Mae Salong is a unique village in northwestern Thailand that should be on everyone’s itinerary when visiting Chiang Rai. This is where you’ll find the Wang Put Tan Tea Plantation, offering some of the best tea and most luxurious mountain cabins in the region. Here’s how to get to Mae Salong, why you should visit, and details of the amazing Wang Put Tan Tea Plantation.
Getting to Mae Salong from Chiang Rai
Mae Salong is a tiny village atop a high mountain. “Mountain” is “Doi” in Thai, so Doi Mae Salong is the mountain’s name. However, the official name is Santikhiri, meaning peaceful mountain.
Mae Salong is less than 5 miles from the Myanmarese border and less than 25 miles northwest of Chiang Rai. Well, that’s as the crow flies. There’s no crossing into Myanmar anywhere near Mae Salong, and the drive from Chiang Rai is nearly 40 miles and takes well over an hour.
If you plan to drive to Mae Salong instead of going on a tour, rent a scooter or car in Chiang Rai (or Chiang Mai if you prefer). Travel north of Chiang Rai on Highway 1 about 15 miles to the village of Mae Chan. That’s about the halfway point on the highway up to Mae Sai. From there, head west on Highway 1089 into the mountains. You should see the sign for Mae Salong.
Once you get off the main highway, the drive becomes incredibly scenic. It’s about as remote as you can get in Thailand. However, a couple parts of the road are also quite nail-biting. While much of the road is even and straight, other parts are continuous hairpin curves, although not as many as on the road to Pai.
The scariest part is a section where the unpaved road goes steely up a mountain. Going up, I wasn’t sure if our small scoter had enough power to make it. But it was really terrifying on the way down, as I felt our breaks might give out at any second. Suffice to say, I’m still here to write this article.
Activities in Mae Salong
Mae Salong is a very small village and doesn’t have a lot of attractions, other than the extensive tea plantations and a few tea shops. One of the biggest and most popular tea plantations is Wang Put Tan. To say their tea is excellent is an understatement — they won gold at several international contests. The plantation has a boutique hotel, a tea shop and cafe, and, as of 2024, beautiful mountain cabins overlooking the plantation.
Chinese Martyrs Memorial Museum
One of the key attractions in Mae Salong is the Chinese Martyrs Memorial Museum. Google Maps calls this “The Martyr’s Memorial Hall” or “Chinese Division 93 Memorial”. You’ll find it about a mile south of the center of town.
The museum covers the Chinese Division 93 journey out of China at the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949 when the communists took control. Division 93 fled to Burma (as Myanmar was called then), but were chased out and into Thailand. King Rama IX accepted the division as long as they agreed to fight against Chinese communists in Thailand.
After successfully fighting against the communists, the division settled at Doi Mae Salong in 1961 and later continued to fight in the Thai army. For this, the king gave them Thai citizenship. Within a generation, they were cultivating tea plantations on the hills surrounding the town.
My host had a direct lineage to Division 93 and filled in some gaps at the museum. She also translated some of the information at the museum that wasn’t presented in English, as she spoke both Chinese and Thai.
General Tuan’s Tomb
This mausoleum is almost impossible to find as it only has a Thai name on Google Maps — สุสานนายพลต้วน. It’s a couple hundred feet west of the town center as the crow flies, but a full mile up a windy mountain road.
This is the tomb of the general who led the division out of China, through Burma, and eventually to Mae Salong. Granted, there’s not a lot to do other than see the tomb. Perhaps the tomb has more significance for Chinese tours, but it’s still a key attraction of Mae Salong.
The Wang Put Tan Tea Plantation
While the Chinese Martyrs Memorial Museum is a key attraction of Mae Salong, your trip isn’t complete without visiting the tea plantations. Specifically, Wang Put Tan Tea Plantation with its award-winning tea, beautiful tea rooms, boutique hotel, and new mountain cabins overlooking the plantations.
I was first introduced to Wang Put Tan Tea when I met the owner, Yuphin Cheewinkulthong a.k.a. Yee, at the Thailand Cultural Festival in Bangkok. Yee demonstrated how to serve Chinese tea properly, and gave me several samples of her award-winning teas.
Proper Chinese Tea
This was the first time I learned that all tea comes from the same plant but with different ages of leaves or levels of processing. Wang Put Tan produces nearly every type of tea – white, green, black, oolong, etc. To say their tea is excellent is an understatement. Several of their teas won gold at the World Green Tea Contest.
Getting a Chinese tea presentation is an experience in itself. I learned to never drink the first pouring (that’s to warm up and clean the cup), how getting the perfect temperature is imperative to the perfect serving, and how you can use the same batch of leaves several times. You can get a full demonstration at the Wang Put Tan Tea shop close to the center of town.
Converserly, if you have a bit more time, walk or drive down to the plantation. The tea rooms have a full menu of teas, both by the pot or by the cup. You can also order bubble teas, green tea, coffee, or some snacks. Expect to see a lot of Chinese getting their tea and Instagram shots. That’s not a bad thing – Chinese know where to get good tea!
The Boutique Hotel
Wang Put Tan has a boutique hotel near the center of Mae Salong. Built in 2014, the hotel has twelve rooms, a restaurant, and a tea shop. The rooms have a very minimalist design with nearly every piece of furniture constructed from concrete. But don’t let that put you off.
I can honestly say the Wang Put Tan boutique hotel was one of my favorite hotel stays in all my travels. The king bed was super comfortable, the bathroom was large and fully stocked, and the view off the balcony was stunning.
Tea Plantation Cabins
As wonderful as the boutique hotel was, the new accommodations are infinitely better. In 2023, Yee built five cabins on the side of the hill overlooking the tea plantations. Each cabin has a large, comfortable bed (or two twin beds if needed), mini-fridge, couch, and large bathroom. If there was a TV, I didn’t notice. The last thing I want to do in such a beautiful location is watch TV.
By far the best feature is the balcony with a large net hanging over the plantation. This was like having a private hammock with a spectacular view. At night, I spent at least an hour in the hammock stargazing from the net. The deck also has a small desk, perfect for getting some work done.
The Best Hot Pot Ever
At dinnertime, we had a traditional Chinese hot pot that blew my mind. Just before sunset, the plantation staff brought out all the ingredients to our balcony and helped set up the tabletop stove. The amount of food was staggering, but you have to take into account that hot pots have been communal meals for nearly three millennia.
The presentation was incredible. Meats, vegetables, noodles, sauces, herbs, and more were all laid out in a beautiful hamper, complete with a fly net. Combined with the boutique cabin, the view of the hills, and the sunset, the dinner was one of the best we had throughout our five months in Southeast Asia.
I’m still a bit of a novice with hot pots, and I honestly didn’t know what some of the portions of meat or vegetables were. Nevertheless, we sampled everything and tried our best to finish all the ingredients. I would say we did well, but we still had some leftovers in the end.
Our culinary experience at Wang Put Tan didn’t end there. In the morning, we had breakfast with a similarly impressive presentation, composed of Chinese porridge (I think), eggs, sausages (hot dogs), fresh fruit, and coffee. In hindsight, I should have ordered tea instead, considering we were on an award-winning tea plantation.
Booking the Wata Khiri Boutique Mountain Cabins
On booking sites like Agoda and Booking.com, the boutique cabins are called Wata Khiri, meaning wind mountain. Don’t worry, I don’t think they get too windy, except perhaps in the rainy season. Prices per night are very reasonable, especially considering the experience you get.
Granted, Mae Salong is rather remote and you might only want to stay for one night. Then again, this is the perfect place to stop and relax for a couple days if you have the time.
Further Reading
If you’re looking for other activities in Northern Thailand, here are a few more articles.
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