Doi Suthep Beyond the Viewpoint: The Monk's Trail Hike

Skip the songthaew queue — the forest trail to the temple is the best ninety minutes in Chiang Mai.

Almost everyone reaches Wat Phra That Doi Suthep the same way: a red songthaew grinding up the mountain road, thirty people deep in the queue at the bottom.

There is a second way in. It starts behind Chiang Mai University in a patch of forest most visitors never see, and it costs nothing.

What the Monk's Trail is

The Monk's Trail is an old walking route up Doi Suthep, marked in places by strips of orange monastic cloth tied around trees. It climbs steadily through dry evergreen forest to Wat Pha Lat, a small temple built into a stream gully partway up, and continues from there toward the summit temple.

It is a real path, not a paved walkway. Roots, loose rock, and one or two sections where you use your hands. Anyone reasonably fit can do it. Nobody in flip-flops should try, and people in flip-flops try every single day.

The trailhead is behind Chiang Mai Zoo, at the end of the Pilgrim's Path road off Suthep Road. There is no sign worth speaking of. Look for the orange cloth.

The two stages

The first stage runs from the trailhead to Wat Pha Lat: about 2 km, 30 to 45 minutes for most people, roughly 160 metres of climb.

This is the part worth doing even if you go no further. Wat Pha Lat is quiet, mossy, built around a waterfall, and almost empty in the morning — the exact opposite of the summit temple in every way that matters. Entry is free and there is no ticket office, because there is nobody there to run one.

The second stage continues from Wat Pha Lat up to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep: another 4 to 5 km, an hour and a half to two hours, crossing the road once. Total from the bottom is around 7.5 km with about 620 metres of ascent.

Honest verdict on that second stage: it is steeper and considerably less interesting than the first, and plenty of people take a songthaew up from the road crossing instead. We would not argue with them. The first hour is the reason to come; the second is transport.

What you arrive at

The summit temple is reached by a naga staircase of just over 300 steps, or a funicular for a small fee. The golden chedi at the top is what people come for. The terrace behind it looks out over the whole Chiang Mai plain, which on a clear morning justifies the climb on its own.

Foreign visitors pay a small entry fee at the temple. The national park fee — 100 baht for foreign adults, 20 baht for Thai — applies to the park's waterfall and camping zones, not to the temple itself, which is a distinction that confuses people at the gate.

Dress for it: shoulders and knees covered, shoes off before entering the inner terrace. The full set of rules applies and the staff here see several thousand visitors a day, so they will notice.

If you want to read what you are standing in, that 300-step staircase is one enormous naga, head at the bottom, body carrying you all the way to the top. It is the single clearest example of the idea in the country.

Going up properly

Start early — seven or eight. The forest is cooler, the light through the canopy is better, and you avoid climbing in full sun on an exposed upper section.

Carry water. There is nothing to buy on the trail itself, and the first thing you will find is the drinks stand at Wat Pha Lat, which is not always open.

Wear shoes with grip, especially in the wet season when the rock gets slippery and leeches appear on the damp sections. They are harmless. Nobody enjoys them.

Getting back down is easy. Songthaews wait at the summit and run to the city all day for around 40 to 50 baht a person, or 400 to 600 baht to charter one return. Paying to ride down after walking up is not cheating, and anyone who tells you otherwise has not done the second stage.