The city celebrated its 700th anniversary in 1996, and although modern developments have brought in their fair share of disturbances from outside the walls of the old town, the present city of 250,000 inhabitants has preserved much of its original relaxed feel. Chiang Mai is the kind of place that will persuade people to stay longer than they had planned.

One of the popular tourist activities is a visit to the often small, but always charming, temples. Among them, the Wat Phra Singh stands as the single most impressive array of buildings in town, presenting an interesting set of mural paintings illustrating life in the north 100 years ago. For more information on Lanna art and culture, a visit to the National Museum (Wed-Sun: 9am-4pm) is a must.

The Burmese captured Chiang Mai in 1556 and their occupation lasted for two centuries. The Burmese influence is still strong, particularly in the food which presents a range of rich and thick curries and soups specific to the north. The northern signature dish is the kao soi, a spicy and creamy noodle soup.

Certainly, Chiang Mai is one of the best places to indulge in the best of Thai cuisine as there are plenty of inexpensive and enticing restaurants around. And although the town avoids most of Bangkok's infamous excesses, there is a rather upbeat nightlife which gets it going till late.

Chiang Mai also offers mind-soothing and body-relaxing spa facilities. One such place is the Lanna Spa in the Regent Resort Chiang Mai. Set in the lush tropical vegetation of the Mae Rim valley, the variety of facilities includes romantic outdoor soaking tubs, tropical rain massage tables and an infinity edge swimming pool, while not exactly offeting the lulling sound of the surf, but certainly having an atmospheric experience in its own right.

The one thing people will agree about Chiang Mai is that it has the best shopping in Thailand. True enough, Bangkok' shopping diversity is hard to beat and although Chiang Mai has its luxurious shopping plazas, the town isn't aiming to challenge the metropolis in that field. But Chiang Mai in turn is hard to beat when it come to handicrafts, simply because most of the items sold in Bangkok's shops will have come from one of the northern region's handicraft villages.

One of Chiang Mai's main attractions is the 13-km strip of road leading to the village of San Kamphaeng, famous for its richly coloured and hard-wearing silk. On the way, dozens of shops and craft centres propose the widest choice of fabrics,woodcarving, lacquerware, celadon and jewellery of jade and silver. The village of Bo Sang, specializing in silk, paper umbrellas and mulberry paper, will complete the visit, which can be done through an organized tour or by hiring your own tuk-tuk for the afternoon.

All those items and many more will also be on display in the lively night bazaar, where the shopping fever becomes hard to avoid. In the day, the Warorot market along the river has lots of items sold for local consumption, which make equally pleasing souvenirs. There are also lots of lovely designer boutiques around, each offering its own range of tasteful creations, thus giving a contemporary twist to ancient skills.

Chiang Mai also stands as the centre of trekking expeditions most of the walks are organized for trekkers to visit the many hill tribe villages scattered in the surrounding mountains.