The Pingviman Hotel is a Northern Thai style, luxury boutique accomodation with just 44 rooms, located within the old city walls. It is trully one of the most beautiful hotels I had ever had the pleasure of staying in.  From the moment you step into the Pingviman Hotel lobby you know you are in for a real treat with the shining wood floor, heavy hand carved wood furniture and tapestries hanging from the walls. The staff was welcoming and there to ensure your stay was an absolute pleasure.

What we saw in the lobby paled once we stepped out onto the koi lined path that led directly out to the heart of this lovely retreat hotel, the courtyard with it’s stunning cobalt blue pool with lounge charges and cabanas perfectly placed around this jewel, some in the shade and some situated so you can soak up the warmth of the sun.

We were esorted to our suite on the ground floor directly next to the pool. As we approached the balcony to our room we were shown our room key, a beautiful brass skeleton key, unlocking an equally beautiful brass padlock on a massive wood double door with a wood latch handle on the inside. I was so giddy at this point I could hardly contain myself, but there was more.

As the double doors were opened, we stepped inside to the most beautiful room I have ever seen. Maybe I am biased, because I love teak. The first thing that caught my eye was the very inviting massive king sized bed with it’s massive hand carved teak headboard. Everywhere you look there are extraoridnary touches, beautiful little details everywhere. The floors were shiny teak. Two desks, a sofa, coffee table and dresser were all each a piece of art.

Next was the bathroom which featured a huge jacuzzi tub, a beautiful piece of furniture with it’s beautiful blue and white china wash basin. Beautiful armoir to hold your clothes and charming hand painted tile floors.

There is a bar and restaurant where we had lunch upon arrival, and breakfast every morning. This was included in our rate. The conceirge was the sweetest man. He helped make arrangements for cars and scheduled my cooking class which was fabulous and I’ll discuss that soon.

The Pingviman Hotel is in a great location. A tiny little health food store about a half a block away if that’s important to you. Easy level walking distance (about 1/2 mile) to restaurants and the Chiang Mai Night Bazaar. It’s crowded, but fun, full of locals and lots of local goods from art to bugs as snacks. Yeah….no we didn’t try any.

Uber at the time of this writing was up and running in Chiang Mai and that’s where we learned to Uber for the first time. So inexpensive, like $2-3 at the most for any 1 way trip we took around town.

So you are probably wondering what is a place like the Pingviman Hotel going to cost you. Again, giddy with excitement, how does $61 a night sound to you? We booked on Expedia, so you might want to check there or similar booking site for the best rates.

I would give the Pingviman Hotel a solid 5 Stars. The restaurant I would rate little bit lower, at a 3.5-4 Star. It was great for breakfast and there are fabulous places for both lunch and dinner all around Chiang Mai.