Chiang Mai

Nimman or Old City for a first Chiang Mai stay?

I keep getting the same question. Cafes versus temples. It is a first-stay fork, not a moral one.

Two bases, two trips

If	Sleep	Why
Cafes, wifi, west-side food	Nimmanhaemin	Grab exists. The moat is a ride, not a walk you will enjoy daily in heat
Temples inside the moat, Sunday Walking Street	Old City / near a gate you can name	You will still Grab to Nimman for some meals
You want both every day	You will spend the stay in traffic	Pick one and day-trip the other
Rain week	Neither is a roof over the market	Saturday Walking Street still sits outside

This is not a hotel list. Nights and whether you will sit in a cafe or walk temples at 07:00. Red songthaew vs Grab is a different Chiang Mai question.

Where to stay

11 comments

Kit Rattana

Nimman if you will sit. Old City if you will walk temples at 07:00. Doing both every day is how you meet the same traffic twice.

21d

Ploy

I would pick one. Grab the other. Heat is not a moral failing. It is a reason not to walk the moat twice a day.

21d

Lukas Weber

Sunday Walking Street is Old City energy. Nimman is not that night. Say which nights you have.

21d

James Collingwood

First stay, short: Old City if temples are why you came. Nimman if the laptop is why you came. Both is a longer trip.

21d

Ian Crowe

I am the wrong coast. If you are already in the south, do not add this just to say you did the north.

20d

Rob Ellison

DTV / months: Nimman or a real apartment. Old City as a holiday week. Different clocks.

20d

Mint Saelim

Songthaew vs Grab is Kit’s other Chiang Mai question. Sleep here, ride there.

20d

Dan Okafor

Rain: neither neighbourhood moves the walking street under a roof. Poncho. Ask which night you actually have.

20d

Jordan Blake

I would not rent a scooter to “connect” them. Grab. Licence and helmet are other threads.

20d

Yuki Mori

If I take the train up, I want the bed near what I will do at 07:00, not a cafe I might like at 16:00.

19d

Nora Blake

Wifi is Nimman. Temples are the moat. I would not pretend a cafe in the Old City is the same desk.

19d

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