I love being in towns like Lampang, totally off the beaten path, free of tourist crowds, never mentioned in international travel magazines, places where I don’t have to tell anyone “I’m a traveler, not a tourist” because otherwise why would I even be there and — wait, what’s that? You’re telling me there was a New York Times article about Lampang published right before I went? Ah hell. Nevertheless, my point remains!
Lampang is a small town hardly 90 minutes from Chiang Mai that doesn’t get a ton of foreign tourists, but I really loved it and found it to be both worthwhile to visit as a tourist for a few days and nice enough to live in for a longer period of time. If you want to experience northern Thai culture in a laid back, non-touristy place that is inexpensive and full of old world charm but is still modern and well developed and with a lot of nature stuff nearby, this is maybe the best place to do it! And of course there is great food, too. I’d rank it among my favorite places in Thailand, and consequently anywhere.
In May 2024 we spent nine days staying at Baan Mali homestay in a village about 15-20 minutes away by car from Lampang. We probably went into the city five of those days and just chilled in the village or went to places outside of the city the other four days. We got the best of both worlds, getting to experience the village life while being a hop and a skip away from the town.
I had a great time at our homestay, which is clean and comfortable and has AC. It’s in a quiet village with tons of cows and open fields, and you get the feel of being part of a community where everybody knows each other. The host Ja took good care of us. She makes and teaches you Thai breakfasts, and you can either cook lunch/dinner yourself or get simple, very cheap food delivered from a woman with a small restaurant a few minutes away. There’s also an awesome woman who helps out at the homestay who knows how to cook all sorts of local dishes (wild mushrooms with chili pastes!) and is happy sharing her culture, very enthusiastically inviting us to a temple festival which was really awesome (live local music and comedy routines!). There’s an early morning market nearby that is pretty amazing, full of interesting local produce including, at least in the rainy season, an extraordinary array of wild mushrooms. And as no other guests were there, Ja was happy to drive us around for just the cost of fuel, dropping us in the city, showing us some nearby temples, and even taking us to a great national park with hot springs (but do not expect the same special treatment in a busier season). Grab worked well within the city but I’m not sure about out here.
Lampang isn’t a place you go to for major attractions, though it does have one (a temple, which I’ll get to later). The appeal for me was the town itself, quaint and charming, generally quiet, with pretty old neighborhoods to walk around and great markets to visit. I would never take a horse carriage ride, which I find to be kind of cruel, but that the horse carriage is a symbol of the city and a typical tourist activity is very fitting. It’s a horse carriage kind of town. (According to the museum, the horse carriages were once driven by Pathans from India, some of whom settled here.)
I also enjoyed learning about the history. There are layers to its history that relate to different sights and neighborhoods that all have their own feel. There is the early conch-shaped walled city era when it was part of the Hariphunchai kingdom (8th to 13th century, ruled from the capital in Lamphun), and after that it became part of the Lanna kingdom (ruled from the capital in Chiang Mai and later came under Siam). You can still see some of the walls and many temples from these eras, but overall this was too abstract for me to relate to as an outsider without a great understanding of the history. Still, I enjoyed visiting the many temples from this period, with a few that particularly stood out.
More concrete for me was the 19th and early 20th century history when it started to see new wealth and a diverse population from the teak trade. British and other European “teakwallahs” came to take advantage of the abundant teakwood (the British population grew so large that there was a consulate), bringing along their Burmese logging experts after the South Asian teakwood supply began to dwindle. Many Burmese got rich in Lampang and built stunning temples in an attempt to appease the gods of the forests whose destruction they contributed to. This era is responsible for the beautiful wooden houses that give the city its charm. American missionaries also came, of course Chinese merchants came, and it has the feel of a cute colonial town. You get this in other parts of Thailand, but I felt it more here because it was more concentrated and better preserved and showcased.
Thailand has so many western expats and tourists today, but I wonder how many places had more westerners in them around a century ago than today? Lampang seems like a likely candidate. Is it the only one? Lampang was also an important Japanese military stronghold in WW2, and apparently later became a lawless, crime riddled place during the opium trade era. I want to see some movies set in Lampang.
The prettiest neighborhoods are near the river. North of the river are quiet and very green residential areas with great old teak homes and a few specific points of interest to check out. The Louis T. Leonowens Mansion isn’t especially well set up as a museum, but it was great to see and for me was a good introduction to the history of logging companies in the region and to the story of the very famous family, which I previously knew little about (see Louis’ and his mother Anna’s wikipedia page for more).
Nearby is Baan Sao Nak, a beautiful home that was once a museum but when I went was fully closed, though you still get good views from the outside. There are many other nice houses to see around there, plus some nice temples, and it’s worth spending a half hour or so taking a lazy stroll through those lanes… if the weather is nice. I got lucky with a cloudy day. Though it’s not a very commercial neighborhood, there are some shops, cafes, and small restaurants scattered around.
In this area is also the Lampang Cultural Street Market which happens on Friday nights. I regrettably didn’t make it here, and it’s said to be smaller than the great market that happens on Saturday and Sunday (which I’ll get to shortly), but I did walk down part of that road when the market wasn’t happening and it was pretty, and there was a very cool gateway to a now destroyed 500 year old temple.
On the south side of the river is where the Saturday and Sunday night Kad Kongta Night Market happens, and it’s a lovely market. One of my favorites in Thailand, perhaps less for the offerings than for the laid back vibe and the charming setting, which you can experience whether the market is happening or not. This is the top place to visit in the city, market or no market. It is the old market district where people would come by boat to sell their wares, before the railway station opened up and the city’s centerpoint shifted. The street is full of cute old houses, many of them made into cafes, shops and restaurants. The commercialization didn’t feel overdone and it remains quite charming. Some notable places we went include Papacraft (I don’t understand these things but it’s a crafts shop that my wife loved and bought some stuff from), and the Moung Ngwe Zin Building, said to be one of Thailand’s most beautiful “ginger bread houses” and now home to a cute cafe, but you can just go and walk around without any particular place in mind. The parallel streets are nice too. The big bridge you’ll see was once the longest in Thailand.
You should also walk along the riverfront, which is really great at sunset.
As the town expanded after the pretty railway station opened (at the time the northernmost station in Thailand), the Kao Chao Market came up next to the station. It’s a great market! Get there early in the morning. Next to the station you can see a black bridge for the railway track, painted during WW2 so it wouldn’t be bombed by the allies when the Japanese took over the city (the big bridge near the weekend night market was painted in camouflage, but they repainted it white).
Other than some temples, which I highly recommend and will get to in a bit, those are the highlights. Beyond that, there are some cute old buildings scattered around town, and Chinese heavy commercial districts which I enjoyed, but those are fairly typical for Thailand. Another building of note is Baan Phraya Suren by Madame Musur, a very cute old governor’s mansion with a nice garden that is now a restaurant and cafe (as a vegetarian I can’t judge the food much, but the cafe was cute and nice to work from). Worth checking out. There’s a pretty house museum called Ban Pong Nak but I never made it there.
There are two different Lampang museums. I didn’t have time to go to Museum Lampang, which seems more focused on the broader region and archeological findings, but I did go to Bhumi Lakhon Museum, which was small, fun, and informative (and I think free). Usually museums have too much information for me to process while walking around in a crowded space (I’d prefer to read a book) or are too basic to be interesting, but this was a good balance. It brought the history of the city to life for me, and there was a lot of information that I didn’t find online. Recommended!
I also recommend the Dhanabadee Ceramic Museum, if you are interested. Lampang is known for ceramics, due to the material found in the region, and Dhanabadee is the brand that started it all and gave the city its famous chicken bowls that are charmingly used as public art installations throughout the city.
(Chickens are a symbol of the city because of a legend involving Indra disguising himself as a rooster to wake people up so they can feed Buddha when he passes through town, but the chicken bowls are a typical Chinese thing that the company brought to the city. What came first, the chicken legend or the chicken bowl?)
We mainly went to the museum because my wife is big into ceramics, but I really enjoyed it. The history of the company was interesting and I enjoyed seeing the ceramics and the process of making them. The best part was seeing the massive dragon kilns. There’s also a nice shop if you want some souvenirs. My wife bought something, I didn’t pay much attention.
The top sights in Lampang are primarily temples, which I saved for the end just because I wanted to focus on the town itself rather than begin with a fairly lengthy temple section. There are some great temples here though and I’ll say that even for people who have become temple’d out (as I sometimes get) and feel they don’t need to see more temples, you should give these a visit. The temples here are excellent and in many cases very unique. There are two distinctive varieties to see, the very old Lanna temples and the newer Burmese style temples dating from the city’s logging era, which I discussed a bit earlier.
The best and most important of Lampang’s temples is Wat Phrathat Lampang Luang, a Lanna temple slightly outside the city likely from the late 15th century. I highly recommend it! It’s among the finest temples in Thailand, full of intricate carvings, great artwork, and an awesome dragon staircase with an amazing fantastical gateway. It’s also relaxed (at least when I was there), not very crowded and with numerous buildings and a lot of open space. I loved the jackfruit tree. There are cool small details like a chapel where a shadow of the main chedi falls in through a crack in the wood, pointed out to us by our homestay host. There’s a small building behind that which only men are allowed into with an even more impressive upside down image. One of the halls here is supposedly Thailand’s oldest standing wooden building. Next to the main temple area are some nice museum buildings that I recommend.
The temple plays an important role in Lampang’s history for a number of reasons. According to Wikipedia, the city was under Burmese rule until “In the late 18th century, the famed marksman and Lampang native Nan Thipchang assassinated the local Burmese leader in Wat Phra That Lampang Luang, and led an uprising which led to a rollback of Burmese rule over Lanna.” I didn’t look for any, but apparently you can see bullet markings at the temple, though it’s disputed where they actually came from. There are also suggestions that much further back in time the Buddha actually came here, but, uh, I won’t comment on that. Sure, why not.
Not too far from there is the smaller and I believe older Wat Lai Hin which I recommend if you want more temples, though it’s not as essential. I can only tell you that I’m glad I went. It had cool architecture and no people.
Also in the vicinity is the Earth and Fire ceramics studio, Seri Art Gallery, and a cafe on the same property. My wife really loved the ceramics (which are used at various Michelin starred restaurants around the country), and I enjoyed the gallery and the space. Worth a stop.
There are more Lanna temples in the town, and some were very nice, but I’m not sure you really need to see any. Wat Pratu Pong was nice, worth checking out if you’re nearby. Maybe there are some other very nice ones that I missed or forgot. It was nice to see Wat Kaew Don Tao Suchadaram, one of the former homes of the Emerald Buddha (and also near some of the old city walls which I enjoyed seeing, as well as a nice cafe named Mister Bean which I recommend). My favorite part of the temple, though, was a centuryish old Burmese pavilion, built by a wealthy Burmese businessman, which makes for a great opportunity to transition to another style of temple…
Other than the Wat Phrathat Lampang Luang, the Burmese temples outshone the Lanna ones for me. Other than the pavilion I just mentioned, I saw four different Burmese temples, and I felt every single one was worth seeing as they were all different. They had a mix of architectural elements which I found interesting. Mirror work reminding me of Jain temples, tiles reminding me of Persian mosques, stained glass reminding me of churches, all with Southeast Asian mythological creatures (also cupids for some reason), some of them in wooden buildings that you might mistake for ski lodges.
If you only see one Burmese temple, I say it should be Wat Si Rongmuang. But you should also really see Wat Chai Mongkol and Wat Srichum, conveniently near each other. Also right there is Pa Fang temple, if you want one more then do that one, it’s good too, but not quite as good.
(Across from Wat Si Rongmuang there is a lovely little bookstore which is very appropriately named “little lovely book shop.” Thai books only, but I enjoyed browsing anyway. Inside of a vet clinic.)
Part of the fun of the Burmese temples to me was that the stories were clearer and had a greater connection to other things I saw in the town (though I suppose if I were well versed in Lanna history I’d have gotten as much out of the Lanna temples). To name one example, one of the prettiest buildings in Lampang, the aforementioned Moung Ngwe Zin Building, was the home of the Burmese businessman who built Wat Chai Mongkol. I’m sure if I stuck around longer I would have made more connections.
I was surprised to drive by a Gurdwara (Wat Sikh!), and speaking of places of worship, I was very happy to see one old cinema still standing, the Fa Lanna Cinema! It’s been closed for a long time, but the facade and signboard still stand tall. You can read more about it here on the blog by the great Southeast Asia cinema chronicler Philip Jablon. It is located in the Asawin Market, which I recommend if you want a nice, busy, typical Thai urban market. Not an essential stop, but definitely good to visit in the evening if you aren’t there for any of the weekend markets, or you can go to one after another as I did. I wasn’t able to track down the Pratuchai cinema, and I never went to Hang Chat where there’s the Sri Nakorn Pahayon. I’m not sure if they still stand.
I saw one movie, at the unsurprisingly very nice Central Mall. The SF Cinema was quite nice, no complaints! I was in auditorium 4, which I believe is their largest. I was in row G which I felt was slightly too close. There’s also a Major multiplex at the Big C supermarket.
There are a few national parks in the vicinity of Lampang. We went to Chae Son, about an hour away, known for its hot springs where people go to boil eggs and have picnics. A lot of fun, and the eggs are really delicious, with a unique soft boiled texture, popularly eaten with sticky rice and Maggi sauce for some reason. There’s some spa stuff that we didn’t bother with, but we dipped into some of the hot springs (not as hot as the ones they boil eggs in) and the river next to it. The area is very beautiful and you can hike up to see various levels of the waterfall. Recommended!
Food
Most of our meals were had at the homestay, but we did have a handful of meals out.
We had one really outstanding meal at a place called Taan Clean, which I’d actually rank among my favorite restaurants in Thailand. It’s only open Thursday through Sunday, and reservations are recommended for dinner (check their Facebook for updates on the timings). The premise of the restaurant is mostly homestyle Thai food, traditional but with some twists here and there, and high quality farm to table ingredients, with everything made in house (including ferments like miso) or sourced from trusted vendors that use clean ingredients. It’s the kind of place that’d be pretty expensive in a bigger city, but in Lampang the prices were remarkably reasonable. They sell some of the products they use (fish sauce, soy sauce, etc) and some that they make. The surprisingly large menu, which varies somewhat from week to week, is nicely labeled with dishes that can be made vegan or vegetarian.
The food ranged from really good to really exceptional, with a few sauces (one served with a pumpkin fritter and another served with a DIY miang kham with the leaves replaced with vietnamese rice paper) having the most perfect sweet, tangy, savory balance that I love in Thai food but rarely get in such a refined way. I liked the roasted eggplant salad but I think it needed something else to bring it to the next level in the absence of the fish sauce and shrimp that they excluded to make it vegetarian. I also liked an udon noodle soup with a grain milk and seaweed broth but it was incongruous with the rest of what we ordered. I’d have liked it more on its own rather than paired with more vibrantly flavored Thai food.
The desserts were really noteworthy too. They have a range of homemade ice creams, many with odd ingredients, including fruits I don’t even know how you’d get enough juice or flesh out of to make ice cream with. I regret not trying the mafai ice cream as it’s so unusual to see. I went with the kale and raspberry ice cream, which was great, and I’d say the kale ended up tasting like matcha. We also got an excellent mochi-like dessert (which I’m generally not that into) made with cassava flour and topped with a coconut milk sauce. I very rarely order beverages but they all sounded good, with homemade juices and sodas from unusual local fruits, homemade kombucha, and other stuff like that. We got a homemade preserved ume plum drink.
I would love to go back and try more food, drinks, and desserts, and I would have if they were open during the week!
The only other restaurant we went to other than some Jay places was Aroy Baht One, a very popular Thai-Chinese restaurant in a cute old wooden house, only open at night. Great atmosphere and good, clean, reasonably priced food, with a separate vegetarian menu which is fairly small though there are several dishes that are or can be made vegetarian on the rest of the menu if you care to browse. Nothing mind blowing at least for a vegetarian, but I recommend it. Nothing was oily or too spicy. We got stir fried eggplant and tofu, stir fried cauliflower, salted egg salad, tofu stir fried with curry paste, and a Chinese vegetable soup, all of it was pretty good.
For vegetarians, there are a number of good Jay places. I went to three: Healthy Vegetarian Food (next to the nice Go Cafe), Jay Jay Chan, and Guan Yim. The first two have buffet set ups, and I felt they were above average and it was nice that they had some Northern Thai selections. Guan Yim was only a la carte and I just got basic stir fried veggies as my stomach was a bit off that day, but the Thai salad stall looked really good and they also have a lot of noodle soup options.
That’s about it for food. I also got the local special fried puffed rice cracker things that you get all over Thailand but I never had them before for some reason, and the Lampang ones are unique because they have watermelon juice in them. I didn’t feel they tasted any different from any others I later tried in other cities, though. I avoid unhealthy snacks like these but I really enjoyed them. I picked some up at a famous local shop called Khun Manee and got some at the weekend walking street which has a shop that makes them.
For more recommendations, here are some from Austin Bush who knows his Northern Thai food well, probably nothing in here for vegetarians though and I’m not sure if all of these places are still around:
Surprisingly there’s no Burmese food in Lampang?
There are also two bean to bar chocolate makers in town! One is Prana, a cafe in the city which is a branch of the Thai Coffee & Cocoa Co-learning Space, a nursery, co-op, and education center which is just outside of the city (which I didn’t visit, we called and they said they don’t have a cafe there). Their own website doesn’t have much info, but they supply beans to the great Chiang Mai chocolate maker Siamaya whose website provides more information. It sounds like a cool company doing good work, and the Prana cafe is very nice in a green space near a small lake. Since it’s outdoors it isn’t ideal for working from, but on a cloudy day and with some mosquito repellant we enjoyed working there for a few hours. They had some chocolate bars for sale which were good and reasonably priced, and they also had a range of chocolate beverages. The menu wasn’t in English and the staff didn’t speak great English so we kind of screwed up our order and I think got one with cacao powder instead of melted chocolate, and it ended up being too sweet for my preference. Oh well. One special drink that we got that I’ve never seen offered anywhere before was a cacao juice americano, which was great! They also make sourdough fermented with cacao yeast or something like that, I thought that was really cool, and they make pizzas out of it. I almost never order non-Thai food in Thailand but I appreciated the effort so we got a pizza, but unfortunately the sauce seemed to have ketchup in it. Another oh well. It would have been good otherwise. Anyway, cool place, definitely go if you like chocolate!
The other place that makes their own bean to bar chocolate is Whole Milk Cafe. They have their own dairy farm where they also grow cacao, and though the cafe focuses on beverages and baked goods, they also sell some bars. Unfortunately, I went twice and they were sold out of the 70% bar and only sweeter bars were available so I didn’t try any. The milk was good though! My wife also enjoyed her mango sticky rice cocktail at the bar next door (same owners) called Taphaus, not that I condone drinking alcohol. The cafe is semi open air so it wouldn’t be ideal to work from in the day, but it is open until 10pm which would make it good to work from in the evening, if you need such a place.
As for cafes that don’t make chocolate, we went to a number of them, either to work from or just in passing to relax and cool off while running around the city. It’s Thailand so of course there are very nice cafes everywhere, you don’t need me to tell you about them, and I mainly chose these because of the locations, but I’ll share some highlights anyway in case you need a good place to work from. My favorite cafe was Mahamitr, a small but really lovely cafe a bit outside the city with great views of the river. I was afraid it would be too small to work from but it was okay, if not ideal. In the city I had a good time working from Nap’s, Mixirista Retro, and the cafe at Baan Phraya Suren. All were nice and spacious. Though we didn’t work from them, I liked both Mister Bean and Go Cafe and would have been happy working from them both, and same with Biscuit Cafe outside of the city at the Earth and Fire ceramics factory.
I wanted to share a bit of recommended reading, though I didn’t find a ton that went beyond the basics. The great history blog Siam Rat has a post on the Shan rebellion which started in Phrae and came to Lampang. Louis Leonowens and his house make an appearance. There’s also a good post on the teak industry.
Comments