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ThailandDescription and is it worth a visit
The villages of the northern tribes in Chiang Mai are perhaps the most famous tourist attraction in northern Thailand and one of the "business cards" of the region, one might say a local tourist brand. And that's why most travelers go to the north in the hope of seeing with their own eyes and taking photos of the tribes of long-necked Karen or Khmonog dressed in colorful clothes, which official advertising guidebooks attract here. And in principle, all these hopes will certainly come true, because it's really easy to see them. However, there are features that can slightly spoil your expectations:
In total, nine small nationalities live in Chiang Mai Province: Karen, Hmong, Yao, Lahu, Lisu, Akha, Lua, Khamu and Tin. In English, they are written like this: Karen, Hmong, Mien (Yao), Lahu, Lisu, Akha, Lua, Khamu, Thin. The most famous of them are long–necked Karen, as well as Hmong, who dress up in clothes and headdresses with embroidery. All these ethnic groups are small in number, lived in isolation in small villages and mountainous areas for a long time, and some of them arrived in Thailand as refugees from Burma, southern China and Laos.
But these "isolated" times are already a thing of the past, at least in Thailand. There are almost no real tribal villages left, civilization has come everywhere. Almost all the villages that are shown to tourists today are a tourist show and commerce. The women of many of these villages really belong to small nationalities, but all this is a performance. They no longer wear traditional clothes in everyday life, and wear rings around their necks only in front of tourists. Moreover, the necks of many of them are not even elongated at all, and only the oldest women really have deformed necks. In principle, there is nothing wrong with this, since stretching the neck leads to bad health consequences. But the bad thing is that it all looks like a "human zoo", especially if you visit such places not for the first time, and even in a large group of tourists.
As for the non-tourist villages that are marked on maps as tribal and the entrance to which is free, we have been to such villages too. And when we arrived there on our own without tour groups, we saw just the most ordinary poor Thai village, whose inhabitants wear modern casual clothes, use smartphones and satellite TV, drive cars. And they dress up and arrange a performance only to meet tourist groups, about which they are notified in advance.
However, we do not discourage visiting ethnic villages in Changmai at all, but simply explained from our experience what is really worth waiting for.. In fact, it is simply impossible to visit the north of Thailand and not visit at least one tribal village. Moreover, by visiting them, you help them survive and adapt to modern conditions. They earn, first of all, by making souvenirs, trading and receiving money for photographing. But the payment from tourists for entering the villages does not come to them, at least that's what they tell themselves.
🕐 Working hours
In the daytime.
💵Entrance fee / ticket price
Entrance to tribal villages is paid, 300-500 baht (approximately 9.2-15.33 USD, see Thailand's currency and exchange rate). Ready–made tour in a group from Chiang Mai with transport - from 600 baht (approximately 18.4 USD), more complex trekking tours - from 2000 baht (approximately 61.34 USD).
🚶 How to get there
There are quite a few ethnic villages in Chiang Mai and in the neighboring provinces. The easiest way to visit them is with excursions, which are sold in almost every travel agency in the old town. There are simple mini-bus tours from 600 baht with a visit to paid villages, which in fact are just markets with costumed women. But there are also more serious trekking tours to visit more natural and distant villages, and if you have the time and energy to make a long journey, we recommend them. Also, trekking tours can be found from Chiang Tao, Taton and Fang, but you can't buy them there on the street at travel agencies, you need to look for contacts of guides or agencies via the Internet in advance and arrange a hike in advance.
If you want to visit the villages yourself by rented transport, it is most convenient to search for the nearest ones on Google maps for queries like "Karen Village", "Hmong Village", "Tribal Village", "Ethnic Village". Just keep in mind that some of the villages, like traveling circuses, are changing positions, and we, for example, came to those from which only abandoned stalls remained. So also pay attention to the reviews and their date.
Friends, we remind you that it is much more interesting to get acquainted with the sights of Thailand with the help of excursions, and therefore we advise you to look at options with online booking and reviews on these excursion aggregators: