Chiang Mai town has all of a backpacker's dream town. Cheap guesthouse, cheap drinks, amazing night markets and plenty to visit. Chiang Mai has got lots of temples scattered around the old town. The old town is surrounded by water. This clearly gives a great feeling to the town, but is not very convenient traffic-wise. Saturday-market, sunday-market and non-saturday or Sunday markets are absolutely huge, selling anything on the streets with great food and fruit juices! Most restaurants/bars are concentrated in the east of the old town, but the old-town is pretty small a good option is to rent bikes.

From Chiang Mai, it is really easy to organise any trip in the national parks either south or north of town. 2 days trip cost about 1000 baht including lots of activities, ranging from hiking, visiting hill tribe villages, elephant riding, kayaking, motorbike, cycling and so on. The trips are relatively cheap but seemed a bit too touristy and organized for travelers looking for a bit of authenticity.

2 hours north of Chiang Mai by public bus (40baht), lies Chiang dao, a small village where great treks can be done without any guide. I would recommend the "Chiang Dao Nest" guesthouse, with fantastic owners, amazing bungalows and a swimming pool right in the middle of nowhere, at the footstep of a 2000m limestone mountain. It is possible to trek up (it is supposed to be a great trek, with awesome views) but only from November to march/may... There are lots of things to do just hiking around the guesthouse (maps are provided), an isolated temple at the top of a hill, in the middle of thick jungle, caves, pagodas etc