The second hotel Few vs Many visited during the trip to Thailand is the Mandarin Oriental Chiang Mai Thailand. And this is actually much more then just a hotel, to us it looked more like a theme park where it’s possible to sleep.

The entrance of the hotel is overwhelming. We were warned but we still are flabbergasted. It’s huge! Before the taxi can enter we are carefully checked by the guards at the gates. This feels a bit weird to be honest. We are apporoved so we may enter the property. On the left beautiful rice fields, on the right appartments (employees) but right in front of us is this beautiful and huge building. It’s the reception.

The reception looks like a bee hive. It’s crowded. We feel (and are) like a number. Because we arrive late our appointment with the marketing lady is rescheduled to the next day. We get the keys to our villa. Jep, a villa. We thought we would spend the night in a simple ‘room’ but it’s a villa! According to the staff you can’t just walk to your villa. That’s why the hotel has multiple golf carts. Primary to bring guests to their ‘destination’.

But, Few vs Many wouldn’t be Few vs Many if we didn’t take this strange offer. We hop in and are taken to our villa. It’s like a 5 minute drive so could have walked easily.

When we arrive at the villa we are stunned. It’s huge and has 2 floors, a private bubble bath on a porch and a gigantic living room. Everything we need or probably could wish for is here. We adap rapidly so we order room service for our dinner.

Then there is some knocking on the door. 3 people are there with our food. They first set the table before they serve the food. We though we ordered for 2 but it seems enough for over 6 people. The Mandarin hotel keeps on surprising. In a good way, we guess.

We decide to go to bed early. We are tired. The next day we have the grand tour and something tells us this is going to take forever because of the size of the property. Luckily this turns out not so bad. The marketing lady shows us around en tells us about the owners, who sounds like a pretty cool guy. He bought the land a few years ago, took some archtictual graduates with him to travel for 2 years and gave them carte blanche for this property. Seems like a cool job to us.

We also enjoy a typical Lanna lunch at Le Grand Lanna restaurant. The thai food here is amazing. A real winner!

Should we recommend the Mandarin Oriental or not? We’re in doubt. It was quite a special experience but we simpe can not afford to pay € 1000, – a night in a hotel. It’s built for people with money, so we don’t really fit in. But, that doesn’t mean we didn’t like it. One thing is for sure, we will definitely never forget our visit to this spectacular hotel.

Price: starts at € 500,- a night
More information: Website Mandarin Oriental Chiang Mai
Tripadvisor link
Google maps