1. What is Doi Suthep and where is it
If you are in Chiang Mai in Thailand, the temple of Doi Suthep is a must. It is located on a hill not far from the centre of Chiang Mai, and is one the most famous tourist attractions in the area.
Doi Suthep is actually the name of the hill (doi = hill in Thai) only, but when you mention Doi Suthep, everyone will think of the Buddhist temple on top of it. The temple’s official name is Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, but few would call it like that, especially in tourism.
There is an interesting legend associated with Doi Suthep, according to which a white elephant carrying a relic (a bone of none other than the Buddha, of course) was set to wonder free. The elephant was going straight to the site of where the temple stands today, he trumpeted three times, and then collapsed and died on the spot.
The temple itself is nice, but you will see thousands of other temples in Thailand, which will be more impressive than Doi Suthep. However, the view from the temple grounds is gorgeous, and it is not far from Chiang Mai anyway, so once you are there, it is worth visiting.
As usual, there are different buildings and structures there as part of the temple complex, so walk around and enjoy.
2. How to get to Doi Suthep from Chiang Mai
I considered two options to get there. First, I asked a few travel agencies, but paying more than a thousand baht for a group tour seemed just too expensive for me. I knew that there were songthaews (see the picture) taking tourists from centre of Chiang Mai to Doi Suthep, so I decided to check that out. The songthaews leave from a terminal next to the North Gate (see the map below). I decided to use the songthaew service, which was not bad, but I was very unlucky with the timing, and you should prepare for this, too.
The cars are waiting in front of a 7-eleven, and there is a bench to sit down and wait, with a large board where you can see the prices and routes. The fee for one person to Doi Suthep is 60 THB – rather reasonable, you will say, until you learn that the bus to the airport is only 20 baht. The songthaews don’t have a schedule, they will leave when there are ten passengers or if the you are willing to pay the fare for the missing number of people if there are fewer than ten. When I was walking by the previous day, I saw a few people waiting there, but now, I was the only one. I talked to the driver (you should find them if they don’t approach you, which is highly unlikely, once they see you standing there and looking at the information board), and he said “Doi Suthep, yes-yes-yes, more people, waiting”.
I waited for a very long time. So long actually, that at one point I was considering giving up altogether on Doi Suthep that day, but then a few other people showed up. Three people, then five, then six, then waiting, and waiting, then again two more people, and more waiting. The driver probably saw that we were getting more and more impatient, so he offered to take us immediately if we pay the fare of the missing two passengers, which was promptly met by intense laughter and a definite “Oh, no” – all my fellow passengers were in their early twenties, you see, which was a good thing. Because I would have said yes, which would have been a mistake, because after the “Oh no” part and the laughter, the driver immediately said “OK, let’s go then”, and off we went.
One section of the way is a winding road up the hills, and I really had an uncomfortable time during the ride, so I suggest that you should not take this ride right after lunch, like I did, stupidly.
The way back to Chiang Mai is much easier: there are dozens of songthaews waiting in front of the entrance, so you probably won’t have to wait too long. They may charge 80 rather than 60, but a bit of haggling is never a bad idea (if you are good at it, I am not).
