I've been living in Chiang Mai for 2 years and have figured out the best places to live, neighborhoods to hang out in, places to eat, cell phone providers to use, things to do, coffee shops to work out of and little tips and tricks that would make life easier for someone moving out here. So here it is, my ultimate guide to relocating to Chiang Mai.
In this post I'm going to share what I would do if I had to do it all over again. Where I'd stay, how I'd find an apartment, what visa I'd get, what you should do before you come, and the quickest way to get plugged into the digital nomad scene, make friends and start enjoying the good life. =)
Get your notepad ready, book your plane ticket, and get ready to never want to leave once you arrive.
When to Come to Chiang Mai:
The only time you should NOT come to Chiang Mai is between March 1st - April 12th as the air quality is horrible during the burning season. (check out Koh Lanta or Koh Phangan those months instead)
The best months are November - February as the weather is perfect, the skies are clear and there is plenty to do. However, aside from burning season, I love Chiang Mai year around. Even during rainy season which is May - November I love it here as the rain cools down the air, makes the surrounding mountain and jungles lush and green, and brings all of the tropical fruits you'd expect from Thailand.
Plus it only rains an hour or two a day, and usually during the night, so it's still possible to get a tan laying by the pool from 2-4 in the afternoon while you sit in a coworking space and watch the rain pour for a few hours.
Regardless of what month it is, just book your trip and come sooner than later. If you read my book "12 Weeks in Thailand: The Good Life on the Cheap" you'll see you're not alone when it comes to responsibilities, lack of money, or other excuses.
Which Thailand Visa?
I go into detail about visas in the 12 Weeks Book so definitely give it a read before you make the move out here, but my universal suggestion is to get a double (or if you consulate offers it a triple) entry tourist visa from your home country before you come.
Each entry is valid for 60 days and you're able to extend it for another 30 days without leaving the country which means a double entry tourist visa gives you up to 6 months in Thailand at a time. Most of you will want to go home for a quick visit after that anyways so just get another one when you go home to visit family, for a wedding, or holidays. Or you have the option to check out a neighboring country like Laos, Cambodia, The Philippines, Bali or Borneo.
Tip: Just get a double entry tourist visa before you come.
I hope you like dogs, as Chiang Mai has a ton of friendly pups.
Where to Stay in Chiang Mai:
The most common question I get is where to stay and how to find an apartment in Chiang Mai. The good news is, it's actually a lot easier than you think it's going to be. My universal advice I give to all of my friends that move out here is to get a hotel room for 3 nights to settle in, check out the neighborhood and then find a place in person.
I made a map with the neighborhoods that most digital nomads would find important which is broken down to these main areas:
Nimmanhemin Road:
For most digital nomads I'd stay near PunSpace Nimman, the coworking space, as it's where all of the coffee shops, restaurants, and things to do are. The Nimmanhaemin area is equivalent to the East Village in New York or SOMA in San Francisco. The only people I wouldn't recommend it for is for for people under 22 that want to be closer to the backpacker scene. If you're more into dreadlocks and buckets than coffee and craft beer, then check out the area near Thapae Gate.
There are two malls, three gyms, a cinema, and around 50 restaurants and 40 coffee shops in the Nimman area as well as three co-working spaces, so it's the ideal idea for digital nomads.
Airport Area:
There's not much to do around the Airport aside from a decent mall called Airport Plaza, and a few Muay Thai and MMA Gyms including KC and Team Quest. Further south down that airport main road (Hangdong Road) is a suburb with cheap houses for rent and a few schools that English teachers work at, but almost nothing to do.
Old City District:
This is the main tourist area/backpacker area. It's easy to locate as it's surrounded by a moat and has 4 entrances/exits known as North/South/East/West gates. There's a ton of good food around the South Gate and a great Saturday night market, but aside from that, if you're going to live in the old city, try to stay around the East Gate, also know as Thapae Gate as they have a great Sunday walking street market, and most of the restaurants and bars you'll frequently including the one everyone ends up at sooner or later, Zoe in Yellow Bar.
Santiam District:
Nothing particular to do in this area, but it's close to both Nimman and the Old city, while being a bit cheaper. I honestly wouldn't stay here unless you've been in Chiang Mai for a while and are familiar with the city.
Central Festival Area:
It's super far out, on the super highway and on the over side of the river so we never go there. However I think it's going to be a good neighborhood in the next 2-3 years as more and more expats are moving out there, houses are super cheap, and Central Festival is a really cool mall with everything you need including a movie theater, supermarket, and even an ice skating rink. It's also close to the bus station, StarWork co-working, and if you don't mind driving, in reality it's only 20-35 minutes away.
Tip: If you're moving to Chiang Mai book 3 nights at a place like Nimman Boutique Resort using Agoda and walk around the neighborhood you want once you get here.
Costs of Living in Chiang Mai:
On average you will spend between $600 - $1,500 a month living in Chiang Mai. If you're here for 1 month or less, expect to spend at least $1,000, but it gets cheaper the longer you're here as you'll figure out how to budget. Alcohol also triples your food costs so be aware of going out if you're on a budget. In general most studio apartments, which are more like hotel rooms with a private bathroom but no kitchen will cost you between 5,000-6,500baht a month for something decent.
I've lived in places as cheap as 3,500 baht a month ($110US) but wouldn't recommend it for most people unless you are trying to live as cheap as possible like I did as described in my first book.
1 Bedroom apartments with a small kitchen, living room and private bathroom will usually cost between 13,000-18,000 baht ($400-$600US). You can also rent an entire house for that price but you'll usually be further out of town and won't have amenities like a cleaner, swimming pool, etc. Think of it as living in serviced apartment in Manhattan verses living in a family house in New Jersey.
If you want to know what my current lifestyle is like as a digital nomad living in Chiang Mai and traveling around check out my latest book Life Changes Quick.
My current monthly expenses is as follows:
Rent: 12,000 baht ($375US)
Utilities/Internet/Phone: 2,000 baht ($60US)
Food: 12,000 baht ($375US)
Gym: 1,200 baht ($37US)
CoWorking Space: 3,499 baht ($110US)
Transport: 800 baht ($25US)
Other/Random: 6,000 baht ($200US)
Alcohol: $0
Total Monthly Expenses: $1,182US
Tip: If you sell your car and sublet your apartment back home, you'll have enough to live out here for at least 6 months while you get your business profitable.
My new book available on Amazon as a paperback, PDF or Kindle
Where to CoWork:
As a digital nomad, you'll need a comfortable desk, chair and fast reliable wifi. If you're here for less than a month and just want to sightsee as well as work for a few hours here and there, I'd either go to CAMP which is the coworking/coffee shop on the top floor of Maya Mall or one of the coffee shops on Nimman such as my current favorite Kaweah coffee. You can also drive out to Coffee Monster, but it's a bit out of town.
If you're serious about building your business and want a quiet, comfortable office to work out of, I'd sign up for PunSpace Nimman which is where I spend my days. There's also a new branch at Thapae gate and a bunch of new competitors popping up everywhere but I'm quite happy at the original. It's also the best place to get plugged in and meet other digital nomads. Everyone here is quite friendly and it's normal for everyone to go to lunch together everyday, just show up, introduce yourself to whoever's sitting next to you and ask if they want to grab lunch later and you'll be surprised how quickly you'll meet other nomads.
A group of digital nomads here in Chiang Mai getting burgers
What about Internet Speeds?
In most cases you won't want to work out of your hotel or apartment unless you pay for dedicated internet. Most coffee shops have decent usable internet and it's almost always free but can be unreliable and a bit slow.
The internet at PunSpace Nimman is reliable as they have 3 different providers/routers you can switch back and forth from and at 6mb down/1.5mb up it's perfectly fine for running my dropshipping stores, and posting videos to my blog, but if you need to upload large video files or download anything crazy you can go to CAMP and get the most insane speeds I've seen anywhere in the world.
Tip: If you at CAMP or if your apartment has signal to @AIS_Wifi you can get unlimited super fast wifi for less than 100 baht ($3US) a month by subscribing to them.
At PunSpace Nimman
Other Tips:
What Cell Phone Service to Use:
The nice thing about Thailand is you can get prepaid cell phone plans really easily. Try to unlock your phone before you come so you can just pop in a sim card at the airport and be set. I use True 4G for around $10 a month, but if you're planning on going to CAMP, then you should get AIS.
Where to Work Out:
The nice thing about Chiang Mai is that it's a big enough city where there is a ton to do including Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai, Yoga, Cycling and gym. Here's a blog post I wrote about finding the best gym in Chiang Mai.
What to Bring from Home?
There is pretty much everyday here in Chiang Mai including international groceries, american sized clothes, etc. but there's still somethings better brought from home including, speciality shoes or clothes (northface, luna sandals, size 10.5+ shoes, a BJJ Gi) I'd also bring things that you can easily buy here but are expensive such as sunblock, condoms, deodorant, almond butter, electric shaver, etc) But for normal things like toothpaste, shampoo, face wash, clothes, food, etc you can just buy it here. I have a full list of what I brought to thailand in my guide 12 Weeks in Thailand.
Where to go on Visa Runs?
Most people go to Laos or Kuala Lumpur on visa runs. But I would personally make it a mission not to ever go to the same place twice, that way you make sure you get the most out of your time and get to see a new place whenever you have to leave every 2-3 months.
Visa Run/Vacation to the jungles of Borneo
Where Else to Go?
My favorite thing about living in Chiang Mai is being able to take short trips down to the islands or into the mountains whenever I get bored of being in the city and working. Here are my favorite places to go for a short vacation.
Here are my top 10 places to visit from Chiang Mai:
Weekend trip to Chiang Dao (2.5 hour drive)
Couples weekend in Pai (4 hour drive)
Partying and Diving on Koh Phi Phi (2 hour flight)
Scuba Diving at the Similan Islands (2 hour flight)
Rock Climbing on Railay Beach, Krabi (2 hour flight)
White Sand Beaches of Koh Lanta (2 hour flight + 2 hour taxi)
The old capital of Thailand: Sukhothai (6 hour bus)
Other Islands: Koh Tao, Koh Rong, Koh Phangan (6 hour flight/ferry)
A visa run to Taiwan (3.5 hour flight)
An incredible trip to Borneo (5 hour flight)
Rock Climbing in Krabi, Thailand
How to Make Money?
As a digital nomad in Chiang Mai, your goal is to make enough money so you don't have to go home. My suggestion is if you already have something that is working for you, keep doing it and use your new found time, new ideas from networking with other nomads and freedom to scale up your business so you can make more.
The goal for digital nomads shouldn't be to just get by, our goals should be to make enough so we can also save, travel wherever we want and not just to the closest, cheapest countries. If you don't know where to get started, you can either freelance on places like O-Desk (now Upwork.com), elance, convince your old employer to let you work remotely, or start your own business.
I began my location independent business starting a dropshipping store which is still today my main source of income. You can also learn how to start a blog and make money from affiliate marketing.
Whatever you end up choosing, treat it as a real business and realize that your time is valuable. Make the most of your time in Chiang Mai, it's probably my favorite city in the world and has so much to offer. It's the best place in the world to bootstrap your location independent business, save money, meet other digital nomads, and take a year or two off to figure out what makes you happy, healthy, and where you want your life to take you.
At the Sticky Waterfalls here in Chiang Mai
I've been living in Chiang Mai for a little over two years now and it's been really good to me. I've started my online business from here, met the love of my life, some amazing lifelong friends, and have managed to go from $200 to over $100k in my savings account while living out here by taking advantage of geo arbitrage and the low cost of living.
It was here in Chiang Mai that I met my mentor Anton Kraly, wrote both of my books, started my dropshipping store, learned how to monetize my youtube videos, blog, and websites, and how to eventually start my own training course. I sincerely hope that Chiang Mai treats you just as well, it's truly a magical place and a digital nomads dream come true.
Warm Regards,
Johnny FD
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If you enjoyed this article, make sure you check out the rest of the blog at http://www.JohnnyFD.com and read the new book www.LifeChangesQuick.com