One of the great things about Chiangmai is that there is an almost overwhelming choice of clean and comfortable guesthouses priced anywhere between 100 and 1,000 Baht per night. All well and good until, exhausted from climbing the temple steps at Doi Suthep, wandering around market after market in search of that elusive gift for someone back home, or suffering from blisters after a 3 day trek through the jungle, all you want to do is plunge into an inviting swimming pool, soak up the sun for a while, and maybe enjoy a glass of wine whilst reading a good book.
There are some guesthouses with good swimming pools e.g.
Lai Thai Guesthouse and
Top North Guesthouse which are popular places to stay with families visiting Chiangmai. But what about those who choose to stay in a guesthouse without a pool, and minus mums and dads with screaming kids to boot?
As visitors to Chiangmai for three months at the end of 2008/beginning of 2009, we stayed in a very comfortable guesthouse near Chiangmai University, for 8,000 Baht per month. The guesthouse owner and others helped us to find a number of swimming pools within easy travelling distance of our home away from home. After painstaking research (water torture?) the following is a review of our findings:
- There is an Olympic Pool at the Seven Hundred Year Stadium - a huge sports complex built for the SEA Games, which were held in Chiangmai in the early 1990's, and now a public sports and recreation center. Take Huay Kaew Road out of the city, signposted "Doi Suthep". At the Phucome Hotel Intersection turn right onto Route 121 signposted "Mae Rim". Follow signs to the 700 year stadium. It takes about fifteen minutes to get there by taxi from the city center. This is very much a swimmers pool, with no sun beds. The pool is sanitized using chlorine.
- Verdict: great if you are an Olympic hopeful but not so great if you want to top up your suntan after a workout in the pool
- In the same area as the 700 Year Stadium there is a private swimming club which tourists can join as temporary day members. This relatively new Chiangmai swimming pool (opened 2008), known as the Centre of the Universe, opens at 6.30am everyday. This is the only pool we came across where, from 6.30-9.00am, and 5.00-7.30pm, the main pool is reserved exclusively for lap swimmers and you can book a lane in advance. In addition to the main pool there are two children's pools, bar and restaurant. It's a bit difficult to find, so printing off directions in Thai and English from their website is a good idea the first time you go. The pool is sanitized using a salt water system.
- Verdict: Good ambience, quiet location - having tried out all the others mentioned here we returned to this pool several times during the course of our stay.
- Chang Klan Swimming Pool is located closer to the city in "Chiang Mai Land". This is a strip of mainly Japanese restaurants and karaoke. From the Night Bazaar, take Chang Klan Road out towards the Shangri-La Hotel and the Empress Hotel on the left. After the main intersection at Lanna Hotel, look out for a cluster of advertising signs on the right hand side in English, Japanese and Thai. Turn right into this wide tree-lined avenue and follow the international swimming pool signs. Current prices (December 2008) are 50 Baht per Adult and 30 Baht per child. It has a pool deck and also has a restaurant and pool-side service. The pool is sanitized using chlorine.
- Verdict: Cheap and cheerful - plastic chairs, sunbeds and Chang beer. Gets a bit crowded in the afternoon especially after school has finished for the day.
- Some hotels, e.g. The Orchid, Chiangmai Hill Hotel, and the Phucom Hotel - all on Huay Kaew Road as you head out of town towards the University- allow "outsiders" to use their pools on payment of 100-200 Baht. These older hotel pools are sanitized using chlorine.
- Verdict: Very easy to get to these hotels as all the tuk tuk and silor drivers know the English names. As you would expect of 3/4 star hotels, prices for eats and drinks by the poolside are expensive.
- For 20 Baht entrance fee you can take a dip in the lake at Huay Tung Tao. This is a reservoir within surrounding woodlands, and is located further along the Irrigation Canal Road than the Centre of the Universe and the 700 Year Sports Stadium, as you head towards Mae Rim (Route 121)
- Verdict: A pleasant enough way to wile away an afternoon, but you really need to have your own transport as tuk tuks/silors are few and far between.
- There are also water falls and natural pools at the foot of Doi Suthep on Huay Kaew Road. Look out for a large Buddhist Shrine on your left after travelling past the the entrance to Chiangmai Zoo. Turn left into the market at the back of the Shrine, and keep walking up the hill. You will come to the waterfalls after about 5 minutes. There is no charge for entry. The pools at the bottom of the water falls are not really big enough for swimming but higher up they are deeper and are a great place to cool off and sunbathe.
- Verdict: At zilch cost, this was the cheapest place we found! Within minutes of taking up a sunny spot on the rocks, we were chatting away to university students who were curious as to why all 'farangs' liked to be out in the sun so much!
No doubt there are other pools open to visitors - and no doubt these will be posted in due course by other swimming enthusiasts who have visited Chiangmai!
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