Four Seasons Resort Chiang Mai

The Hotel

Four Seasons Resort Chiang Mai opened on 12 February 1995 — at that point the Toronto-based brand's first South-East-Asian resort and the property that established the contemporary Lanna-pavilion-resort vocabulary that has subsequently shaped Northern Thai luxury hospitality. The site is on 80 acres in the Mae Rim valley 20 kilometres north of central Chiang Mai, on agricultural land that the resort has continuously cultivated as working rice paddies (60% of the site is actively producing the property's own jasmine and sticky rice). The architectural commission was the late William Warren — the American expatriate landscape historian who had relocated to Thailand in the 1960s and whose Bangkok practice had researched and documented the traditional Lanna-pavilion vernacular — who designed the 99 guest pavilions as authentic interpretations of the Northern Thai stilted-house architectural tradition.

The 99 accommodations divide between 64 Pavilions (the original 1995 stilted-Lanna pavilions, deliberately compact at 70 square metres with private terraces over the rice paddies), 16 Pool Villas (one- to three-bedroom contemporary villas at 230 to 400 square metres with private 8-metre lap pools), and 19 Residences (multi-bedroom configurations up to 750 square metres for families). The Royal Pool Villa at 750 square metres is the milestone unit — three bedrooms, a 14-metre private pool, a private outdoor sala-pavilion, and a dedicated villa host. Bathrooms throughout are travertine and locally-sourced teak; bath products are Lorenzo Villoresi Firenze, Four Seasons' signature.

Khao Soi Restaurant — named for the Northern Thai signature noodle dish — is the principal restaurant, with a contemporary Thai register rooted in Northern Lanna cuisine; chef David Hartwig and his Thai head chef team run a deliberately-regional menu programme. North runs the all-day brasserie programme; Sala Mae Rim handles the central garden register; the Tennessee Cigar Bar runs the after-dinner programme. The Spa programme — opened with the resort and now the most-decorated spa in Northern Thailand — runs eight treatment rooms across a 1,200-square-metre dedicated wellness pavilion, with the only authentic Lanna-massage programme in any Chiang Mai five-star. The two main pools (the central infinity pool over the rice paddies, the family pool near the Residences) and the working farm complete the wellness layer. The Buffalo & Bicycle programme — the resort's signature in-house experience — operates daily at 6 AM with a private buffalo-cart ride through the rice fields followed by traditional Lanna breakfast on the paddy edge.

The Mae Rim position is the booking proposition. From the resort it is 30 minutes by car to Chiang Mai's Old City and the Tha Phae Gate, 25 minutes to Chiang Mai International Airport (CNX), 35 minutes to Doi Suthep and the Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, and 45 minutes to the Mae Sa elephant nature parks. The resort runs a complimentary daily shuttle to Chiang Mai's Old City (operating four times daily). For travellers wanting the Northern Thailand resort booking — particularly for families, honeymooners, and wellness-retreat travellers wanting the rice-paddy-and-Lanna-pavilion register — Four Seasons is unambiguously the answer. Anantara Chiang Mai is the river-and-central alternative; Four Seasons is the rural-and-resort answer.

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