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Where to stay in Chiang Mai as Solo Traveler?

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Old Jul 18, 2014, 2:27 am
  #1  
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Where to stay in Chiang Mai as Solo Traveler?

I'm going to be in HKG the first week of September and I decide I'm probably going to take an additional 3-4 days to visit Thailand. I have never been there. I'm going to skip BKK for now and just check out Chiang Mai. Where should I stay as a single traveler who is 30?

I'm more interested in getting a real authentic feel and I love to be surround by culture. Is this a good time to visit and is 3/4 days enough or would I be too rushed.

Thanks
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Old Jul 18, 2014, 7:30 am
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"Authentic" and "culture" are pretty vague terms, IMO. I will say that if you stay in the old city markets and shops where the locals eat/shop aren't too hard to come by (I ate at some near Chiang Mai Gate in the south).

You could easily find a guest house run by locals for $25-30 that is clean and has the basics on booking.com. I also stayed here on a recent trip to Chiang Mai- it was fantastic.
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Old Jul 18, 2014, 12:53 pm
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3-4 days will give you a good introduction. There are so many hotels of all varieties in Chiang Mai. What's your price range?
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Old Jul 18, 2014, 1:08 pm
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I'd like to keep it under $200 a night. I don't mind giving up a 5* hotel if I could live in an inn, get to meet people, locals, etc. I feel sometimes living in a large hotel you miss out on the local feel of the location.

I'm going to be at the Mandarin Oriental in HKG the week prior, so I'm very flexible with options. I searched tripadvisor and such and I see a ton of "B&B" type places that seem pretty neat.
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Old Jul 18, 2014, 2:29 pm
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Originally Posted by honghong322
I feel sometimes living in a large hotel you miss out on the local feel of the location.
Very much so, the breakfast spread complete with corn flakes might as well be back home, as opposed to down-home places like this...
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Old Jul 18, 2014, 4:39 pm
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Originally Posted by honghong322
I'd like to keep it under $200 a night.
That covers about 99.5% of the potential lodging options in Chiang Mai.
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Old Jul 18, 2014, 11:16 pm
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I suggest the Aruntara Hotel in the SE of Chiang Mai. My first trip to Chiang Mai was under similar circumstances and I found this 30 room gem on Trip Advisor. It's set on the banks of the Mae Ping River and is 5 minutes from the Night Market and 10 minutes from Tapae Gate via easily available tuk tuks. Rooms 108-112 are my favorites as they have individual seating areas in the courtyard. The elephant suites upstairs are really cool as well.
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Old Jul 19, 2014, 4:18 pm
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Thanks for the recommendations. I had no clue $200 was more than enough for Chiang Mai. Time to go do some research!
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Old Jul 20, 2014, 3:38 pm
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Originally Posted by honghong322
Thanks for the recommendations. I had no clue $200 was more than enough for Chiang Mai. Time to go do some research!
There's a nice little (8 rooms?) boutique hotel near Chiang Mai gate called Baan Klaang Wiang. If memory serves it's about $80 per night, perhaps less on agoda.

Rather than focusing on yoru age and companionship level you'd be better served indicating if you want a more local experience or be yet another foreign tourist in a hotel/guest house that caters to them.
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Old Jul 20, 2014, 3:51 pm
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I am more interested in the latter, the local experience leverl.
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Old Jul 20, 2014, 6:09 pm
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Although I haven't personally stayed there, Baan Orapin is highly recommended on many other travel sites.
http://www.baanorapin.com
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Old Jul 20, 2014, 7:11 pm
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Originally Posted by honghong322
I'd like to keep it under $200 a night. I don't mind giving up a 5* hotel if I could live in an inn, get to meet people, locals, etc. I feel sometimes living in a large hotel you miss out on the local feel of the location.
Comment makes no sense to me. I suppose if you sit in your hotel room all day you'd be right. But you don't find culture, meet people, locals, etc. sitting in a $20 guest room any more than a $200 hotel room. Where you sleep is pretty much irrelevant to what you do during the day.
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Old Jul 21, 2014, 5:35 am
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Originally Posted by jfh1107
Although I haven't personally stayed there, Baan Orapin is highly recommended on many other travel sites.
http://www.baanorapin.com
Stayed here a few years back. It's a much more "Thai" experience than staying in some random hotel chain, but it's not particularly luxurious either -- no pool, spa, etc. The price is right though, and you could do much worse for a couple of nights.
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Old Jul 21, 2014, 5:54 am
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Originally Posted by jpatokal
Stayed here a few years back. It's a much more "Thai" experience than staying in some random hotel chain, but it's not particularly luxurious either -- no pool, spa, etc. The price is right though, and you could do much worse for a couple of nights.
They seem to have added a pool, if you look at the pictures.
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Old Jul 21, 2014, 9:06 am
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Originally Posted by Tchiowa
Comment makes no sense to me. I suppose if you sit in your hotel room all day you'd be right. But you don't find culture, meet people, locals, etc. sitting in a $20 guest room any more than a $200 hotel room. Where you sleep is pretty much irrelevant to what you do during the day.
Agree, I think during my initial planning phase, I was worried where all the hotels are in proximity to everything. Didn't want to stay in a "bad part of town". I've planned to do a day @ the Elephant Nature Park and then debating on doing the Golden Triangle Tour.. (Chiang Mai/Chiang Rai), then spend the last day exploring Chiang Mai.

The plan may be a bit ambitious and I'm going to heading there in September.. I guess statistically that's when the most rain occurs.
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