The Baan Tawai antiques and handicraft centre in Chiang Mai

Posted by paul on July 14th, 2008 filed in tourist tips, Attractions, Day trips

Usually when travellers think about Chiang Mai, images of waterfalls and mountains come to their minds. First time visitors to the city should be forgiven for assuming that the northern Thai city’s star attractions and recreational activities include trekking and temple tours, and that the culture is defined by brightly coloured dressed hill tribe peoples and an old moat. But one of Chiang Mai’s most appealing selling points is its excellent shopping and the Baan Tawai handicrafts village south of the provincial capital which offers a cornucopia of home décor items, wood carvings, and Thai cultural souvenirs.

Few travellers come to this historic city without an evening spent strolling around this lively shopping centre and flying back home with a lot more goodies packed in their luggage than they intended to purchase. The varied selection and prices of products on display are amazing, featuring everything from Zen art to antiques. But this is just a convenient warm up for the Baan Tawai centre, where most of the items are produced and sold at less expensive prices.

Those who love to shop should not miss a visit to Baan Tawai in Chiang Mai!

The antiques and handicraft village, Baan Tawai is also renowned for some of the globe’s finest Asian antique goods. The city of Chiang Mai is perhaps one of the region’s most ideal spots to find not solely valuable works but very original looking reproductions as well. After all, for about 4,000 euros you can become the satisfied owner of a eighteenth century head of the Lord Buddha created out of marble or you can re-design your entire living room with equally astonishing looking reproductions for the same price.