Chiang Mai Travel Money Guide

Chiang Mai is the easiest of Thailand's big cities on your wallet, and the most cash-first. Its best moments — temple-hopping in the Old City, grazing the night markets, café-crawling in Nimman — all run on baht, so keep a comfortable float of small notes.

How much cash to bring to Chiang Mai

A rough daily budget for a comfortable mid-range trip:

• Food — ฿250–600/day (night-market dishes are ฿40–80; cafés a little more)
• Local transport — ฿100–300/day on red songthaews and the odd Grab
• Temples & activities — ฿300–900/day (entry fees, day trips, an elephant sanctuary)

Paying your way around Chiang Mai

• Red songthaews (rot daeng) — the shared red trucks are the workhorse of the city; flag one down, say your stop, pay ฿30–40 in cash.
• Markets are cash — the Sunday Walking Street, Saturday market and Night Bazaar are wall-to-wall cash-only stalls.
• Cafés and nomad spots take cards — Nimman's coffee shops and co-working cafés increasingly do, but carry cash as backup.
• Scooter rentals are cash — and watch the ฿220 foreign-card ATM fee when you top up.

Neighbourhood cash notes

• Old City — temples charge small cash donations or entry; guesthouses and street food are cash.
• Nimmanhaemin (Nimman) — the trendy café district, where cards work more often than anywhere else in town.
• Night Bazaar & Sunday Walking Street — bring a stack of ฿20 and ฿100 notes; nothing here takes cards.

One Chiang Mai habit

• Keep small notes flowing — ฿20s and ฿100s for songthaews, market snacks and temple donations. Tipping isn't expected, and a little cash goes a long way here.