Why Chiang Mai, Thailand as an Affordable Luxury Travel Destination?
- You can explore the rich history and culture of northern Thailand.
- There are plenty of affordable luxury accomodations.
- It has excellent cheap gourmet food.
- Chiang Mai a terrific base for side trips in Thailand and all over southeast Asia.
We chose Chiang Mai as an affordable luxury destination after an affordable luxury vacation week in Koh Samui.
After a surprisingly short conversation over morning tea, we chose Chiang Mai over Thai island hopping. We wanted to continue experiencing Amazing Thailand without spending a fortune.
Chiang Mai is a major tourist destination in Thailand for good reason. And it makes every single list of The Best Places for Digital Nomads to to Visit or Live.
It has a fascinating history to explore, great cheap food, a pleasant climate and – best of all – it is affordable.
We were excited to see what Chiang Mai had to offer.
Chiang Mai as an Affordable Luxury Travel Destination
We took a cheap nonstop flight from Koh Samui to Chiang Mai on the upscale boutique Bangkok Airways.
Nimman is the epicenter of Chiang Mai’s bustling ex-pat and digital nomad community.
Average monthly rent for a flat: under $600…under $20 per day!
Even if you pay triple that average that for a truly luxurious apartment – as we did – you are still only paying about $60 per day rather than hundreds of dollars a night at a western hotel.
And for that we lived in a 1 br apartment in the luxurious Kantary Hills Hotel and Serviced Apartments with two swimming pools, a gym, daily maid service and included breakfast.
That’s the very definition of affordable luxury travel!
In addition to seeing the sights we had a lot of fun in Chiang Mai!
We also worked on growing our remote businesses.
And although you might think of Thai food as nothing but rice and noodles, we were easily able to maintain our keto way of eating during our affordable luxury travel to Chiang Mai and all of Thailand!
And even gourmet meals in Chiang Mai won’t cost an arm and a leg.
We ate at David’s Kitchen – a fine dining restaurant which deserves a Michelin star even though it doesn’t have one – and paid just under $100 for the experience. That meal in London or New York would have cost $500 at least.
Affordable luxury!
Side Trips From Chiang Mai
Several affordable luxury side trips are also available from Chiang Mai.
We took a VIP Green Bus to Chiang Rai for 2 days to explore that ancient Lanna capital and all of the temples and sights around it.
We also tried AirAsia’s upscale travel Hot Seat option on a side trip to and from the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur for 2 days.
Bottom Line – Why Chiang Mai is an Affordable Luxury Travel Destination
Chiang Mai is an excellent affordable travel destination.
We lived in affordable luxury accomodations, ate like kings without paying a fortune and took some affordable luxury side trips using Chiang Mai as our base.
Chiang Mai is also full of interesting and lovely people. We made friends and had a wonderful time.
If you are looking for an affordable luxury travel destination Chiang Mai, Thailand should be at or near the top of your list.
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2 comments
Sitting still is definitely not in Lisa’s DNA. Neither of you sit still long… even in the USA so, no surprise that you are already moving on. It will be interesting to see what venue(s) merit longer stays. What portion will be “venue” and what will be “ants in pants”. … lol