Temples of Chiang Mai — a documentary guide

Chiang Mai's temples are not a smaller Bangkok. They belong to Lanna, a kingdom that ran its own affairs for two and a half centuries, spent two more under Burmese rule, and was absorbed into Siam only in the nineteenth century — and its religious architecture, its script, its chronicles and its monastic lineages are its own. The grading you will see quoted, first and second class with sub-ranks such as Ratchaworawihan, is Siamese administrative language applied later to older buildings, and only some of these temples carry it.

These pages are built from the Fine Arts Department's national monument register, read through the department's own service, together with its regional office and National Library in Chiang Mai, the Chiang Mai National Museum, the Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre's archaeology and inscription databases, the ONEP cultural-environment register, DASTA and the Tourism Authority. One thing will be obvious quickly: the state sources disagree with each other about dates more often here than they did in Bangkok, because most of the dates come from chronicles rather than from documents. Where they disagree, this guide prints the disagreement rather than picking a winner.

On the map

Temples in Chiang Mai

6 of 6 temples in Chiang Mai are plotted.

The temples

6 temples covered in Chiang Mai

Wat Phra That Doi Suthep — the relic on the mountainวัดพระธาตุดอยสุเทพราชวรวิหาร · Mueang Chiang MaiThe relic sanctuary above Chiang Mai — a second-class royal monastery on a mountain the Lawa held sacred long before it, reached by a naga stairway and a road built by hand in the 1930s.Second class royal temple, Ratchaworawihan · Registered national ancient monument Wat Phra Singh — the Wihan Lai Kham and the disputed imageวัดพระสิงห์วรมหาวิหาร · Mueang Chiang MaiA first-class royal monastery on Samlan Road holding the Wihan Lai Kham, whose gold-on-vermilion murals are among the best-preserved Lanna painting anywhere — and an image three cities each claim to hold.First class royal temple, Woramahawihan · Registered national ancient monument Wat Chedi Luang — the great chedi and the earthquakeวัดเจดีย์หลวงวรวิหาร · Mueang Chiang MaiThe largest chedi in Chiang Mai, broken at the top by the earthquake of B.E. 2088 and left that way — and the shrine of the Inthakhin, the city pillar, in the courtyard beside it.Royal class not established · Registered national ancient monument Wat Chiang Man — the oldest temple in the cityวัดเชียงมั่น · Mueang Chiang MaiThe temple built on the spot where Mangrai camped while he laid out Chiang Mai, holding an elephant-based chedi, a crystal Buddha the size of a hand, and the inscription that tells the city's founding story.Royal class not established · Registered national ancient monument Wat Suan Dok — the flower garden and the royal ashesวัดสวนดอก · Mueang Chiang MaiThe temple Phaya Kuena made out of his flower garden, holding the largest complete Lanna bronze Buddha and the white ku where the rulers of Chiang Mai were gathered into one cemetery.Royal class not established · Registered national ancient monument Wat Umong — the tunnels at the foot of the mountainวัดอุโมงค์ (สวนพุทธธรรม) · Mueang Chiang MaiA forest monastery at the foot of Doi Suthep built around a plastered chedi with brick tunnels cut beneath it, holding the only Lanna tunnel paintings anywhere — and, since the 1940s, a meditation centre.Royal class not established · Registered national ancient monument

How this guide works

Where these facts come from

Every page is built from the National Office of Buddhism and Department of Religious Affairs registers, the Fine Arts Department’s national monument register and its published monographs, the Royal Gazette where it could be read, UNESCO, and the temples’ own material — with the Tourism Authority of Thailand used only for visiting practicalities, never for history. Nothing here is taken from a travel blog, a listicle or a review site.

The rule that governs every page is that recorded tradition is not history. Thai temple histories are full of foundation legends, and they are worth telling — but told as tradition, in those words, never flattened into a bare founding date. Where a date is not established, the page says so, and that sentence is the useful part.

Still to come here: Chiang Mai's first run covers six temples. Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, Wat Phra Singh, Wat Chedi Luang, Wat Chiang Man, Wat Suan Dok and Wat Umong are the six the queue names; a second Chiang Mai run could reasonably take Wat Chet Yot, Wat Lok Moli, Wat Ku Tao, Wat Sri Suphan, Wat Phan Tao and the Wiang Kum Kam group.

Before you go

Read the guide to Buddhism and temple etiquette in Thailand first — dress, footwear, photography and how to behave around monks. Then the Bangkok city guide and things to do in Bangkok for everything around them.

Staying longer? Work out which Thai visa route fits your situation, read where to live in Bangkok, and browse residences and rentals.