Bhubing Palace

Come for the gardens and treat everything else as a bonus. This is the royal family's winter residence up in the hills above Chiang Mai, and what's open to the public is the grounds, a big rose garden, greenhouses full of rare Thai plants, and a reservoir with unusual aeration devices doing their thing. The palace buildings themselves are often closed, and plenty of areas inside are permanently off limits. If you arrive expecting to tour a palace, you'll leave disappointed. If you like walking slowly through well-kept planting, you'll have a good couple of hours.

The altitude does you a favor. It's noticeably cooler up here than in the city, which makes the long walks between sections much more pleasant than they'd be down on the flat. A weekday afternoon tends to be quiet. Entry is 50 baht for adults, and modest dress covering shoulders and knees is expected, as at any royal site.