Possible Lampang visit

[Guest siamjourney]

I haven't stayed there in many years. I'm just curious if anyone has visited recently and what they thought. Recommendations on where to stay, eat, etc... are appreciated. There wasn't much to do years ago and maybe that's still the case.

[bangmai]

I had a nice visit in last June. B2 Hotel was fine, but not right in the middle of the action (which doesn't really exists). Walk to the new Central Mall, yawn...walk further to the Black Cowboy Bar, with many kinds of beer, or 80 THB large Tigers for those not willing to grab their ankles on import taxes. A nightcap or three by a Karaoke Bar, on the main Road, about 700 meters N of the Hotel, but I'm not sure because a Thai lady gave me a lift home. Can easily see and walk to B2 from Bus Station.......yes, worth visiting, but I think Phayao has a bit more to offer...mainly the beautiful lake that no one swims in.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

I think Lampang is my least favorite province in the North. I'd rather go just about anywhere else, in my personal order of preference:

1. Other Places in Chiang Mai Province

2. Pai and Mae Hong Son

3. Phrae

4. Chiang Rai

5. Nan

6. Phayao

7. Lamphun

8. Are we really out of provinces.. maybe I'll visit Pai again.

9. Tak (Mae Sod).. is this considered North.. not really but at least it's not Lampang

10. Stay home and play Candy Crush or watch Game of Thrones again.

11. Shopping with the Mrs.

12. Watch DVDs of all of Prayuth's speeches.

13. Lampang.

Edited January 4, 2016 by WinnieTheKhwai

[stoneyboy]

I think Lampang is my least favorite province in the North. I'd rather go just about anywhere else, in my personal order of preference:

1. Other Places in Chiang Mai Province

2. Pai and Mae Hong Son

3. Phrae

4. Chiang Rai

5. Nan

6. Phayao

7. Lamphun

8. Are we really out of provinces.. maybe I'll visit Pai again.

9. Tak.. is this considered North.. not really but at least it's not Lampang

10. Stay home and play Candy Crush.

11. Lampang.

I'd rather stick hot needles in my eyes than go there again,terribly terribly boring part of Thailand.

[Guest siamjourney]

I went to Phayao years ago but didn't like any of the guest houses so I gave up and drove to Chiang Rai. Any new places to stay there these days?

Also, any newer choices in Phrae for guest houses? There was Doi Farang years back but I'm not sure if it's still there.

I've been to Pai and Chiang Rai too many times and am looking for something different in the area within three hours.

[jobin]

Only 20 mins from downtown Lampang lies the fabulous EGAT MaeMoh golf course. That alone makes the journey to Lampang worth the effort. And fortunately the golf green fee is tiny indeed.

[curtklay]

If you like the night market type of thing, they have a pretty interesting weekend walking street. Stay at the Riverside Guest House, and you'll be right in front of it, and your room will be facing the river. About an hour north is Chae San National Park; very scenic waterfalls, hot springs, etc. In town, there is Central Mall, Big C, Tesco, and all that. You can take a horse and buggy ride to tour the town.

Sure, it's not Disneyland, but you can spend a pleasant day or two if you do a little googling in advance.

[Sparkles]

I went to Phayao years ago but didn't like any of the guest houses so I gave up and drove to Chiang Rai. Any new places to stay there these days?

Also, any newer choices in Phrae for guest houses? There was Doi Farang years back but I'm not sure if it's still there.

I've been to Pai and Chiang Rai too many times and am looking for something different in the area within three hours.

Phayao has to be our favourite close by place eto visit especialy in the hot season when the breeze is coming off the huge lake.

"Cosy Nest" is a very nice little GH/Mini Hotel probably only a couple of years oold,just up a quiet soi and 2 mins walk to the lake.

Check any of the travel sites and you will see good reviews.A few OK restaurants on the lake road make it a nice 1-2 day stay.

In fact we nearly setled in Phayao 8 years ago, good land was half the price of CM, its just there was no infrastruture hospitals ,shopping etc.

I would think thats all going to change very quickly now CM is becoming a mini Bangkok.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

I've been to Pai and Chiang Rai too many times and am looking for something different in the area within three hours.

Phrao, Chiang Dao, Om Koi, Wiang Haeng? (General area around those places)

[elektrified]

Lampang has to be the most boring place in all of Thailand. Even Lamphun has more to offer. Phayao is quite boring as well. Chiang Dao is quite nice, especially if you stay at the Nest 1. They have beautiful, clean cabins, a nice little swimming pool surrounded by nature, and an incredible European gourmet restaurant. The food there is fantastic. The Thai food served at Nest 2 which is a short walk from Nest 1 is gourmet Thai food. Some great hikes in the area. Just got back from Chiang Rai......haven't missed anything in the last 5 years.....still boring and over-run with Chinese.

[Sparkles]

Lampang has to be the most boring place in all of Thailand. Even Lamphun has more to offer. Phayao is quite boring as well. Chiang Dao is quite nice, especially if you stay at the Nest 1. They have beautiful, clean cabins, a nice little swimming pool surrounded by nature, and an incredible European gourmet restaurant. The food there is fantastic. The Thai food served at Nest 2 which is a short walk from Nest 1 is gourmet Thai food. Some great hikes in the area. Just got back from Chiang Rai......haven't missed anything in the last 5 years.....still boring and over-run with Chinese.

Meant to say Phayao is one of our favourite, close by places. Chiang Dao still tops the list.Best to coincide the visit with the weekly street market which has been mentioned many times.

Chiang Dao has been tipped by many as the next Pai.Certainly hope not.

[Trujillo]

7. Lamphun

Huh? What on earth is there to do?

Riverside Guest House in Lampang: Warning! The walls are single shared planks of wood and there is NO sound insulation at all. Otherwise a nice place, but if you are next to someone who snores or people who want to chat late into the night, expect to hear EVERYTHING. No joke.

[BKResort]

The Lampang River Lodge www.lampangriverlodge.com is a wonderful place to retreat very close to Lampang at least for one day...and is on the way to the Lampang Luan Temple, a very unique landmark. Temples in Lampang are very interesting if you like the older and rare ones. On the main street parallel to the river there are many good restaurants, one of them famous for fish food. The Riverside restaurant is a meeting place ,very busy on weekends, when the market by the river is on. The road to Phayao is very picturesque and the Phayao Lake a nicest spot on the city. There are small boutique hotels, nice restaurants, and busy bars facing the lake. The Wim Motel close to the bus station have very nice rooms for about $600. The biggest "luxury" hotel there is the Gateway on the same area. More 45 minutes and you are in Chiang Rai to visite the White Temple on the way, the Black House Park in Bandu, and the Doi Tung Royal Home on the way to Mae Sai.

In downtown Chiang Rai the Powadon Resort is a nice one with a nice lunch buffet every day, the Pule Restaurant on the city and by the river, the Krua Silapa Art Gallery and Restaurant cross street of Makro in Bandu, and many resorts in the way to Mae Sai.

[Bredbury Blue]

Only 20 mins from downtown Lampang lies the fabulous EGAT MaeMoh golf course. That alone makes the journey to Lampang worth the effort. And fortunately the golf green fee is tiny indeed.

Enjoy it while you can

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/799539-mae-moh/

[bangmai]

It cost 6500 to play the RTAF Golf Course in Chiang Rai....for a year...lol. World Class Hamburgers was finally put out of its misery, though, boohoohoo.

[NeverSure]

I think Lampang is my least favorite province in the North. I'd rather go just about anywhere else, in my personal order of preference:

1. Other Places in Chiang Mai Province

2. Pai and Mae Hong Son

3. Phrae

4. Chiang Rai

5. Nan

6. Phayao

7. Lamphun

8. Are we really out of provinces.. maybe I'll visit Pai again.

9. Tak (Mae Sod).. is this considered North.. not really but at least it's not Lampang

10. Stay home and play Candy Crush or watch Game of Thrones again.

11. Shopping with the Mrs.

12. Watch DVDs of all of Prayuth's speeches.

13. Lampang.

You forgot "having a tooth pulled".

[bangmai]

One question though, over the years, how many really good lookers have you met from Lampang? and compare that to Nan or Phrae.....case closed.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

7. Lamphun

Huh? What on earth is there to do?

Nothing. Couple temples on hills here and there, plus the big one in town.

But it's a province in the North so I thought I'd include it for completeness.

Also it takes less time to get back to Chiang Mai from there so it ranks higher than Lampang.

[connda]

I think Lampang is my least favorite province in the North. I'd rather go just about anywhere else, in my personal order of preference:

1. Other Places in Chiang Mai Province

2. Pai and Mae Hong Son

3. Phrae

4. Chiang Rai

5. Nan

6. Phayao

7. Lamphun

8. Are we really out of provinces.. maybe I'll visit Pai again.

9. Tak.. is this considered North.. not really but at least it's not Lampang

10. Stay home and play Candy Crush.

11. Lampang.

I'd rather stick hot needles in my eyes than go there again,terribly terribly boring part of Thailand.

We took the train from the Doi Khun Tan station to Lampang a few years back. Train ride was nice. Lampang? Boring!

[kjhbigv]

One question though, over the years, how many really good lookers have you met from Lampang? and compare that to Nan or Phrae.....case closed.

One! My wife!

I go to Lampang every few weeks. It's a bit like Tak or somewhere, not much to do but they have a Central, they have the horse and carts....not much....but then again it's not a tourist destination....rare to see a Falang in town and nothing really to cater for them!

Edited January 6, 2016 by kjhbigv

[dru2]

By the time you've read all these replies you could have gone there, looked around, formed your own opinion and come back - it's only an hour away.

[rawhod]

Last year, my wife's s sister wanted to ride on the train, which she had never done before. So on Sunday 8 November the four of us traveled on the train from Chiang Mai to Lampang.

We took the 08:50 from Chiang Mai which cost 50 baht per person, arriving Lampang at 10:30.

We took a Songthaew from Lampang station into the city where the hoses drawn carriages started. The short city tour in the carriage was 300 baht per carriage.

It was quite novel travelling horse drawn.

After the tour, we ate at a salon near the horse and carriage station before returning to the railway station in the Songthaew. The driver was "so busy" that he had waited for us to return from the tour, to take us back to the railway station.

We returned to Chiang Mai on the 12:36 train, which was free for Thai people, but 35 baht for me. Arriving back to Chiang Mai for 14:35 hrs.

Altogether a pleasant 6 hours travelling.

[elektrified]

The only thing I liked in Lampang was the old house in rawhod's picture #4. Been there twice. Otherwise, a terrible boring place.

[northernjohn]

I think Lampang is my least favorite province in the North. I'd rather go just about anywhere else, in my personal order of preference:

1. Other Places in Chiang Mai Province

2. Pai and Mae Hong Son

3. Phrae

4. Chiang Rai

5. Nan

6. Phayao

7. Lamphun

8. Are we really out of provinces.. maybe I'll visit Pai again.

9. Tak.. is this considered North.. not really but at least it's not Lampang

10. Stay home and play Candy Crush.

11. Lampang.

I'd rather stick hot needles in my eyes than go there again,terribly terribly boring part of Thailand.

Been a while since I was there. I was having a hard time trying to figure out where all the foreigners were. Seemed to me there was an awful lot of places with English names for the amount of foreigners I saw.

[bangmai]

Lovely, Lampang beer promo lass.

[just_Elaine]

Sorry, no help on lodging or food from me either since we went there on a day trip from Chiang Mai. We made the trip there several years ago to find ceramics. We found some because we had a Thai person with us. It is a beautiful pot and I am happy we made the trip. If I find a picture of it, I will post it.

[ARISTIDE]

Lampang could be a boring place but a good place to find a good looking girl with fair skin -Chinese descended type (but may be most farangs prefer dark skin lady who cares)

I think Lampang is my least favorite province in the North. I'd rather go just about anywhere else, in my personal order of preference:

1. Other Places in Chiang Mai Province

2. Pai and Mae Hong Son

3. Phrae

4. Chiang Rai

5. Nan

6. Phayao

7. Lamphun

8. Are we really out of provinces.. maybe I'll visit Pai again.

9. Tak (Mae Sod).. is this considered North.. not really but at least it's not Lampang

10. Stay home and play Candy Crush or watch Game of Thrones again.

11. Shopping with the Mrs.

12. Watch DVDs of all of Prayuth's speeches.

13. Lampang.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

I think Lampang is my least favorite province in the North. I'd rather go just about anywhere else, in my personal order of preference:

1. Other Places in Chiang Mai Province

2. Pai and Mae Hong Son

3. Phrae

4. Chiang Rai

5. Nan

6. Phayao

7. Lamphun

8. Are we really out of provinces.. maybe I'll visit Pai again.

9. Tak (Mae Sod).. is this considered North.. not really but at least it's not Lampang

10. Stay home and play Candy Crush or watch Game of Thrones again.

11. Shopping with the Mrs.

12. Watch DVDs of all of Prayuth's speeches.

13. Lampang.

Lampang could be a boring place but a good place to find a good looking girl with fair skin -Chinese descended type (but may be most farangs prefer dark skin lady who cares)

All the pretty ones go to Bangkok or Chiang Mai anyway. Plus it's a bigger pond there.

[jko]

The Lampang River Lodge www.lampangriverlodge.com is a wonderful place to retreat very close to Lampang at least for one day...and is on the way to the Lampang Luan Temple, a very unique landmark. Temples in Lampang are very interesting if you like the older and rare ones. On the main street parallel to the river there are many good restaurants, one of them famous for fish food. The Riverside restaurant is a meeting place ,very busy on weekends, when the market by the river is on. The road to Phayao is very picturesque and the Phayao Lake a nicest spot on the city. There are small boutique hotels, nice restaurants, and busy bars facing the lake. The Wim Motel close to the bus station have very nice rooms for about $600. The biggest "luxury" hotel there is the Gateway on the same area. More 45 minutes and you are in Chiang Rai to visite the White Temple on the way, the Black House Park in Bandu, and the Doi Tung Royal Home on the way to Mae Sai.

In downtown Chiang Rai the Powadon Resort is a nice one with a nice lunch buffet every day, the Pule Restaurant on the city and by the river, the Krua Silapa Art Gallery and Restaurant cross street of Makro in Bandu, and many resorts in the way to Mae Sai.

Yes - stayed at Lampang River Lodge a few months ago - it is quite unique. Long established hotel, dates back a good few years. Has some really spectacular old trees in the grounds which soar to great heights, and alone are worth seeing. Lovely river views from the elevated breakfast terrace - you could sit there all day! Picturesque lotus lake at entrance. Rooms adequate, staff friendly. Takes some tour groups, but they were very well behaved and mostly out all day, so you are likely to have the place to yourself.

This belongs to the same owners as the Hmong Lodge in Mae Rim, which is another place worth visiting, and not well known by resident expats. It's high up in the hills, about 45 mins from Chiang Mai, and a super place in April to escape the heat down below.

[MESmith]

The Lampang River Lodge www.lampangriverlodge.com is a wonderful place to retreat very close to Lampang at least for one day...and is on the way to the Lampang Luan Temple, a very unique landmark. Temples in Lampang are very interesting if you like the older and rare ones. On the main street parallel to the river there are many good restaurants, one of them famous for fish food. The Riverside restaurant is a meeting place ,very busy on weekends, when the market by the river is on. The road to Phayao is very picturesque and the Phayao Lake a nicest spot on the city. There are small boutique hotels, nice restaurants, and busy bars facing the lake. The Wim Motel close to the bus station have very nice rooms for about $600. The biggest "luxury" hotel there is the Gateway on the same area. More 45 minutes and you are in Chiang Rai to visite the White Temple on the way, the Black House Park in Bandu, and the Doi Tung Royal Home on the way to Mae Sai.

In downtown Chiang Rai the Powadon Resort is a nice one with a nice lunch buffet every day, the Pule Restaurant on the city and by the river, the Krua Silapa Art Gallery and Restaurant cross street of Makro in Bandu, and many resorts in the way to Mae Sai.

Yes - stayed at Lampang River Lodge a few months ago - it is quite unique. Long established hotel, dates back a good few years. Has some really spectacular old trees in the grounds which soar to great heights, and alone are worth seeing. Lovely river views from the elevated breakfast terrace - you could sit there all day! Picturesque lotus lake at entrance. Rooms adequate, staff friendly. Takes some tour groups, but they were very well behaved and mostly out all day, so you are likely to have the place to yourself.

This belongs to the same owners as the Hmong Lodge in Mae Rim, which is another place worth visiting, and not well known by resident expats. It's high up in the hills, about 45 mins from Chiang Mai, and a super place in April to escape the heat down below.

I think the Hmong Lodge is well known by CM expats

But we go elsewhere