Temples in Chiang Mai

The official city of Chiang Mai is quite small, with a population of about 160,000, though the larger metro area is home to nearly a million people. The old city center is laid out in a square, surrounded on all sides by a moat and the remains of a stone wall that protected the city. There are over thirty Buddhist temples within the city walls, and visitors are welcome to walk the grounds and enter most of the buildings. We spent several of our afternoons walking through the old city, visiting a number of these temples and enjoying the wide range of architectural and decorative styles they offered.