Lanna Muay Thai

Lanna Muay Thai, known on its sign and its Google listing as Kiat Busaba, is the most historic of Chiang Mai's gyms that take foreign students, and one of the first in Thailand to do so. It sits on the west side of the city near the university, and it has kept the old model while newer camps around it turned into resorts: a covered ring, a row of bags, Thai trainers who have fought at the Lumpinee level, and students who range from nervous first-timers to fighters preparing for local stadium cards, which the gym still puts its people on.

Training follows the classic two-session day, six days a week, and the gym sells single sessions, weekly and monthly packages, and private hours, with simple rooms available on site for anyone who wants to live at the camp; ask the office for current rates, which the gym posts on its own site and Facebook page. The neighborhood is one of Chiang Mai's most liveable for a long stay, with Nimman's cafés a short ride east and Doi Suthep's foothills for morning runs.