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ThailandDescription and is it worth a visit
Umong Underground Temple (Wat Umong) is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Chiang Mai and definitely can be attributed to one of the most unusual temples in the entire province. Perhaps only Temple of Hell Wat Mae Ead in Chiang can compete with it in terms of "strangeness" and uniqueness Dao, but it is located quite far from the city. During our last trip we visited Umong, and now it has become one of our favorites in the northern capital. So we definitely recommend visiting it, especially since it is convenient to do this by combining the Umong temples and Doi Suthep during a day trip. In addition, it is also one of the oldest temples in Chiang Mai, it is already more than 700 years old. It was built by the great and especially revered King Mengrai, the founder of the kingdom of Lanna.
In the reviews about this temple, you can find the opinion that there is nothing interesting here, and it consists of only a couple of underground tunnels with several Buddha statues at the end of the corridors. This is true, and if you expect to see a whole underground city of tunnels and caves here, you will not find anything like that. But the temple is interesting not only and not so much by tunnels, but by the general territory of the complex. So we advise you to take a walk around, and not just limit yourself to the underground part.
This is a whole complex of several temple buildings located on an impressive territory in the forest at the foot of Doi Suthep Mountain near Chiang Mai. There are several stupas here, including a large ancient pagoda, the underground temple itself, several more traditional temple buildings, a lake, a monument to the public figure and famous ascetic monk Buddhadasa, a pavilion-museum, a cemetery and much more. There is even a map installed for navigation. On the territory you will see many statues of Buddha and other religious statues, many of which look very old and photogenic. It is worth planning at least an hour to visit the entire complex, but it is better to come here and take a leisurely walk for a couple of hours.
🕐 Working hours
From 06:00 to 17:00.
💵Entrance fee / ticket price
Free of charge.
🚶 How to get there
Umong Temple is located 5 kilometers from the center of the Old City outside the city gate on the outskirts of the city (temple on the map). Local transport does not go here, you can only get there by rented transport or taxi. Grab and Maxim applications work in Chiang Mai, it's cheaper to order a car through them than to catch on the street or negotiate with tuk-tuks. A one-way trip will cost from 120 baht (3.68 USD), for a motorcycle taxi it is almost twice cheaper.
Please note that there are two Wat Umong temples in Chiang Mai, the late one that you need is completely called Wat Umong Suan Phutthatham Suthep on the maps in taxi apps. Another Umong temple is located inside the city walls in the old town and is not of particular interest. Learn more about transportation in Chiang Mai and what to use here...
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: