Warorot Market

Where the Night Bazaar caters to visitors, Warorot is where Chiang Mai does its shopping. Locals call it Kad Luang, “the big market”, and it fills a sprawling multi-storey building and the lanes around it on the west bank of the Ping River, on the edge of the city’s old Chinese trading quarter.

The site was once the cremation ground of the rulers of Chiang Mai. Princess Dara Rasmi turned it into a market in 1910, and it is named after Chao Inthawarorot, the eighth ruler of Chiang Mai.

The ground floor is the place to stock up on northern specialities: sai ua (spicy herb sausage), nam phrik num (roasted green chilli dip), crispy pork rinds, dried fruit and sticky-rice sweets. Upper floors are given over to clothing, fabrics, hill-tribe textiles and household goods sold at local rather than tourist prices. The surrounding alleys, sometimes called Chiang Mai’s Chinatown, are lined with Chinese shophouses selling tea and dried goods, and Hmong traders sell embroidery and handicrafts.

Right beside the main hall, on the riverside, is Ton Lamyai market, whose flower stalls spill marigolds, orchids and jasmine garlands onto the pavement; it is at its most colourful early in the day. A footbridge over the Ping from the market area leads to Wat Ketkaram on the east bank, one of the city’s most interesting riverside temples.

Mornings are the best time to come, when the food stalls are freshest and the lanes are at their busiest. The halls wind down in the early evening, but street-food vendors set up along the surrounding roads after dark.

The market is about 1 km east of Tha Phae Gate, a 15-minute walk towards the river, or a short songthaew, tuk-tuk or Grab ride from anywhere in the centre. The Night Bazaar is a few minutes’ walk to the south.