Luxury Vacations to Chiang Mai

Cradled by rice paddies, Chiang Mai is a lush, laid-back portrait of Thai culture.

Ornate temples and palaces, their walls lavished with gold and silver, hark to the city’s days as the capital of the former Lanna kingdom. The outdoors beckons, too: this is the gateway to Thailand’s mountainous north, home to hill tribes, fruit groves and tea plantations, and to the beautiful Doi Intanon National Park with its waterfalls and pagodas. And then there are the legendary night markets – as much a social affair as a place to do business – where stories and wares are traded beneath the glow of a million lanterns, the air thick with the scent of spice.