Slow down and step back a few decades. Chiang Dao is the ultimate peace and quiet just a quick drive due north of the city. At the base of the mountain, Doi Luang, there are cute guesthouses, a handful of restaurants, hot springs and a youth camp property to camp at.
Chiang Dao Hot Springs
The best hot springs I've found in Thailand (so far) are the Chiang Dao tubs. Some Japanese locals established these springs free to the community, by simply directing the spring source into a few cement basins next to the local creek. It's an absolute luxury to use these bare minimum springs outdoors under the forest canopy, under the stars, with cold creek water to jump in to cool you off.
Camping in Chiang Dao
Chiang Dao Youth Camp is a special slice of property near the base of the mountain. It's a host for school groups and events, and it's our go-to camping spot every time. Each year the wonderful Shambala Festival is put on by the local Japanese community, celebrating art, music and creativity for 10 days. It's a fabulous hippy cuddle fest that will warm your heart to pieces.
Rock Climbing in Chiang Dao
OH beloved Chiang Dao. We climb every time we go, because Chiang Dao has some stunning rock walls that are newly bolted by the fabulous CMRCA staff. These routes can be dirty and dusty and falling rock HAS been a problem each time we go, so helmets are a must. But the climbs are the BEST I've ever done and have unbeatable views! To get there you aquire the topos from CMRCA. It's not on the big mountain where you might think it is - it's on the opposite side of the city out past the rice fields and up into the smaller mountains, through some lovely little farming communities. It takes a bit of map following to get there, but it's not far and well worth it. Bring a long rope and loads of bug repellent!
Hiking Doi Luang
The hike to the top of the mountain is a stunningly beautiful 4 hours. It's steep, and it will take you around the backside through some towering valleys until you reach a base camp just below the summit. We hiked this mountain in February of 2017 with a big group of adventurous friends. We booked our campsite/permit ahead of time and paid a small fee per person, so they can keep track of hikers in the national park. With this fee we are driven in trucks up to the trail head along a rough, nauseating dirt road that seemed to take days to get there. Once we started the trail we were buzzing with adrenaline. The hike starts off beautiful and only gets better.
There is nothing at base camp so you must pack up your own food and water. There are porters to hire if you need, but Rus and I huffed it all the way to the top with our own water, about 5 liters each. We were at the back of the group, but we did it! And I don't care if it's Thailand - temperatures drop LOW at night. We needed our down blanket and layers of sweaters, so our bags were bursting with gear.
We woke up before dawn for sunrise, boiled a thermos of coffee and rolled a joint, walked the 15 minutes up to the tippy top! It was so hard to roll out the tent in the cold, but dammit it was worth it and I need to get better at doing that wherever I go. Rus had a pretty memorable morning dump on the cliff's edge with the best view ever; I love that story.
This was a really memorable trip for all of us. Our best buddies plus some new friends joined in this amazingly organized group trip, we must have been about 20 people in total. I wish we stayed longer, but none of us were about to pack up more water!