Mid-range · 6-hour walk · Chiang Mai
Doi Suthep and Nimman in six hours
The gilded temple on Doi Suthep, the forest monastery of Wat Umong, the white chedis of Wat Suan Dok and the cafés of Nimman.
The temple on Doi Suthep looks down on the city from a thousand metres up, and it is the one Chiang Mai's people climb to. Take a red songthaew up, then come down to the west side of town, where two of the oldest monasteries sit between the university and the café streets of Nimmanhaemin.
The route, stop by stop
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Wat Phra That Doi Suthep
A golden chedi at the top of a staircase of some three hundred steps flanked by nagas. On a clear morning the whole city is laid out below.
90 min here Walk here → -
Wat Umong
Arrive by taxi from the previous stop
A forest monastery from the 13th century, with tunnels dug under its chedi for meditation and trees hung with proverbs.
40 min here Walk here → -
Wat Suan Dok
Its white chedis hold the ashes of the Chiang Mai royal family, around a large chedi built for a relic of the Buddha.
25 min here Walk here → -
Nimmanhaemin Road
The university district's street of cafés, bars and design shops, with numbered lanes running off it.
45 min here Walk here →
More walks in Chiang Mai
More in Chiang Mai
Every walking route in Chiang Mai, the full Chiang Mai guide for where to stay and what a day costs, or walks in other cities.