Ban Rak Thai

Its a small village near the Burma border. The lake in the middle makes it more beautiful. The drive from Chiang main is 5 hours so you need to stay here to rest because there are many curves on the way here.
The tea shops here serve tea which taste fantastic. The night view of the market and lake is stunning. You can go boating as well in the lake but you need to book in advance for early morning.

Been there twice (before and after COVID) and both times are beautiful and nice. The second time was much more crowded and colder (January 2023).
In the morning there was fog over the lake and in the evening we enjoyed 'moo krata' (Thai BBQ).
VLOG: https://youtu.be/aOsE_tl0b1E

-I visited in beginning of January, which fell on New Year’s Day. I think it’s was a very beautiful place whether at night or during the day. Because it’s a village in the middle of the valley and there have a reservoir in the middle of the village and it’s decorated in a Chinese style. In the morning we will see fog floating on the reservoir, it’s a very beautiful picture. And there also have a boat trip and sipping tea in the reservoir. If you go, you must definitely try and take a picture there because it’s very beautiful. And another thing that I would like to recommend that is you have to go eat Thai BBQ (Moo-gata), it’s a very good feeling. Eating Thai BBQ in the cool weather is the best. Actually, it’s cool all year round, you can go during any month. But I went on a holiday and there might be a little more people. If you haven’t reserved the room, it’s quite hard to find.

A cute magical Yunnan village on top of a mountain. Enjoy amazing food all around the lake with night views for mookata.

Take your own tiny hut boat and enjoy tea on the lake. Beautiful night and morning views.

This place is ao beautiful and fantastic. It is Chinese village in North of Thailand. Everything is so nice and peaceful. The people is also friendly.

Lovely Chinese village located in northern Thailand with various instagram spots. P.s if you wanna take boat, don’t forget to book in advance. In peak seasons, pls book for hotel in advance as well. It is just one hour drive from Mae hong son.

This is a village built by KMT soldiers when China was established in 1949. So the Thai people here are also able to speak Mandarin Chinese well.

This place has beautiful scenery day and night. The accommodation here is quite expensive especially at the famous “Lee Wine resort”. On the opposite side of the lake from “Lee Wine” however , prices are cheaper. Most of the tourists here are local thai. Few accommodation here put up on hotel websites. You can find their contact number (add them via LINE app) or Facebook on google maps.

The main activity to do here is to hire a boat ride to the middle of the lake to see the scenery and you might get to see the “mist above the water” during cold temperatures such as winter (December) and rainy (September) seasons in Thailand.

You can also visit the tea plantation at Lee Wine resort (20 THB)

You can also rent Chinese costumes to take photos (100 THB per hour)

There are also electric PMD bikes for rent at 100 THB per hour.

To get here, you can take a yellow songtheow from Mae Hong Son town at 12pm.

It's a 5 plus hour drive from Chiang Mai so if you do decide to come up here spend a night or two. I just took a walk around the lake after dinner and the views are amazing plus the weather is very cool for thailand.

Took about 6 hours to travel from ChiangMai town area to Ban Rak Thai by mini van and self driving. Worth the travel time and we enjoyed the scene.

Well the road up is full of bends, but it is all worth the view!!! We even walked the 20mins up to the Myanmar border and said hello to the Thai guards. This place is so beautiful and relaxed

The place with amazing views. Most beautiful villages in Thai. Just go to the above shops to get the full view of the villages. Worth the long ride to here.

A very beautiful place, in the mountains it is cool at night. The whole village looks like a Chinese drama set.
Here you can buy very good tea.
quite difficult to reach by public transport. Many kilometers of serpentine, please do not have lunch before the trip.

This place is definitely worth a detour. I'm really amazed that they managed to turn such a small pond/lake into a tourist attraction and build so many resorts there. It's possible to walk all the way round the pond/lake in a couple of hours. The best time on the lake is definitely as the sun rises and the mists form above it. Head to Lee Wine Resort, pay a small fee and you can go in and take some amazing shots from there.

Stunning 🤩

What a little town in middle of mountains and besides to the lake.

It’s little Chinese thai town based the culture.
The lake view is amazing and all mountain around.
Beautiful Chinese decorated stores and hotels around.

Not expensive as not many tourist could reach here or Covid impacted badly so number tourists are less.

Very calm, peaceful and slow life town

Tea gardens around, and lot of shops selling tea.
A must visit if someone love nature and peaceful breeze ❤

It’s come from chinese exile long time ago, but nowadays they already become Thai in nationality. Good ambience and they have the best tea! You can also find chinese drugs here and of course cheaper than the town.

Beautiful little village in the mountains. A lot of Chinese culture. Vast assortment of tea. Nice view of the lake from the restaurants, which also serves good food. Going for a boat ride to have morning tea was very cool.

Beautiful china town in Mea Hong Son
Best view. Romantic, cold weather

About an hour's detour from MHS by Motorbike..
The route is winding and mountainous.
This little town well worth a visit and very picturesque
Do Enjoy their famous Chinese tea in front of the beautiful lake. 😅

We drove up from Chiangmai to BanRakThai , 7 hours on the road, tired BUT damn worth it !

On the way was super challenging, don’t play play. Another suggestion is u can stop by Pai town for one night, then just drive up, it’s may take about 3-4 hours.

What a beautiful small village.
Alots of places in the village are Instagramable

Get urself stay night with n spend one whole day here, night time to have open air concept steamboat, shiock !

Very nice place recommended to visit. Village and resorts are Chinese yunnan style. Best season to visit is winter. Atmosphere is calm and peaceful, no noisy. I can drink coffee and enjoy the view for the whole day.