How To Get To Doi Suthep?

[dennis23]

Dear all,

I'll be arriving in CM on 3rd Nov and need to find out how to get to Doi Suthep......I've heard it involves taking a Songthaew to University and then changing to another one up? So where can I take the first one? And how long does it take?

Thanks!

[john b good]

Dear all,

I'll be arriving in CM on 3rd Nov and need to find out how to get to Doi Suthep......I've heard it involves taking a Songthaew to University and then changing to another one up? So where can I take the first one? And how long does it take?

Thanks!

Take any songtaew from the city to just past CMU and then transfer to one going up the hill.

You might find one in the city that will take you all the way but if there is only one or two passengers it will be more expensive.

[PeaceBlondie]

If you start in front of Central Kad Kaew shopping center on Huay Kaew Road, there are songtaews that could take you at least to the zoo.

[Rasseru]

......I've heard it involves taking a Songthaew to University and then changing to another one up?

Another method is just to rent a scooter and ride it up the hill, like I happened to do yesterday.

[chanchao]

> I've heard it involves taking a Songthaew to University and then

> changing to another one up?

Yes. Unless you drive yourself of course. Driving yourself is nicer because you get to stop at the waterfalls / streams along the way, and continue pretty far up the mountain / national park PAST the temple.

> So where can I take the first one?

Anywhere. It helps if you catch one roughly in the direction towards Huay Kaew Road. If you have trouble finding one all the way to CMU ("Na Maw Chaw") for a reasonable fare (15 baht, or 30 baht even) then you could divide up the trip by grabbing one to Central ("Centran") first, then catch one further up Huay Kaew to CMU from there.

> And how long does it take?

I guess 10-15 minutes to CMU, then another 15 or so to the temple.

Cheers,

Chanchao

[huppe]

It's very nice trip to go with motorbike (scooter), 100-120b/day, easy to go also. About half a day trip if you go also to Hmong-village. Reserve warm clothes to with you, it's cold up there, even if there was 39C at CM Town

[chanchao]

If you do go to a Hmong village, may I suggest to make it the one that's a bit further away than the 'tourist village which is the first one you get to.

If you continue on up the mountain past the temple then you get to the turn-off to the Royal Palace; keep going up, the road gets much narrower there. Then you get to a souvenir market with a tiny roundabout. Nothing too interesting, same stuff you see at the night bazar, so just keep going.

Then you get to a 2 way split: Left and down goes to the Very Touristy Village. Right and up continues on up, past a nice viewpoint, and a turnoff to the right to an old ruin of a pagoda / small temple; worth a look. Then continue further up to where the (usually closed) road to the summit of Doi Pui is. It's closed to vehicles but I think you can walk. If you don't go to the summit but keep going then the road turns into a dirt road, going down, mostly, to a second Hmong village. (A right turn)

That's actually a three way split: Right to the village, left to a big Royal Project thingy (and a tough road across the mountain that ends up near Mae Sa Valley). Going straight (sort of) is a more motorable road that passes orchards and ends up at Huay Tueng Thao lake, where you can sit on a raft and drink Sang Som. (well deserved if you do all that).

So, a trip to Doi Suthep can be a 1-2 hour thingy up to the temple and back, or you can almost spend a whole day, which would be worth it.

It's actually amazing to think how close you still are to town.. Even that second hill village which is pretty remote is still officially in "Muang" (city) district!!

Cheers,

Chanchao

[meadish_sweetball]

It's closed to vehicles but I think you can walk.

It is a nice walk too, but make sure you have 1 hour + if you want to walk all the way to the summit (perhaps even 2 if you're not in shape).

[chanchao]

LOL, thanks that's good to know. I did venture on to that road, but when the summit didn't materialize after 5 minutes, we went back.

Is there a view or anything?

[huppe]

Video from ride to suthep:

http://kotiweb.kotiportti.fi/huppe/filez/chiangmai.mpg