Chiang Mai

Hang Dong and Mae Rim

Hang Dong, south of Chiang Mai, is a common place for longer-term residents who want a house and a garden rather than a Nimman apartment. It is a drive, not a walk, to the Old City. Mae Rim, to the north, is similar in that respect: more space, and more time on the road if you go into town every day.

These areas are not suburbs in the Bangkok sense. You will find villages, compounds, some shops and restaurants, and stretches of road that feel rural until a new housing estate appears. Services that you might assume are close (a hospital, an international-curriculum school, a large supermarket) may be a planned trip rather than a short walk. Plot those trips before you sign a year-long lease.

Check access roads and drainage. Some properties sit on lanes that become difficult after rain, and parts of the Chiang Mai basin have flooded in past wet seasons. Ask neighbours or a long-settled tenant, rather than relying on the agent alone, what the last few years were like. If you will work in the city several days a week, time the drive at 08:00, not at noon.