Chiang Mai, Thailand is a huge center for tourism and digital nomads. I began my stay in Chiang Mai at the Swiss-Lanna Lodge, a wonderful small lodge with beautiful wood furnishings and a personal touch. It is a converted traditional Thai house.
Pha Noi, Toto and Phi Rose in front of the Swiss Lanna Lodge.
Pha Noi, on the left of the photo is the cleaning lady for the Lodge. Toto is the general manager of the guesthouse who is responsible for sharing information about tourist attractions, transfer service and all about the accommodations with customers (she speaks Thai, English and French). And Phi Rose is the wonderful chef, who is responsible for providing homemade meals for guests. I didn’t get a photo of the other staff person – who also speaks a bit of Chinese (along with Thai and English) for the growing number of Chinese tourists.
The staff are extremely helpful and provide great hospitality. I enjoy this level of hospitality which I only find in these smaller boutique hotels. I also prefer to be a bit away from the hectic center of activity so the Swiss-Lanna Lodge is a great fit.
The lodge is located a couple kilometers from old town Chiang Mai. The building is surrounded by a garden with fruit trees, flowers and hammocks.
comfortable hammocks in the garden. One of the trees it hangs from is a star fruit tree.
The food is wonderful and includes fruit from their garden.
home-made yoghurt at the Swiss Lanna Lodge
poached eggs at the Swiss Lanna Lodge
I also had a great sandwich and smoothy for lunch.
The wifi was very good at times. It did slow down when I imagine other guest also got on, but remained perfectly usable.
Majestic Tree room, where I stayed.
The Majestic Tree room includes an outdoor bathroom and shower. The bed was very comfortable and firm. The 4 standard rooms in the Lodge have shared bathrooms and 3 superior rooms have private bathrooms.
Elephant room (a “standard” room)
The only issue I can see is for those that are sensitive to noise the walls are not soundproofed so I could hear my neighbors and those in the lobby easily (from my ground floor room). For those that are not sensitive to noise this isn’t an issue. The AC and fan can also be used as white noise to mask some of that noise.
I walked into old town which was a nice walk. If you prefer you can rent bikes or motor scooters from the Swiss-Lanna Lodge. The Lodge also can arrange visits to nearby tourist attractions.
Star fruit tree in the garden
The Swiss-Lanna Lodge is also pet friendly. I watched a local cat climbing around in a tree in the garden but sadly didn’t have my camera with me (I was lounging in a hammock reading a book).
The Swiss-Lanna Lodge has great reviews on TripAdvisor and Agoda (the two sources I most often rely on in narrowing down the choices of places to stay).
Swiss-Lanna Lodge
24 Rat U-thit Soi 2
T. Wat Ket, Amphur Muang
Chiang Mai 50000 Thailand
email: info@swisslannalodge.com
phone/fax: 66 53 246 126 mobile: +668 3566 2333
Their Facebook page is very active
Their Twitter page isn’t as active (yet anyway)
I received a complementary stay in exchange for this honest review. As with all other posts this post reflects my personal opinion.