The Old City is the square of streets enclosed by Chiang Mai’s moat, with stretches of the old brick wall and its corner bastions still standing. Wat Phra Singh and Wat Chedi Luang are both inside it, along with a temple on what feels like every other corner.
It is also where our Chiang Mai picks score best for location. Averaged across our listings here, location beats both Nimman and Riverside, and the single highest location score we have recorded in the city is here too: 9.9 at BaanBooLoo Village, with The Inside House on 9.8 under 700 metres south. The two lower scores, The Peaberry and POR Arak, both sit right against the western moat.
It also holds the widest price range of our three Chiang Mai areas, from POR Arak, a three-star with a pool, to The Inside House, the most expensive property we list in the city. The better value is not at the top. The Peaberry, a three-star on the north-west corner, has the best value-for-money score and the only perfect wifi score we list in Chiang Mai.
Best for
Temples on foot, and the strongest location scores we list in Chiang Mai
Nightly range
฿2,102–฿20,500 a night
Local tips
- Sunday Walking Street runs along Ratchadamnoen Road from Tha Phae Gate to Wat Phra Singh, straight through the middle of the Old City
- Our picks here with the lower location scores sit against the western moat, still inside the walls but further from the centre
- Agoda lists POR Arak as having no parking, worth knowing before you hire a car or scooter