Doi Suthep is a 1676-meter mountain 15 km west of the
Old City. The golden 14th century temple up top,
Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, is a must-see. You can either take a windy
45-minute 60-baht songthaew (pickup truck taxi) ride up or hike up. It's
30 baht to enter for non-Thais.
If you decide to hike up, I would suggest that you
wear shoes, not flip flops. Also, bring
a liter of water to drink. It's no walk in the park but not too difficult either. From the West Gate, it's an
1-hour walk to the start of the trail. It took us another
2 hours to slowly hike up the trail to
Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, including frequent breaks. If you're quite fit, you could probably do it in half the time.
|
Directions
: time estimate = walking slowly
|
|
Once you exit the West Gate of the Old City, walk straight west on Suthep Road for 50 minutes. You may want to cycle or take a taxi here instead, since this part is just walking on the side of a busy street.
|
|
The 7-11 on your left is probably the last place for you to buy some water and snacks before you start your hike.
|
|
At the end of the road, you will see some signs, choose the road on the right, towards Chiang Mai Zoo.
|
|
After a few minutes, you will see a fork in the road. Choose the road on the left that goes uphill. Follow this road.
|
|
After another couple of minutes, you will see a sign for Chiang Mai Zoo. DO NOT take that road. Keep on going straight.
|
|
Walk for another 5 minutes until you see another fork. Choose the one on the left. This is the start of the trail!
|
|
|
|
After 3 minutes of walking, you will see a fork in the road. Choose the path on the left. Follow the red/orange/yellow ties on tree trunks.
|
|
|
After 30 minutes of hiking, you will come to an amazing temple next to a waterfall!
We had a picnic by the water for half an hour.
|
|
|
|
After the temple/waterfall, keep on going up for 3 minutes until you hit the main road. It's pretty steep!
|
|
The trail ends and you see the main road. Go left up the road.
|
|
After a minute or two, the road curves to the left. There are 2 trails on your right just before the curve. Take the first trail on your right.
|
|
|
|
After 30 minutes of slow ascent, you should see a traffic cone—don't go there. .
|
|
Instead, cross the stream to your left
|
|
Another 20-25 minutes straight up. Who said it was easy?
|
|
The trail ends! Follow the road up (right) for just 5-10 minutes, and you will see lots of shops and taxis.... and many lazy people who took the taxi up! Congratulations! You'll soon see the entrance to the Wat Phra That Doi Suthep!
|
You will probably spend
an hour at
Wat Phra That Doi Suthep. Here's the pricelist for taxi/songthaew (pickup truck taxi) on a windy road back to Chiang Mai :
