It would be an understatement to describe Chiang Mai's Rainforest Boutique Hotel as tucked away and low-key, since in the 12 years we've been in town we'd never heard of it until some friends recently stayed there. They gave it excellent reports so we checked it out: it's a lovely spot and we strongly recommend it if you're seeking a hotel in the midrange and you don't mind adding a tuk tuk ride to get yourselves into town.

Rainforest... what rainforest?

To get here, if you're going down Charoen Muang Road from the old town, take the first right after the railway station -- it's signposted -- and continue down the lane for 100 metres or so, and you'll find Rainforest. Now to go off on a  tangent slightly, we would query the name a bit, since not only is it a long time since this inner suburb of Chiang Mai has seen any kind of forest, but rainforest is not a flora type associated with North Thailand either ...

So anyway, this location, a five to 10-minute tuk tuk ride into town, does have the advantage of being an otherwise tourist-free area; if you step out of your hotel you're unlikely to run straight into a bunch of backpackers or a Saga tour group. They do have an evening free shuttle to the night bazaar, and songthaews and tuk-tuks are stationed outside with instructions not to charge more than 100 baht. You might have more problems convincing a downtown driver to take you back for the same rate, but you can always ask the hotel tuk tuk driver to collect you at a set time.

Reception area to left and rooms behind.

The hotel itself is quite a large affair, with more than 70 rooms, but it maintains a cosy, small-hotel ambiance. We reckon their out-of-the-way location means they're not snowed under like popular centre of town spots, and perhaps this is a reason for the relaxed, friendly staff and good value room rates.

The site is well laid out with an inviting pool, sitting area and small garden in the centre next to a spacious reception and room blocks leading off to the rear. A five-storey block has deluxe and superior rooms plus a wooden building across from the pool has more upmarket, all-wood "rainforest deluxe and luxury" options.

Pool area and "rainforest" rooms behind.

Rooms are simple, spotlessly clean and decorated with a discreet Lanna emphasis. Amenities-wise you'll find all you'd expect from a midrange hotel: air-con, hot shower, minibar, free tea and coffee, free WiFi and a decent buffet breakfast.

Low-key decoration.

Deluxe rooms are similar to superior but slightly larger, and the "rainforest" rooms with plenty of teak and even more space are a step up in quality -- and price. Our only criticism of the regular rooms would be the tiled floors, but that really is only nitpicking. All round, Rainforest is an excellent option and very good value for money.

The very pleasant garden and pool area.

The large airy restaurant overlooking the pool is a good place to sit, the food's decent and they don't assassinate you with their prices, so you don't have to travel into Chiang Mai proper every time you want to eat.

The restaurant.

Rates start at 900 baht for a superior room during low season (May to October) and 1,100 baht for high (November to April), through to a rainforest luxury room priced at 2,000/2,200 baht (low/high), including breakfast, tax and service.

Rainforest Boutique Hotel
23/1 Charoen Muang Rd Soi 5, Chiang Mai
T: (053) 309 081-2
F: (053) 309 080
sales@chiangmairainforest.com
www.chiangmairainforest.com

Tags: Lanna, rainforest, Rainforest Boutique Hotel

Having plumped for Chiang Mai Blue House as our Chiang Mai budget recommendation and suggested Chiang Mai Thai House as a mid-range fave, we'll round out this mini-series with our top pick in the upmarket category. If any of our visiting rellies or friends don't mind splashing the cash a bit then The Rim Resort is certainly a direction we point them in -- not that this relatively new downtown resort is that expensive -- it falls more in the four than five-star category, with rates from 2,900 baht during low season to 6,250 baht for a deluxe room during high season.

The Rim Resort.

(Compare this to the Rarinjinda Wellness Spa, which we checked out recently, where you could pay up to $700 a night for a room but: A. we don't have any mates that rich and B. we'd never recommend spending that sort of money on a night's sleep anyway.)

There is a pretty good choice of places to stay in Chiang Mai in this range but where the Rim pips, for instance, the excellent Ayatana Resort (a good recommendation for visitors we don't want to see too much of), is its convenient central location in the city's old town (see map). The Rim's actually located on the moat road -- west, Doi Suthep side -- so a quiet part of town but within walking distance of many of the town's sites and where you'll never have to wait long to find a tuk tuk or songthaew.

We're always suckers for a lush garden.

For the price -- and check their website for discounts and low season deals -- the well-appointed rooms are great value, service is excellent, they have a fine little pool and sitting area, and the Lanna-style buildings are set in and surrounded by lush gardens.

The Rim's a small resort too, which is a big plus for us, with a friendly intimate atmosphere where after 24 hours you'll probably have met most of the staff and guests (unless you don't want to and are hiding in the garden).

Think we already did the Lanna style pool joke in another blog?

Rim Resort
51/2 Arak Rd, Pha Singh
T: (053) 903 999
F: (053) 903 998
www.therimchiangmai.com

Tags: Chiang Mai old town, Lanna, Rim Resort

A long-standing favourite of ours in Chiang Mai's mid-range accommodation category is the excellent Chiang Mai Thai House (see here for our budget pick). Location's one of the strong points of Thai House, which falls somewhere in the range between upmarket guesthouse and boutique hotel. Situated on Tha Pae Road, Soi 5, it's about a two-minute walk from Tha Pae Gate, the centre of Chiang Mai's tourist district and location of the great Sunday Market - and a mere five minute's walk from the famous night bazaar.

Simple but agreeable decoration.

Despite its very central location -- which saves on time and tuk tuk fares -- the guesthouse is a peaceful spot as it's set down a quiet lane with very minimal traffic and noise. This is certainly one of its strong points, as so many other downtown spots necessitate either a decent set of earplugs or running the risk of sleep deprivation.

Same same but different.

There's also a good, and very welcome, pool and sitting area and the restaurant is friendly with decent food.

Delicious!

Rooms are air-con or fan-cooled, and tastefully decorated with Lanna touches. Prices range from 400 baht for a low season fan room to 1,150 baht for a high season poolside air-con room, so there's a fair cross section of options for midrange or flashpacker budgets. Free airport pick-ups are included as is breakfast.

It's not perfect and the generally very friendly staff are sticklers for rules -- they make guests read and accept the house rule list before checking in and are notoriously inflexible with regards to their 10:00 check-out time.

Overall though there are far less decent choices in this midrange area in Chiang Mai than in either budget or upmarket price ranges, so Thai House is definitely a good choice to bear in mind.

Chiang Mai Thai House
5/1 Tha Pae Rd, Soi 5, Chang Klan
T: (053) 904 110 or (053) 904 737
www.chiangmaithaihouse.com

Tags: hotels with pools, Lanna, night bazaar, Tha Pae

One of our clear budget accommodation favourites in Chiang Mai is the aptly named, to give it its full title, Chiang Mai Blue House. Being a pleasant shade of blue, full of lush plants and attractive wooden and bamboo furniture, it's also one of the most photogenic.

Excellent garden setting.

Blue House consists of a three-storey, L-shaped building enclosing and insulating a small, though very pleasant and quiet garden which forms the guesthouse's cafe and sitting area. Breakfasts in the morning and drinks all day (from a well stocked bar) are available all year round and lunches and dinner with all the regular Thai faves are offered during high season. The guesthouse is French/Thai run and the service is efficient and friendly.

As we said -- blue (and uh, orange?) with lots of plants.

Genial host Frederic knows Chiang Mai well and is generally on hand to disperse advice and tips in French and in English.

Traditional-style bamboo hammock.

Rooms are a decent size, clean with en suite bathrooms, hot showers and WiFi, which is more than you could usually expect in this price range. Prices range from 300 to 600 baht depending upon the season and whether you want air-con or not.

The Blue House certainly has a cosy, friendly atmosphere which is undoubtedly why they do very well from repeat customers and word of mouth. The only major drawback we can find with this guesthouse is that it is often full, even in low season.

Yes, we liked the hammock so here's another view of it.

Do book ahead as you can't count on just walking in. Blue House is located in the popular Moonmuang area on Soi 6, which is an excellent central location but far enough down the soi (alley) to distance itself somewhat from the main mass of guesthouses in the Somphet Market district. (See map.)

More blue paint and plants

Blue House
30/1 Moonmuang Rd Soi 6, Chiang Mai
T: (053) 418 512
www.cmbluehouse.com
reservations@cmbluehouse.com

Tags: Chiang Mai guesthouses, Somphet

Looking around Chiang Mai's accommodation offerings it's clear that for anywhere with pretensions above standard Thai hotel style or backpacker guesthouse chic then Lanna style is flavour of the month -- or decade. But what is it? Good question. Historically and culturally Lanna refers to the northern Thai kingdom, founded in Chiang Saen but for much of its incarnation centered around Chiang Mai, and which lasted from the 13th to 18th centuries. So most older buildings, principally wats, are classified as Lanna style.

Typical elaborate Lanna period temple.

For some, it's a mere marketing ploy -- a concrete block with a couple of antique-ish wood carvings on the wall might lead some hotels to claim a Lanna title, while some go totally to town on it and end up resembling a Lanna-style wat -- Rachamanka is a case in point, where you could easily think you've walked into an impeccably manicured Chiang Mai temple (or museum) instead of an upmarket hotel.

Lanna hotel sign. Ahem, not an original.

For most hotels, it means buying a job lot of reconditioned teak, lots of whitewash, a few ferns and palms and some objets d'art -- ideally of a Buddhist nature -- on said whitewashed walls. Oh, and dressing the staff up in what might pass for traditional northern Thai attire.

Not a temple, silly, it's a boutique resort.

When it's well done, it can look great: tasteful, elegant, classy and certainly better than knocking up a concrete block. See the lovely Lanna swimming pool below at The Rim Resort.

14th century swimming pool.

Though we did think perhaps the resort went a bit OTT on their spectacular entrance gate:

For VVIPs.

It's easy to be cynical but it's a beautiful resort, with lush gardens, whitewashed stone walls and rooms tastefully finished off in wood, reconditioned teak and decorations -- but there are a lot of places around like this. We reckon Tamarind Village would have been one of the first in downtown Chiang Mai to adopt the style, and their success certainly inspired others to follow.

An aside: Apparently even our townhouse is now Lanna style. It was just a regular concrete townhouse when we bought it but my wife decided to add a few traditional touches.

'Boutique' concrete townhouse?

Now, locals and visitors alike often walk past saying, "Ooh, look at that Lanna-style townhouse!" and take photos. Some even come in to ask how much for a spa treatment. Or do we have rooms? Yes, that's how popular the style has become. You've been warned.

Tags: architecture, Chiang Saen, Lanna kingdom, Lanna style