Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai keeps its shape. The old city still sits inside a square moat dug in 1296, and inside it are more than thirty temples, teak monasteries, whitewashed chedis and quiet lanes where monks in orange cross at dawn. Wat Phra Singh holds the city's most revered Buddha image; Wat Chedi Luang keeps the ruined brick spire that once stood sixty metres tall before an earthquake took its top.

Above the city, the road climbs Doi Suthep through forest to a golden chedi and a view over the whole Ping valley. The mountains never leave the frame here. Two hours south, Doi Inthanon rises to the highest ground in Thailand, with cloud forest, waterfalls and rice terraces worked by Karen villages.

The city eats well and slowly. Khao soi, the coconut curry noodle the north made its own, is sold from open kitchens for the price of a coffee. Warorot market trades flowers, sausage and dried chilli at six in the morning; the Sunday Walking Street closes Ratchadamnoen to traffic and fills it end to end with craft stalls. Cooking schools take guests to the market first, then to an organic farm.

Around the edges: umbrella painters at Bo Sang, silk weavers at San Kamphaeng, ethical elephant sanctuaries in the Mae Taeng valley, and boutique hotels in Nimmanhaemin that look nothing like Bangkok. The cool season runs November to February, and in November the Yi Peng and Loy Krathong festivals send thousands of lanterns over the river on the same night.