Digital Nomad: our best tips to find an apartment in Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai is the ideal place in Asia to settle down for a while, whether you are in the middle of a world tour, a digital nomad, or simply a traveler passing through with the desire to take a break. It is in this second situation that we settled in the north of Thailand for 5 months!

Before we took off, many people around us were worried that we would leave once again for an adventure without making a plan, but also and especially, without booking accommodation for the months to come. If we decided to leave this way, it’s not to make our relatives sweat, but because we knew we would find the best accommodation this way.

In this article, we will give you our advice to find an apartment in Chiang Mai, whether it is for 1 month or several months. Here we go!

Why move to Chiang Mai?

Many people ask us why we chose Chiang Mai to put our backpacks for a few months. So, we will try to explain the different reasons that led us to this choice.

The cost of living

The cost of living in Chiang Mai is very low while offering good comfort. In detail in this article, we come back on our monthly budget, but we manage to live here with 2 people for 1000 € per month without depriving ourselves!

The climate

We arrived in winter and who says winter here, says no or little rain and temperatures going from 20 to 26 °C the day and a little bit cooler the night.

The infrastructure

In Chiang Mai, there are more than 33 000 furnished apartments on the market and, the essential thing, is we have access to optical fiber for the Internet.

The heart of Northern Thailand

During our world tour, we discovered the city of Bangkok, but we had almost forgotten the north of Thailand. Being based in Chiang Mai allows us to travel around the city. Whether it’s for a day or several days, there is no lack of options!

Thai food

In Thailand, we eat well, that is known! Well, let me tell you that it is in the north that we eat the best!

A great community of digital nomads

The city is the meeting point for people who work online and many events are organized in this spirit. Meals, parties, conferences, and workshops, every day there are activities organized in Chiang Mai by the great community of digital nomads.

Northern Thais

In the south, we can hear that people from the north are slow and soft. But no, they are more chill! What does that mean? It means that here, Thai people are super friendly and smiling, and there are few scams or incessant negotiations. Of course, you have to negotiate your tuk-tuk or your T-Shirt in the tourist center, but elsewhere and in the local markets, we never had the impression to be fleeced!

In which area should you rent an apartment?

Chiang Mai is relatively large and several areas are very nice to live in. Of course, apartments and houses are available for rent in and around the city. Here is a map with the districts preferred by the majority of travelers and expatriates.

The old town

The nerve center of the city: this is where most of the backpackers and cheap accommodations are located, as well as many bars, restaurants, and stores. On the other hand, it is also the most touristic area! Therefore, it is not necessarily the first choice to settle down for a longer period. Furnished apartments are rather rare. Here, you will find rather a hotel room equipped with a fridge which is rented for a long term. In short, it is not ideal in our opinion.

Nimman (or Nimmanhaemin)

This is THE new hipster and fashion district! Contrary to the old city, we don’t see many backpackers with elephant pants and BeerLao marcels. Here, it’s the corner of the carefully trimmed beards and ice latte drinkers! Hundreds of art and designer stores, trendy cafes and restaurants, coworking spaces, pulsating wifi, and good coffee on every corner make it a bit of a digital nomad paradise in Chiang Mai. You guessed it, it’s in this district that we spent these 5 months!

Lang Mor

It is the extension of Nimman which is developing at a high speed, in addition to being the university and young district par excellence. In short, it’s a little bit like Nimman, but with more affordable rents. On the other hand, we are a little further from the old city.

Santitham

This district is very appreciated, you are finally very close to Nimman as well as to the old city while having the possibility of finding cheaper apartments. New buildings are springing up all over the place: in a very short time, this area will likely have as many bars and restaurants as Nimman.

Night Market

As its name suggests, this is where the famous Chiang Mai night market is held. As far as accommodation is concerned, it is not so many apartments that dominate, but rather small boutique hotels and charming inns.

Finally, it is a nice area to stay in if you stay a few days in the city, but probably not the first choice for those who settle here for a longer period.

Riverside

This is the downright luxurious version! Most of the accommodations on the waterfront are 5* hotels, so it’s not the area we considered putting our backpacks. Nevertheless, it is a very popular area in Chiang Mai for renting luxury apartments for the biggest budgets. But we didn’t go there to visit, you won’t blame us, will you 😉?

How much does it cost to rent an apartment in Chiang Mai?

It’s hard to give a price for an apartment in Chiang Mai. Honestly, it’s more up to you to give a budget!

Here, you can find a place to stay for 2000 bahts per month (about 50 euros), as well as luxury apartments for 40 000 bahts per month (about 1000 euros). Between these 2 extremes, absolutely everything is possible!

The price of an apartment depends on several factors:

• The location: Apartments near the river, in the Night Market and Nimman areas are generally more expensive than those found in other areas.
• The size of the apartment and the number of rooms.
• The kitchen: In Thailand, many apartments only have a refrigerator. If you wish to have a real kitchen, you will certainly have to count a little more.
• The furniture: Modern and matching or old and different… There is a wide range of furniture and this is reflected in the price.
• The building and its infrastructures: Between the old and decrepit buildings where you enter like in a mill and the super modern buildings with security locks where you enter thanks to your fingerprints, there is everything! Amenities such as the pool and fitness room usually translate into higher rent.
• Length of lease: It seems logical, but the longer you stay, the less you’ll pay! Most properties offer 3 price ranges: short-term (1-3 months), medium-term, and long-term (1-year contract). You can easily see a 20-30% difference in these rates depending on the length of time you choose.

If we generalize, here are the types of apartments that you should be able to find in Chiang Mai for your budget and a rental period ranging from 1 to 5 months. As a reminder, 10 bahts = 0,27 euro.

2000 bahts

Oh, you don’t have to be picky! At this price, it will probably be a very basic furnished room with a fan and, if you are really lucky, a fridge.

4000 bahts

For this rent, you will have a basic room of about 215 to 270 sq ft in an old building, without any particular infrastructure (security, swimming pool or fitness), but with a fridge and possibly air conditioning available (electricity costs extra) and hot water in the shower.

6000 bahts

For this price, you will have a decent room of about 270 sq ft. There are exceptions, but often this will not include a swimming pool or a fitness center (in our addresses below, we have one apartment that proves the contrary, but that’s all). We can start to hope to have wifi and a little more charm through the furnishing and decoration!

8000 bahts

In or near Nimman, it’s still a room, but with more character and often some semblance of a kitchen (at least a stove). In the less desirable areas, you can start to expect to find apartments with one separate bedroom. It is possible to have a swimming pool at these prices, but access will often be charged.

10 000 bahts

These are the first prices for apartments with one separate bedroom and kitchen in Nimman, often with a pool and fitness. Outside of Nimman, we start to have access to really nice apartments with the same services.

Between 12 000 and 18 000 bahts

We generally find apartments of a better standing and also whole houses from 12 000 bahts. On the other hand, it is more difficult to rent houses for short periods, the contracts are generally annual.

What are the charges for apartments in Chiang Mai?

In Chiang Mai, you have to be careful, because the rent of the apartments often does not include the charges! You have to add to the rent the fees for the use of water and electricity.

The water

The billing is based on your consumption in m3. The price varies from one landlord to another but is generally around 20-40 bahts/m3. Generally, unless you have a swimming pool or a garden with automatic watering, the bill for water rarely exceeds 120-180 bahts per month for 2 people living in 377-430 sq ft.

Electricity

The price also depends on your consumption in kWh. This one generally varies from 4 to 10 bahts/kWh. Yes yes, the difference is huge according to the owners, hence the importance to pay attention to this point!

The biggest factor for electricity consumption will probably be the air conditioning. You should know that an air conditioner consumes roughly 1 kWh. I let you do the calculation, but running an air conditioner 24/24 is 3000 bahts per month at the lowest rate in the market! Otherwise, a fan only consumes 60 Wh if ever 😉.

To give you an idea, we currently consume between 5 and 5.5 kW per day. This corresponds to the consumption for 2 people in an apartment of about 430 sq ft with a fridge permanently plugged in, 2 computers permanently plugged in, a fan that runs about 18 hours (day and night), and roughly an hour of air conditioning spread over the day and evening, and the daily use of light and ceramic hobs.

The deposit

Another charge not to forget when renting an apartment is the deposit! It is usually one month’s rent to be deposited in cash at the reception and to be retrieved when you leave. Just remember to have enough reserves to advance this amount!

Our tips for looking for an apartment in Chiang Mai

Well, it’s nice, but it still doesn’t tell us where to find the ideal accommodation! See you at the end of the article where we give you all the addresses of the apartments we visited. Before that, we give you some advice to find your rare pearl.

Do not book on the Internet and avoid rental agencies

There are several sites to find furnished apartments in Chiang Mai. Even if they are not fundamentally bad, booking online often means paying more, and of course, you can’t see the property before signing. In Europe, I would not rent an apartment based on a photo, but in Thailand, even less!

The same goes for the agencies. There are several, some even offer a service to visit several apartments during the day by car or tuk-tuk. If you are in a hurry and don’t mind paying more for the same apartment, this can be an option.

Honestly, it is so easy to find an apartment by yourself that we can only recommend you not to book anything in advance and to see once you are there!

The easiest way is to book a guesthouse or accommodation for 2-3 nights at the beginning of your stay in Chiang Mai to give yourself time to look for an apartment on the spot. During our research, we stayed at the excellent Rimnim Hostel, which is just a stone’s throw from the Maya shopping center and about 10 minutes from the old town.

Find a large choice of hotels and apartments on the map below:

Prepare a budget taking into account your lifestyle

The choice of apartments is vast and the level of infrastructure varies a lot. Of course, we all have a certain budget and it is important to stick to it. To determine your budget, consider asking yourself some questions:

• Is a studio sufficient for me or would I prefer to have a separate room? We spend a lot of time on the computer and, as a couple, it was important to have a workspace in our home. This comes at a price! If we didn’t have a living room with a workspace, we probably would have spent a lot less time at home and would have gone to coffee shops every afternoon to work. Knowing that iced coffee is sold on average at 80-100 bahts each, the calculation is quickly done!
• Does the apartment have wifi? Same reasoning as above… Well after, you should know that it is possible to install super-efficient wifi for 700 bahts per month. But take this point into account!

• Do you want to work out or lounge in the pool? A fitness membership costs about 1000-2000 bahts per person per month. Access to the pool, in a residence where you are not staying, is around 100-180 bahts. In short, it may be worth paying a little more for rent if these items are included and important to you.
• Do you like to cook? Apartments with a fully equipped kitchen are often a bit more expensive. But if you like to cook, having a kitchen is also a great way to save money! Eating out in Thailand doesn’t cost much, I’ll give you that, but shopping at the local market and cooking your food is even better.

Explore the area of your choice on foot

We were recommended to take a scooter, but we preferred to go on foot! We have much more time to look around without having to worry about Thai traffic laws at the same time. Certainly, we covered not far from 25 km during our first day of the visit, but nothing obliges you to visit as many apartments as we did 😉.

Analyze the different prices according to the duration of the rental

The rate often becomes more advantageous from the moment you sign for 6 months. And sometimes, the mathematical notion of the landlords is a bit surprising! For example, we visited an apartment where the rent was 6500 bahts per month for a rental of 1 to 5 months. For 6 months, the rent was 5000 bahts.

In short, 5 months’ rent was 32 500 bahts, while 6 months’ rent was 30 000 bahts! Hmmm… Surprising but it’s not rare, believe us!
So, if you are thinking of staying for 5 months, consider the option of renting for 6 months and leaving the apartment empty for one month.

Another tip: if someone asks you how long you want to stay, tend to think largely.

Owners and managers tend to favor people who stay longer.
You know you want to stay 3 months and not a day longer? Don’t say 3 months, say at least 3 months, maybe more…

Ask to see several rooms if possible

We have noticed that even though apartments may look identical in a building, in practice this is not always the case. The view, the equipment left behind by previous tenants such as dishes and fans, or simply the layout of the rooms, can vary greatly!

For example, in the building where we are, we visited 3 apartments at the same price! The one we chose had a great view of the mountains and a table to work at, while the other 2 overlooked the building next door and had no table.

Be sure to ask what the rates are for additional charges

Be sure to ask how much water and electricity are charged. As we said above, this can vary from simple to double: this is a point to take into account when calculating the budget. In addition, some buildings charge for access to the pool or fitness center, so if these points are important to you, remember to ask about them at the time of the visit.

A rent that is a little more expensive but that charges the minimum price for utilities and leaves free access to the facilities can be more advantageous!

Take the time to visit the apartments and test the facilities!

In Thailand, the quality of the apartments is very variable. Sometimes the furniture and facilities look old but are of good quality. Sometimes, everything seems new and, if you look closely, you have the feeling to be in a cardboard house because everything is so cheap.

Anyway, open the drawers, turn on the water, and sit on the bed and couch to test how hard it is (on some of them we feel like on boards). Also consider whether the apartment provides sheets, pillows, and comforters as well as dishes, a broom, a fan, etc. All these things can of course be purchased later, but they are clearly to be taken into account in your budget calculation!

Our addresses of condos and apartments in Chiang Mai to visit

Since we only visited apartments in the Nimman, Lang Mor, and Santitham districts, we will focus on these 3 areas in the following part.

Here is a selection of apartments that we visited in Chiang Mai and a preview on the map to help you find them. The apartment numbers are according to the price: the cheapest one being n° 1 and the most expensive one we visited being n° 17.

Huay Kaew Palace 1: the condo we chose (in red on the map)

• 11 000 bahts/month.
• The pros: We liked the decoration of the apartment and the arrangement of the space. It is small but well thought out. We have 2 separate workplaces and we also appreciate the location as well as the pool and the fitness which are at our disposal. The fact that there is a kitchen was a big plus for us too…
• The cons: The pool overlooks a parking lot on one side, not necessarily very glamorous… Some rooms overlook a ruined building, ask to visit several of them.

Let’s go to the ones we didn’t choose, but we went to see:

1. Grand Living Residence

• 3500 bahts/month with a supplement of 400 bahts for the wifi.
• The pros: The price… And it’s clean!
• The cons: Sheets and comforters are not provided… And let’s admit it, the decoration is a bit too old for our taste.

2. K Nimman

• 4500 bahts/month.
• The pros: We don’t come here for the classy or nice side, but for the price. It’s minimalist and has everything you need!
• The cons: The rooms are relatively small, the biggest one must be 260 sq ft and there is no working space.

3. Hillcrest

• 5500 bahts/month.
• The pros: The price for those who travel on a small budget and the room is perfect!
• The cons: The owner was praising the view of the canal. Well, let’s say it’s also the view on the main road, eh?

4. Baan Horcome Condo

• 6000 bahts/month.
• The pros: We strongly hesitated with this room! The price is just crazy for what is proposed: the room is spacious and equipped with a kitchen. There is a swimming pool with a superb view of the mountain and a fitness room.
• The cons: It’s a studio, so there is no separate room and the furniture is quite (or very) old.

5. Chomdoi II

• 4000-11 000 bahts/month.
• The pros: We visited 4 apartments here and, with such a price difference, we can tell you that the infrastructure varied greatly! In short, in this building, there are chances that you have a wide choice of apartments for all budgets.
• The cons: We found the building a bit gloomy. There is no pool or fitness center.

6. HimNimman Residence

• 8000 bahts/month for 1-3 months and 6500 bahts/month beyond 3 months.
• The pros: The room is bright and clean with the furniture which is not modern, but it’s OK. The location is great: we are a few steps from Nimman and the old town at the same time.
• The cons: There are only studios without separate rooms, so it was a bit small for us.

7. Punna Residence

• 11 000 bahts/month.
• The pros: Super spacious and well laid out apartment with modern and bright furniture. The pool and the fitness are great too. We also appreciated the security of the building with access only by badging for the floors.
• The cons: Minimum contract of 6 months.

8. Green Hill Place

• 13 000 bahts/month.
• The pros: The rooms are good as well as the pool and the fitness.
• The cons: We don’t know, we just didn’t fall in love with it, but it’s worth a visit!

9. Vieng Ping

• From 7000 bahts/month.
• It was full at the time of our passage, so we could not visit… But we know people who are there and they are very happy.

10. Baan Thai Apartment

• From 7000 bahts/month.
• It was full at the time of our passage, so we could not visit… But we know people who are there and they are very happy.

11. Punna 5

• 12 000 bahts/month (different prices for different apartments).
• The pros: Nice spacious and well-arranged apartment with modern and clean furniture. The swimming pool and the fitness are great too. We also appreciated the security of the building with access only by badging for the floors.
• The cons: Minimum contract of 6 months…

12. The Dome Residence

• 12 000 bahts/month.
• The pros: The location is very good, we are close to both the old town and Nimman. The rooms are functional and arranged soberly. The apartment we visited had a separate room which was a big plus for us.
• The cons: For the price, we found the infrastructure and the furniture a bit basic… The fitness center is tiny, and there is no pool.

13. Promt Condo

• 12 000 bahts/month.
• The pros: Located right behind the Maya shopping mall, the location is ideal! In addition to having a beautiful pool and fitness area, the rooms are tastefully decorated and contain all the necessary amenities (kitchen utensils, dishes, sheets, etc.).
• The cons: The room was unfortunately too small for us (about 215 sq ft) for the space that was both bedroom, kitchen, and living room. The only room available at the time of our visit was on the first floor, which we did not find ideal.

14. Flora House

• 15 000 bahts/month.
• The pros: The setting is great, and the neighborhood and the building are top! We liked the separate kitchen with the living room space.
• The cons: For the price, there is no pool or fitness. So it was a bit expensive for us. Also, the internet didn’t seem super fast, so we probably should have invested 700 bahts per month for a private connection.

15. Stylish

• 18 000 bahts/month.
• The pros: MAGNIFICENT! We hesitated to crack… Nothing to say, this place is a sick standing for a price (488 euros) super OK! The swimming pool and the fitness are states of the art and the apartment is hyper-equipped: washing machine, microwaves, pans, water heater, household utensils, etc. In short, it is with a twinge of regret that we have been reasonable for purely financial reasons.
• The cons: 6 months contract normally (they were ready to give us the apartment for 5 months, but a priori not for less time). In the end a bit expensive for us!

16. The Siri Condominium

• 19 000 bahts/month.
• The pros: Honestly, the apartments here are great, bright, and well-equipped. The building is very well secured and the reception is nice! To choose, we would have rather taken the previous apartment, but we remained reasonable!
• The cons: Out of our budget and minimum rental of 3 months.

17. Moda Condo

• 25 000 bahts/month.
• The pros: Here, it is a big luxury! The whirlpool bath has a view of the room through a bay window and the city, the bed is huge and of great quality. It’s a whole new level!
• The cons: We didn’t have the budget to afford such an apartment 😅.

18. Hillside Condo

• The rent is variable: it’s a huge condo located right next to the Maya shopping center. Here, you can find some for all prices. Non-renovated condos rent for around 5000 bahts per month, but it is also possible to find 755 sq ft condos completely renovated which rent for 20 000 bahts per month. The easiest way is to ask reception what options are available at the time of your visit.

Of course, there are many other condos, residences, and apartment hotels in Chiang Mai. This is just a small selection based on our visits!

Review of our apartment search

Now you know everything about apartment hunting in Chiang Mai! After this great experience, we wrote an article about the budget and the results of these 5 months as digital nomads in the north of Thailand.

Don’t worry, we didn’t only work for 5 months! After having explored Chiang Mai, we took a week to discover the surroundings by doing the Mae Hong Son loop by scooter.

Are you ready to move to Chiang Mai 😉?