Chiang Mai Night Bazaar

The strip and the plazas off it

Chang Khlan Road stalls · about 17:00–23:00

Nearly a kilometer of street stalls between Tha Phae Road and Sri Donchai Road. Busiest 19:30–21:30; packing up from about 22:30. Bargain here.

Kalare Night Bazaar · about 16:00–23:30

The food court and stage on the east side, with a prepaid coupon card for the food stalls. Being redeveloped as Lannatique, so parts may be fenced off.

Kalare Boxing Stadium · from 21:00

Muay Thai most nights behind the food court.

Anusarn Market · 17:00–23:00

The calmer, partly covered market at the south end, with its own food court and a nightly cabaret.

Turn up at 7pm. That's my advice. The Chiang Mai Night Bazaar isn't one market but a strip, nearly a kilometer of stalls along Chang Khlan Road between Tha Phae Road and Sri Donchai Road, east of the Old City toward the Ping River, with covered plazas opening off both sides. It has run every night since the late 1970s and still does. Stalls set up from 17:00 and most are trading by 18:00, it's busiest from about 19:30 to 21:30, and the street stalls start packing up from around 22:30. An hour before the peak gives you room to walk the length of it before you decide what's worth your money.

And you should walk it first. Dozens of vendors sell the same elephant pants, T-shirts, carvings and silk scarves at very different prices, so the first stall is rarely the one to buy from. A recent guide puts elephant pants and T-shirts at ฿99 to ฿199 once you've bargained at the street stalls, done with a smile. The permanent shops and the food vendors mostly have fixed prices. Keep cash on you for the small stuff.

The plazas are the other half. Kalare Night Bazaar, the food court and stage on the east side of the road, runs from about 16:00 to 23:30, with a prepaid coupon card for the food stalls and traditional dance shows in the evening, and the Kalare Boxing Stadium behind it stages fights from 21:00 most nights. Anusarn Market, at the south end of the strip, is the calmer, partly covered one, with its own food court and a nightly cabaret, and it's worth folding into the same evening. The land around Kalare is being redeveloped as Lannatique, so expect some fenced-off construction and a layout that doesn't match older guides.

The food is the part I'd give proper time to, and it's unusually good for vegetarians by market standards, with fried tofu and mushrooms, samosas and cheese corn alongside the Thai street food, most of it ฿30 to ฿80 a dish. Different sections run different stalls, so eat as you go rather than committing to the first plate.

From Tha Phae Gate it's about 1 km east along Tha Phae Road, a 12 to 15 minute walk. A red songthaew anywhere in town is ฿30 a person, and a Grab from elsewhere in the center runs about ฿80 to ฿180. The market has no website or phone of its own, so just turn up.