Are you hanging out in Chiang Mai for a month or longer? Lucky you!! Chiang Mai is amazing, but you probably know this already 🙂
I spent three full days looking around for my perfect 2-month-stay apartment. It was a little exhausting, but kind of fun and kind of stressful. I’m a cheapo traveler so I wasn’t really looking at anything over 7000THB per month and I’ve found some good options. I took some notes and recorded the details so you can have an easier time figuring out where you wanna stay in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
First thing I’ll show you is the map of all the apartments, then I’ll show you a table with all of the details, and last I’ll show you a many of the rooms and brief description of each place.
Here they are in ascending cost order. Check below the table for some room pictures and descriptions. The “Furnished” column is specific to providing sheets & pillows. All of these places provide a bed, but some do not have anything but the mattress. If it is a ‘Y’ then “Yes” it provides sheets & pillows, if it is an ‘N’ then “No” it does not. All ‘?’ mean “I don’t know.”
NOTE1: Some apartments have much lower costs if you stay for 3 months or longer.
NOTE2: Some have different sized rooms and I included them multiple times in order to separate the costs of the individual rooms.
Cheap Apartments in Chiangmai
| Name | Cost | Cost/3month | Deposit | Furnished |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Siri (old building) | $3,500.00 | $5,000.00 | Y | |
| Rom Yen House | $4,000.00 | $5,000.00 | Y | |
| The Siri (new building) | $4,000.00 | $5,000.00 | Y | |
| Just Chill Inn | $4,000.00 | $0.00 | Y | |
| Chiang Mai Rose House | $4,500.00 | ? | Y | |
| Nara (small room) | $4,500.00 | $10,000.00 | N | |
| The Empress | $5,000.00 | $5,000.00 | Y | |
| View Doi Mansion | $5,500.00 | $5,000.00 | Y | |
| Nara (big room) | $6,000.00 | $10,000.00 | N | |
| Chiang Mai Lodge (small) | $6,200.00 | $5,200.00 | $6,200.00 | N |
| W Living | $7,000.00 | $10,000.00 | N | |
| The Loft Residence | $7,000.00 | ? | ? | |
| Life in Town (small) | $7,000.00 | $5,000.00 | $7,000.00 | Y (short) N (long) |
| Chiang Mai Lodge (big) | $7,000.00 | ? | ? | |
| JD Place Apartments (small) | $4,500.00 | $7,000.00 | ? | |
| Life in Town (medium) | $7,500.00 | $6,000.00 | $7,500.00 | Y (short) N (long) |
| Varada | $8,000.00 | ? | Y | |
| Life in Town (big) | $8,500.00 | $7,000.00 | $8,500.00 | Y (short) N (long) |
| The Dome | $9,900.00 | $6,000.00 | $9,900.00 | Y |
So all of these places are pretty good places to live. They all provide a bed, but some do not have a desk and do not provide sheets & pillows. Sheets and pillows are pretty easy to come by. You can find this stuff for as low as 200THB at the Warorot market. Tables, fans, chairs, and other things might start adding up, but they should only be between 300-1000THB depending on where you look. But seriously, every place listed here is a viable living area. They are all pretty nice. My personal favorites in no particular order would be:
1. W Living
2. The Dome
3. View Doi Mansion
4. The Siri (new and old)
5. The Empress
6. Rom Yen House
I recommend getting a bicycle and riding around to all of these places. Asking around, finding other apartments. You just walk up to the desks and ask about rooms. They’ll show you a room or two. Take some pictures/videos and then think it over for a night. You can bounce around to 10 different places in a single day. And in low season, you can almost always move in same day or next day. During high season you may be put on a waiting list for some places, but keep looking and you are likely to find an open room 🙂
A few things you’ll want to consider as well.
– Never rent a room until you view it in person first!
– Does it have a fan in the room? A fan uses less electricity than the air-con, even when only used in “fan” mode.
– How loud with street noise be?
– Is there easy food in the area?
– Does the bathroom have a separate shower and toilet area? Very often in Thailand the shower is right over the toilet, thus when you shower everything gets wet. Some places separate the two, which is a nice convenience.
As for the Water and Electricity bills – these can range from place to place.
Water Bill: 150-300THB.
Electricity Bill: 500-1000THB.
The electricity is typically 8THB/unit. A unit is one kWh(kilowatt-hour). The total usage really depends on how much you use the air conditioning. If you are using it very frequently then your e-bill could skyrocket over 2000THB, so just be careful with that. One notable exception is the Chiang Mai Lodge, which only charges 4THB/unit – so if you think you’ll use a lot of electricity that might be the right place for you. And if you are ever uncertain about how much you’re using, you can ask the owner what your electricity usage has been. Many places even let you look at the meter, so no games!
The Siri (old building) – 3500THB
The Siri might be the best bargains around. The old building is only 3500THB!!! And although these rooms are a little old, they are furnished and so worth the price. I spoke with some people living in the old rooms and they did not have any complaints.
The Siri (new building) – 4000THB
Possibly and even better bargain – the new building is only 4000THB – not too bad. The rooms have nice wooden floors with a desk, chair, and bed. I got to view a corner room, which had two walls covered with windows!! The most natural lighting of any place I’ve looked. It was really beautiful, but the building itself felt a little like a jail (made out of concrete). The room felt a little empty and had a slight echo. I spoke with some people living in the new rooms as well and they were very pleased living there. One key distinction with this room is that it had it’s own router in each apartment. So you are not sharing router waves with everyone else. This should ensure a very stable connection 😀 I was very close to moving into this apartment, but I liked the feeling and view better at View Doi Mansion.
Rom Yen House – 4000THB
Rom Yen House has a lovely owner and the place is incredibly nice for 4000THB. One of the better values I could find. The internet is quite good as well, but talking to people living there the WiFi will jump between routers causing a brief disconnect/reconnect. This minor interruption doesn’t impact general usage like Netflix, YouTube, music, or browsing – but it could cause a problem when I’m teaching an English class. This would have been number 3 on my list of places to move into.
Just Chill Inn – 4000THB
Just Chill Inn is located within Old City – surrounded by great places to eat and a lively night life just down the road (far enough away so the sounds aren’t a bother). The internet is the fastest I’ve seen anywhere in Chiang Mai; mostly because it’s actually a hostel and not an apartment building. The catch is that there is only one room she rents for long term and it has a shared bathroom. She has some small dorm rooms and things as well. But June (the owner) is one of the sweetest and most helpful people I’ve met.
Chiang Mai Rose House – 4500THB
This building is on the older side but that actually adds a bit to the charm of the place. I think this room and apartment complex had a nice feeling around it. The keeper was really nice in showing the room to me. I did feel however, that the walls might be thinner here for teaching English. I felt I might bother people more easily. The furnishings were good as was the lighting. Overall a little on the smaller side, but totally OK for this price 🙂
Nara – 4500THB
Video at the bottom of the article
These rooms are pretty nice and this place has the best internet out of all of the apartments I looked at – far and away better (5mbps vs. 20+mbps). The bathroom is also very nice. However, it does not come with pillows or bed sheets. Nor is there a table or a chair. I’d easily recommend people moving in here, but for me it felt a little empty and a little dark.
The Empress – 5000THB
This is a large pink building. When you are in the area you will not be able to miss it! The rooms here are furnished well and the lighting is good. Some of the rooms can be quite quiet as well (being away from traffic). The views are often only of neighboring buildings. I liked this place enough to move into as well, but the internet did not meet my company’s requirements. Still good enough for casual usage.
View Doi Mansion – 5500THB
Possibly the best bang for you buck that I’ve seen. The building is newer and it comes furnished with very nice furniture. Desks, table, bed, TV Stand, fridge, TV, wardrobe (sadly no uke). It also has an Ethernet port for more stable connections (though the WiFi has slightly better speeds.)
Chiang Mai Lodge – 6200THB
The Chiang Mai Lodge is pretty nice. I’d say it’s a little over priced compared to some of the other offerings I’ve found, but if things are booking up during high season, there are a lot of rooms at this place and I’d expect it to fill up maybe a little later. Main thing of note is that the electricity cost is only 4THB/unit.
A fun part of this place is that they have free popcorn and coffee in the lobby every morning.
W Living – 7000THB
Video at the bottom of the article
Also a close bid for the best bang for your buck!!! If you want 2 different rooms this is the cheapest I’ve seen! Separate living area and bed room. Huge windows looking out over greenery. The natural lighting is unbelievable and I was willing to spend way above budget to wake up every morning looking out this window 🙂 Sadly, the internet was a little too slow to meet the requirements of my English Teaching school in China. (However, in hindsight, if I had been able to test the Ethernet port with my supervisor, it may have been no problem).
The Loft Residence – 7000THB
I did not get a chance to look at these rooms, but I have heard nice things about this place. Probably worth giving a look. I went on a Sunday and no one was there.
Life in Town (small) – 7000THB
This place is LiT yo!!! ;p
Seriously though, this place is pretty good. It is a massive apartment building with rooms facing the mountain (Doi Suthep). The views are fantastic. There is also great natural lighting in these rooms due to the big window front. You can also access the roof, which provides a great view of the city and mountain. If you stay for 3 months or longer I’d check it out, but maybe too much for shorter stays.
JD Place Apartments – 4500THB to 7500THB
This is a newer apartment building. The outside looks very nice as a brown building with these green line highlights running down the sides of the building. However, I was less impressed by the inside. The rooms I saw were the larger 6500THB and 7500THB, but I wouldn’t say they are worth it. Another note is that it was difficult to find someone to help me learn about rooms so you may want to call in advance: 091.304.3947.
I was not able to view the 4500THB rooms, but I spoke with someone living there. They moved from Rom Yen House to The Empress to JD Place. He liked all three but enjoys his JD Place Apt the most. He said the internet is quite good, the rooms are large, and it doesn’t have that hollow feeling that some rooms have in Chiang Mai.
Varada – 8000THB
Another great place to stay. The rooms are perfect for anyone, but I just found the price higher without any additional benefits compared to cheaper places.
The Dome – 9900THB
The Dome!!!! This place has a beautiful common area lobby. It is also tucked away in a quiet location. However, I was only looking for 2 months and the price for 2 months is 2 high. So I didn’t move in. They also don’t include internet with the initial fee and ask for 500THB/month for WiFi. That’s a little annoying but each room has it’s own router and the internet is around 10Mbps download. Definitely give it a check if staying longer term – Only 6000THB 😀
