A Newish Boutique Shopping Destination Renovated from the old Chiang Inn Plaza and made to be more modern in the heart of Chiang Mai city at Night Bazaar Luxurious and convenient for all shoppers.
The Plaza is marketed as a boutique shopping destination, consisting of five floors packed with boutique shops and kiosks specialising in handicrafts, textiles and furniture. The first floor is dedicated to jewellery and gems while the second focuses more on textiles with a number of tailors and leather deals operating from here.
Not the sort of place you might try and haggle, this air conditioned mall has set prices and is the place to head for all those who want receipts with purchases. One of Chiang Mai’s newer malls stands out amongst the market format that surrounds, you can eat, drink, shop and spa in here.
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