Before the trip, we spent a lot of time online and asking around trying to find out more information on how to find a room to rent in Chiang Mai but struggled to find actually useful information. So we booked a pretty nice hotel at $20 a night for a few nights so we can have a look around. Once we got here, we were able to find an apartment for rent in an afternoon!! Hopefully, our apartment rental experience will help you out!
How do you find an apartment in Chiang Mai?
Do I have to speak Thai?
We heard that you can just wander around areas you want to live in and go into apartment building and ask the staff in the ground floor office if they rent out monthly. That sounded kind of bizarre, but it turns out this is true!
We had no idea where to start, but we rented a bicycle for 50 baht a day and just cycled around town. We ended up in a random area a few minutes cycle from the north of the Old City. We saw some nice apartment buildings with a name in English on the outside and just walked in and asked if they rent out monthly (they do!). They don't all have signs advertising monthly rentals — the names are likely to be ___ Mansion, ___ Residence, ___ Place, or ___ Apartments. The 3 buildings we checked out all had staff who spoke some English. This is the room we decided on — it's a 15-minute walk north of the Old City ( location ■ ) :
The apartment we chose, Wipanan, is basically a serviced apartment, a hotel room rented out by the month, that they clean once a week. Ours is nothing fancy but quite comfortable, with a secured entrance in the lobby (have to scan to get in) with English/Japanese/Chinese-speaking staff available and a rental contract written in English. There's a small shop in the lobby, along with a TV and an indoor/outdoor sitting area. Coin-operated washing machines at 30 baht a load are right outside. There's a water refill machine a few steps away, a 7-11 and a local market (SiriWattana Market) across the main street, some local eateries around (by Wat Ku Tao : ♦ map ) and a Tops Market (supermarket : 8 am - 9:30 pm)a couple of blocks away. Aside from the somewhat inconsistent internet connection and other guests smoking on the balcony polluting the air with the stench of cigarette smoke, it's been a pretty pleasant stay!
Altogether, with utilities, we paid 7140 baht for the month (* without using the air conditioner, we paid 440 baht for 1 month of electricity — it was always nice and cool in our room in January/February).
Altogether, with utilities, we paid 7140 baht for the month (* without using the air conditioner, we paid 440 baht for 1 month of electricity — it was always nice and cool in our room in January/February).
How much is it to rent an apartment in Chiang Mai?
How are the apartments?
We were looking at just rooms with a private bathroom. Here's what we came across :
| Monthly Rent | Extra Utilities | Deposit | ||
| Wipanan Mansion
( reviews ) |
฿ 6000 | + wifi ฿ 300 + TV ฿ 100 + cleaning ฿ 200 + water ฿ 100 + electricity* |
฿ 5000 | Furnished room with bedding in a more dated building. Rent includes weekly cleaning. Some rooms only have wired internet. Front desk staff was extremely helpful. You can rent a room here for ฿ 500 a day. This is the one we decided on shown in the photos above! |
| Thanasiri Place | ฿ 7000 - 9000 | + wifi ฿ 300 + water & electricity |
฿ 15,000 | Very nice and new furnished room with no bedding. It's ฿ 5300 per month if you rent for 6+ months. |
| Viangbua Mansion
( reviews ) |
฿ 12000 | not sure | not sure | Very luxurious-looking serviced apartment. If you want a kitchen, it's ฿ 22000 for a suite. |
While walking around, we also saw apartment rental ads advertising rooms for rent for just ฿ 4000 a month. Another serviced apartment that we saw advertised around the city is Smith Residence ( reviews ) . There are lots of other options! Shop around. Take a look at the room and ask about hidden costs before you commit. It's not difficult at all to find an inexpensive but nice place to live, somewhere just as nice as a hotel but cheaper!
