Four Seasons Chiang Mai – the Perfect out of the City Getaway
Chiang Mai is one of those amazing cities that offer a bustling big city life but where one only needs a short drive out of the city to find pure serenity and beautiful nature.
Despite the city not having a widespread Michelin quality restaurants scene, Thailand’s Northern main hub Chiang Mai is worth a visit for any foodie and luxury travel enthusiast.
The city lies beautifully surrounded by mountains and forest and offers amazing scenery and an abundant offering of amazing hotel stays. One hotel worth mentioning here is The Four Seasons Chiang Mai.
Located about 30 minutes outside of Chiang Mai’s city center, The Four Seasons lies perfectly nestled in at the food of the mountains – offering any mountain-view chasers, like myself, their wettest dreams. The hotels location in the middle of rice paddies further gives it a distinct feel of Asia and a scenic view.
Cake with a view
As we enter the beautiful entrance of The Four Seasons Chiang Mai with its large elephant sculptures along the driveway I instantly get the sense of something great is awaiting me. We are greeted by super hospital staff; smiley, professional – everything you would expect visiting The Four Seasons.
We are shown to the Sala Mae Rim restaurant and seated by our table. Right in front of us is one the most beautiful and scenic views I have ever had to enjoy my food along side. I can smell the green around me, hear the birds in the trees and see lizards run up and down a tree – it’s like a deluxe picnic with a comfortable seat and no ants in your food. I almost (just almost) loose focus on the cake awaiting me.
Luckily I snap out of my picnic daydream and make a quick order – we are going for the Afternoon Premium Set, consisting of the normal afternoon tea serving, plus Khao Soi, a local Northern Thailand specialty, chicken wings and lemon sorbet. Further more you get a stuffed version of the resorts mascot, a rare white buffalo.
I order a cappuccino – the only element of the day that I feel wasn’t quite up to par.
Desserts are always a good start!
We get everything served at once, which really gives me the perfect excuse to start with the ice cream, so it won’t melt of course!
The lime sorbet is tangy in flavor and soft in the texture. The Khao Soi is rich and deep in it’s curry flavor and has perfectly crunchy fried egg noodles on top.
The afternoon tea selection is classic, served with cucumber sandwiches scones and various cakes and macarons. Many of these sweet and savory bites come with a true twist of Thailand though, such as a lovely chocolate tart with black sesame on top or a beautifully orange colored and lovely flavored Thai-tea macaron. I favorite of mine was the lime leaf scone, where tiny bits of aromatic lime leaf create small pockets of freshness and mistakenly Thai flavor in the traditional scone. Often time I find the scones being a bit bland after a few bites, but this scone I could have eaten more then a fair share of!
Small but absolutely taste chicken wings served with the traditional afternoon tea elements
A selection of savory treats from the menu.
a sweet selection from the afternoon tea serving!
Reeeeaching out for those lovely snacks.
A walk through the rice paddies
After we finish our tea and make sure no sweet serving is left behind, we decide to process the sugar-rush by talking a walk around the lake in the center of the hotel grounds. I will highly recommend anyone to take this little tour when visiting The Four Seasons Chiang Mai.
Going down from the terrace you walk through the rice paddies – which was a first for me. On the left hand side you pass several of the large villas that Four Seasons Chiang Mai has to offer. We even manage to visit the hotel mascot the white buffalo, which is standing by the lake.
Lovely being able to walk through the rice paddies and down to the lake after an afternoon of snacking.
The sheer happiness of the experience at Four Seasons Chiang Mai made the author do something that looks like the robot. No further explanation is possible!
As we finish our tour he hear the distant rumble and see how the sky gets dramatically darker – rain is coming for sure! We therefore end our magnificent visit to Four Seasons Chiang Mai
Final thoughts – Four Seasons Chiang Mai
If you are a mountain-view chaser – like me – this destination should be on your list! Four Seasons Chiang Mai lies North West of Chiang Mai city, which is the perfect location in terms of mountain view.
In terms of views and service this hotel is splendid. Food is great and has a mistakenly Thai twist to it. Only thing I would expect better was the coffee.
The hotel is a bit remote, so staying there would be recommended, but if you prefer staying in Chiang Mai city and just go to the Four Seasons for the experience and a better mountain view then from the city, well then I would recommend staying at The Akyra in down town Chiang Mai.
This hotel is a great choice as it really is the only luxury hotel located right in the middle of Chiang Mai’s most exciting area – Nimman. The hotel has one of the city’s best and most beautiful restaurants and a nice little rooftop bar and pool.
Other bigger luxury chains such as Shangri-La and Le Méridian are in the more touristy and less exciting part of the city.
