Chiang Mai
You're flying out of Chiang Mai Airport, you have 90 minutes to kill, and you'd like to do better than a Pret. Good news: airport drinking has improved more in the last five years than the previous fifty. Pre-flight drinks at Chiang Mai Airport range from chain reliability to surprisingly polished hotel-style bars in the airport hotels. This is barsforKings's editor-curated guide to drinking better at Chiang Mai's airports.
Santitham · $
Coffee-and-cocktail bar from the Akha hill-tribe community.
Nimmanhaemin · $$
Craft-beer bar with thirty taps including Thai craft beers.
Old City · $
Heritage backpacker-zone bar.
Riverside · $$
Heritage live-music bar on the Ping River.
Want a real drink before flying? The fastest play is to get to airport hotels next door — most run polished bars that beat anything post-security. We list them at the bottom. If you've got 60 spare minutes pre-airport, see our shortlist of bars in Chiang Mai proper at the end.
Plays for Chiang Mai Airport: post-security, pre-security, lounges, and the airport-hotel cheat code.
Pre-flight drinks, hotel-bar reviews, and the openings we're watching across 200+ cities. Friday mornings, no filler.
Looking beyond Chiang Mai? See our guide to the best airport bars worldwide, or compare airport bars city by city.