Things to Do in Chiang Mai

in September 2026

🗓 28 August – 9 September 2026 | Mon–Fri 10:00–17:00 | Free Entry

📍 Hello, Print Friend Studios, Chiang Mai

Mexican artist and printmaker Juana Estrada Hernández brings a solo exhibition to Chiang Mai built on generations of migration inside her own family. The work uses food, language, cultural tradition and lived experience to look at immigration and assimilation alongside questions of identity, resistance and pride. It is a small, quiet show — an easy hour rather than a half-day — and one of the few English-friendly contemporary exhibitions running into September.

💡 Tips
Entry is free and the gallery keeps weekday hours only, so plan a weekday visit before 9 September. Print work rewards standing close: the layering and mark-making is where most of the detail lives.

🚗 Getting There
Short Grab ride from the Old City. Combine it with a coffee stop nearby rather than making a special trip.

🗓 Thursday 3 September 2026 | 10:00–12:00 | Free

📍 Lifelong Learning Payap Center, Payap University (Kaew Nawarat Campus), Wat Ket

An open photography interest group run in English, where members bring their favourite images and talk through how they were made. Beginners and experienced photographers both turn up, and the format is relaxed — show, discuss, swap technique. If you are in Chiang Mai for a while and want to meet people who shoot, this is a low-commitment way in.

💡 Tips
Free to attend. Bring a few photos on your phone or laptop if you want to join the discussion rather than just watch.

🚗 Getting There
Payap’s Kaew Nawarat campus sits east of the river in Wat Ket, roughly 10 minutes by Grab from the Old City. The Lifelong Learning building has its own campus map on the organiser’s website.

🗓 Saturday 5 September 2026 | 7-Hour Concert Festival | 🎟 ฿900–3,000

📍 Chiang Mai University Convention Center, Huay Kaew Road

The team behind CAT EXPO bring a seven-hour Thai pop festival to Chiang Mai on one stage, with a line-up of PROXIE, PERSES, PIXXIE, DEXX, DAOU – OFFROAD, KENG – NAMPING and TLE – FIRSTONE. This is the biggest single music night in Chiang Mai this month and the T-POP crowd travels for it, so expect the Nimman area to be busy afterwards.

💡 Tips
Tickets are tiered from ฿900 to ฿3,000 and sell through I Have Ticket. Buy before you travel — this kind of line-up does not usually hold seats until the day. Eat before you go in.

🚗 Getting There
The Convention Center is on the CMU campus off Huay Kaew Road, roughly ฿70–100 by Grab from the Old City. Getting a car afterwards is the hard part; walking down to Nimman and catching a ride there is usually faster.

🗓 Saturday 5 September 2026 | Trail & Fun Run

📍 Huay Tueng Thao Reservoir (ห้วยตึงเฒ่า), Mae Rim

A late-afternoon run around Huay Tueng Thao, the reservoir at the foot of Doi Suthep that locals use for weekend swimming and bamboo-hut lunches. September is the green season, so the surrounding hills are at their most photogenic — this is a good-looking course rather than a fast one.

💡 Tips
Register through the event page in advance. Even if you are not running, the reservoir is worth the trip on a Saturday afternoon for the raft restaurants along the water.

🚗 Getting There
About 20 minutes north-west of the Old City by Grab (฿180–250 one way). Rides back can be scarce after dark, so arrange your return before you set off.

🗓 Monday 7 September 2026 | 18:30 Canapés · 19:00 Dinner | ฿3,590++

📍 Redbox Thailand Restaurant, 6 Jannsaap Alley, Chang Phueak, Mueang Chiang Mai

A one-night wine pairing dinner built around five Italian wines from Orion | Marchesi Antinori, matched with canapés and a four-course menu from Redbox. Canapés and wine start at 18:30, dinner follows at 19:00. Seats are limited and this is a reservation-only evening.

💡 Tips
฿3,590++ per person. Book by phone on +66 92 979 4542 — walk-ins are not realistic for a set-seating dinner of this size.

🚗 Getting There
Chang Phueak is just north of the Old City moat; 5–10 minutes by Grab from most Old City hotels.

🗓 Wednesday 9 September 2026 | 10:00–12:00 | ฿350

📍 Lifelong Learning Payap Center, Payap University (Kaew Nawarat Campus), Wat Ket

An English-language morning lecture on the state of Thailand’s coral reefs and what rising sea temperatures are doing to them. Lifelong Learning Payap runs these talks for the international community in Chiang Mai and they are open to visitors, not just residents.

💡 Tips
฿350. Lifelong Learning Payap is running a bring-a-friend-free promotion across its September talks — worth asking about when you register.

🚗 Getting There
East of the Ping River in Wat Ket, about 10 minutes by Grab from the Old City. Register in advance through the organiser’s site.

🗓 Sunday 13 September 2026 | From 05:00

📍 Chiang Mai University Central Stadium (สนามกีฬากลาง มหาวิทยาลัยเชียงใหม่)

An early-morning charity run starting and finishing at the CMU central stadium, held in connection with Mahidol Day. Start time is 05:00, which in September means running through the coolest, clearest part of the day before the afternoon rain arrives.

💡 Tips
Register online in advance. If you are not running, the CMU campus and Ang Kaew reservoir next door are pleasant for a morning walk once the race clears.

🚗 Getting There
The stadium is on the CMU campus off Huay Kaew Road. Book a Grab the night before — 04:30 pickups from the Old City are not easy on the day.

🗓 Wednesday 16 September 2026 | 10:00–11:30 | ฿350

📍 Lifelong Learning Payap Center, Payap University (Kaew Nawarat Campus), Wat Ket

Dr. Prissana Tamboon presents research from the field of archaeoastronomy on how Chiang Mai’s Old City and Wat Phra That Doi Suthep were laid out to align with particular stars and constellations. If you have already walked the Old City and climbed to Doi Suthep, this talk changes how you read both of them.

💡 Tips
฿350, in English, and one of the September talks covered by the bring-a-friend-free promotion. Book ahead — the lecture room is not large.

🚗 Getting There
Payap’s Kaew Nawarat campus is east of the river in Wat Ket, roughly 10 minutes by Grab from the Old City.

🗓 Friday 18 September 2026 | 09:00–12:00 | ฿400

📍 Departs Lifelong Learning Payap Center, Wat Ket → Daraphirom Palace Museum, Mae Rim

A guided half-day trip out to Daraphirom Palace in Mae Rim, the teak residence of Princess Dara Rasmi of Chiang Mai, now restored as a museum of Lanna court life. It is one of the more rewarding small museums in the province and much easier to appreciate with a guide than alone.

💡 Tips
฿400 including transport from the Payap campus. Numbers are limited, so register through the organiser’s site rather than turning up.

🚗 Getting There
The group departs from and returns to the Lifelong Learning Payap Center in Wat Ket, so you only need to get yourself across the river by 09:00.

🗓 Saturday 19 September 2026 | ฿5,000 per person | 🍷 Wine Pairing Included

📍 Magnolia Café, Chiang Mai

Chef Busarin Larpadisorn and Chef Panuphon Bulsuwan cook a Thai tasting menu with guest chefs, each course paired with wine. It is a single-sitting charity dinner: 100% of proceeds, with nothing deducted for expenses, go to the Suandok Foundation at Maharaj Nakorn Chiang Mai Hospital.

💡 Tips
฿5,000 per person including the wine pairing. Reservations on 081-671-2846. Book early — intimate charity dinners in Chiang Mai fill through word of mouth well before the date.

🚗 Getting There
Grab is the simplest option in the evening. Confirm the exact address when you reserve.

🗓 Wednesday 23 September 2026 | From 10:00 | ฿500

📍 Lifelong Learning Payap Center, Payap University (Kaew Nawarat Campus), Wat Ket

Ajarn Bringkop Vora-urai and colleagues introduce the instruments and repertoire of northern Thai music, with live demonstration rather than recordings. Lanna music is the sound you half-hear at temple ceremonies and Sunday Walking Street without ever getting an explanation — this is the explanation.

💡 Tips
฿500, in English, and it is interactive rather than lecture-only. Book ahead through the organiser.

🚗 Getting There
East of the Ping River in Wat Ket, about 10 minutes by Grab from the Old City.

🗓 Thursday 24 September 2026 | 08:30–16:45 | ฿2,400

📍 Departs Lifelong Learning Payap Center, Wat Ket → Lamphun (approx. 30 km south)

The single most distinctive cultural day of the month, and it happens just outside Chiang Mai. Salak Yom is an annual Tai Yong festival held at Wat Phra That Hariphunchai in Lamphun, in which towering bamboo “trees of gifts” — twelve metres and more, hung with tufted rods, palm-leaf manuscript holders, food, cloth, household goods and money — are offered to the monks and novices. Traditionally the trees were prepared and offered by young unmarried women, and the merit earned is held to equal that of a man’s ordination.

This guided full-day excursion is led by Dr. Ratanaporn Sethakul, Associate Professor of History Emerita at Payap University. The itinerary covers the National Museum of Lamphun, a briefing on the festival’s history, the Salak Yom ceremony at Wat Phra That Hariphunchai, lunch, Wat Chamadevi (Wat Ku Kut), and the woodland gallery of National Artist Inson Wongsam.

💡 Tips
฿2,400 covering transport, lunch, admissions, water, guide and insurance; payment is due by Monday 21 September and a passport copy is required for insurance. If you prefer to go independently, confirm the exact festival dates with Lamphun Province first — Salak Yom follows the lunar calendar and shifts each year.

🚗 Getting There
The group departs from and returns to the Lifelong Learning Payap Center in Wat Ket. Independently, Lamphun is about 40 minutes south of Chiang Mai by car or a slow, pretty ride down the old Chiang Mai–Lamphun road under its rubber trees.

🗓 Friday 25 September 2026 | Mid-Autumn Festival | 🥮 Mooncakes to 25 September

📍 Warorot Market & the Chinatown streets around Chang Moi, Chiang Mai

Mid-Autumn falls on Friday 25 September 2026 — the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month. It is not a Thai public holiday and nothing closes, but Chiang Mai’s Thai-Chinese community marks it, and the clearest sign is mooncakes: boxed sets appear in bakeries, hotel lobbies and the shophouses around Warorot Market through the second half of September. Shangri-La Chiang Mai takes mooncake pre-orders up to 25 September.

💡 Tips
Buy singles rather than a full box if you just want to try one — the salted egg yolk and lotus paste version is the classic. Warorot Market in the late afternoon is the most atmospheric place to look.

🚗 Getting There
Warorot is a 10-minute walk east from Tha Phae Gate, on the west bank of the Ping River.

🗓 25–27 September 2026 | Ultra Trail

📍 National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (NARIT), Chiang Mai

A three-day ultra trail event based at NARIT’s Chiang Mai headquarters, running through the hills over the last weekend of the month. Green season means soft, wet, genuinely technical ground — this is a hard course, not a scenic jog.

💡 Tips
Entries and distance options are handled through the event page. Spectators should check the published route before travelling; trail events spread over a lot of ground and the start/finish area is the only reliable place to watch.

🚗 Getting There
NARIT is on Huay Kaew Road near the CMU campus, about ฿80–120 by Grab from the Old City.

🗓 26–27 September 2026 | Half Marathon · 10K · 5K · Kids

📍 Royal Park Rajapruek (อุทยานหลวงราชพฤกษ์), Mae Hia, Chiang Mai

The biggest running weekend of the month, staged in the gardens at Royal Park Rajapruek. Saturday 26 September is the KIDS Series (under 12, ฿350) at 17:00. Sunday 27 September holds the main races: half marathon (21 km, ฿950) at 04:30 with a four-hour cut-off, 10 km (฿750) at 05:30, and 5 km (฿650) at 06:00. Half marathon finishers inside the cut-off receive a PUMA finisher shirt.

💡 Tips
Race packs can be posted or collected on site on 26 September between 10:00 and 18:00. Registration is through sansatan.com. A 04:30 start means a 03:30 alarm — book your ride the night before.

🚗 Getting There
Royal Park Rajapruek is about 15 minutes south-west of the Old City by car (฿150–200 by Grab). It is also worth a visit in its own right if you have a spare morning in the green season.

🗓 Saturday 26 September 2026 | 🎟 Regular ฿499–699 · VIP ฿1,299–1,599

📍 MUAN MORE SPACE, Pa Daet, Mueang Chiang Mai

Thai band MEAN close their four-city tour in Chiang Mai — the final date after Bangkok, Hat Yai and Udon Thani. The set mixes their four newest singles from the #MEANToYouSeries collaborations with older hits, plus a hidden track played only on this tour. It is a smaller, closer room than the CMU Convention Center, which is the point.

💡 Tips
Regular tickets are ฿499 and ฿699, VIP packages ฿1,299 and ฿1,599. Buy ahead — the final tour date is usually the first to go.

🚗 Getting There
MUAN MORE SPACE is in Pa Daet, south of the Old City, roughly 15 minutes by Grab.

🗓 Every Sunday | 16:00–22:00 | 6, 13, 20, 27 September

📍 Tha Phae Gate → Ratchadamnoen Road, Old City Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai’s biggest weekly market closes Ratchadamnoen Road to traffic every Sunday evening. Over 500 vendors line the 1 km stretch from Tha Phae Gate to Wat Phra Singh, selling hand-crafted jewellery, silverwork, silk scarves, wood carvings, ceramics, and an enormous variety of street food. It runs on 6, 13, 20 and 27 September.

What to buy: Silver jewellery, lacquerware, hand-woven fabrics, Thai herbal products, local art prints. Bargaining is expected — prices are already quite fair.

💡 Green season note: Rain can arrive in the late afternoon. Vendors put up tarpaulins rather than pack up, so the market almost always goes ahead — but bring a light poncho and expect the crowd to thin during a downpour, which is the best time to shop.

🚗 Getting There: Walkable from most Old City guesthouses. From Nimman: 10-minute Grab (฿60–80). The road is pedestrianised from ~15:30 — arrive early for the best street food before crowds peak.

🗓 Every Saturday | 16:00–22:30 | 5, 12, 19, 26 September

📍 Wualai Road, south of the Old City moat, Chiang Mai

Wualai Road is Chiang Mai’s historic silversmithing district, and every Saturday evening it becomes a more local, less touristy alternative to the Sunday Walking Street. You will find high-quality silverwork and brass crafts at better prices, alongside excellent northern Thai street food. It runs on 5, 12, 19 and 26 September.

What makes it special: Many silver and brass vendors here are the actual artisans — you can often watch them working in workshop doorways along the road.

💡 Tips: Start at the Chiang Mai Gate end and walk south. The food is denser at the northern end; the craft stalls get better the further you go.

🚗 Getting There: A 5-minute walk south from Chiang Mai Gate, or ฿50–70 by Grab from the north side of the Old City.

🗓 Every Saturday Evening | 17:00–22:00 | 5, 12, 19, 26 September

📍 Sankamphaeng Road, Sankamphaeng District (~13 km east of Chiang Mai)

Sankamphaeng is the “handicraft corridor” — a long road lined with umbrella-painting workshops, celadon pottery factories, silk weaving studios and lacquerware showrooms. On Saturday evenings the main street becomes a walking street with local food vendors, live music and craft stalls. It draws a strongly local crowd and feels more like a community festival than a tourist shopping strip. It runs on 5, 12, 19 and 26 September.

Why go: Prices are noticeably lower than in the Old City, and you are buying from the districts that actually produce the work.

🚗 Getting There: About 25–30 minutes east by Grab (฿200–280 each way). Arrange your return ride before you go — cars are hard to find out there late in the evening.

🗓 Every Saturday & Sunday | 06:30–14:00

📍 Atsadathon Road, Pa Tan (just north of the Old City moat), Chiang Mai

Jing Jai is the best morning market in Chiang Mai for fresh produce, organic goods and a genuinely local weekend breakfast. Direct-from-farm organic vegetables, artisan cheeses, fresh juices, good coffee, handmade Thai ceramics, vintage clothing, and some of the best breakfast food in the city. It runs every Saturday and Sunday in September — 5, 6, 12, 13, 19, 20, 26 and 27.

💡 Best strategy: Arrive by 07:00 for the freshest produce and the shortest coffee queues. Most of the market is under cover or tree shade, which matters in the green season.

🚗 Getting There: 10 minutes by Grab from the Old City (฿50–70), or a 20-minute walk north from Chang Phueak Gate. Free parking on site.

🗓 Friday – Sunday Mornings | 08:00–15:00

📍 Bapao area, Mueang Chiang Mai District (northern outskirts, near Bapao Junction)

Kad Bapao is one of Chiang Mai’s most local markets — a sprawling mix of fresh produce vendors, cooked-food stalls, street snacks, household goods and cheap clothing, packed under tarpaulin roofs while families do their weekly shopping. “Kad” is Northern Thai for market, and this one is the real thing. It runs Friday to Sunday mornings throughout September.

Why visit as a traveller: Authentic local atmosphere well away from tourist crowds, and some of the cheapest and most flavourful northern Thai food you will eat in the city.

💡 Tips: Bring small notes — many vendors will not have change for ฿1,000. Almost nothing is labelled in English, so point and smile.

🚗 Getting There: 15–20 minutes north of the Old City by Grab (฿90–130).

🗓 Friday 4 September 2026 | 16:00–22:00 | 🛒 Monthly Special Edition

📍 Jing Jai Market, Atsadathon Road, Pa Tan, Chiang Mai

The Jing Jai Vintage Market is the monthly first-Friday edition of the Jing Jai site, where the focus shifts from produce to vintage clothing, vinyl records, second-hand film cameras, antiques and retro collectibles. It draws serious vintage hunters and casual browsers alike into the same tree-shaded space. In September it falls on Friday 4.

💡 Tips: Go early if you are buying — the good vinyl and cameras move within the first hour. Go late if you are eating, when the food stalls hit their stride.

🚗 Getting There: Red songthaew north from Chang Phueak Gate (฿20–30). Grab recommended in the evening (฿50–70 from the Old City). Free parking on site.