Vegan Guide to Chiang Mai
OCTOBER 2022: Due to COVID we were unable to travel for nearly two years, which means it’s been impossible to update our vegan travel guides. Therefore we cannot be sure if the below restaurants are still open, so please contact them directly to check. As travel has now restarted we will be updating guides accordingly, but in the meantime please check out the excellent HappyCow, which you can find via the link at the bottom of this vegan guide.
Updated September 2018
Chiang Mai is firmly on the ‘Traveller’s Trail’ in South East Asia and has so much to offer; with a constant stream of travellers from all four corners of the globe, it oozes culture, art, nature and possibly the most varied and extensive selection of vegan eateries in Thailand. We were in town for 3 weeks and could happily have stayed longer because vegan food options were everywhere, we found our favourites partly by luck and partly by recommendation so here’s our Vegan Guide to Chiang Mai to help you out when you’re in town.
Vegan Restaurants in Chiang Mai
Goodsouls Kitchen
Goodsouls Kitchen
52/3 Singharat Rd
Tambon Sripoom
Amphur Muang
Chiang Mai 50200
Opening Times: 7am-10pm every day
We’ve had so many people tell us about this all vegan restaurant in Chiang Mai including the Chiang Mai vegan guru, Dee from Veggie in Chiang Mai and most recently Chantalle who stayed with us at Vegan Villa, she kindly wrote a few words about her experience and gave us a couple of pictures so we could add Goodsouls Kitchen to our Vegan Guide to Chiang Mai.
“I especially liked the country potato wedges with vegan mayonnaise, the pancakes with banana and coconut whipped cream, the scrambled tofu with bread, mango chutney and almond butter, the khao soi and the beetroot burger. The fresh juices are super healthy and as they don’t serve alcohol the juices and their different flavors of kombucha are a very nice alternative. They also have delicious cakes and raw bite sized energy balls with cacao, coconut and granola which taste amazing with a home brewed coffee.”
Vegetarian Restaurants in Chiang Mai
Anchan Vegetarian Restaurant
Anchan Vegetarian Restaurant
Nimmana Haeminda Road
Soi Hillside 3
Chiang Mai 50200
Opening Times: 11.30am-8.30pm every day
This is a favourite for vegans in Chiang Mai and rightly so, tucked away up a small Soi in the popular Nimman area this restaurant should certainly be high on your list, it uses organic and locally sourced products that are full of flavour, in a lovely setting with very helpful staff. Many thanks to Jessica of North & South Nomads for a very enjoyable evening sampling the menu including this creamy massaman curry.
Aum Vegetarian Restaurant
Aum Vegetarian Restaurant
1, 4 Suriyawong Alley
Chang Wat
Chiang Mai 50100
Opening Times: 10.30am-8.30pm every day
Now located near to the Saturday walking street, this little gem has a great selection of vegan & veggie dishes including the option to add tempeh to your dish. Family run and very friendly, we enjoyed spending a few evenings here chatting with friends and eating the tasty vegan food.
Free Bird Cafe
Aum Vegetarian Restaurant
1, 4 Suriyawong Alley
Chang Wat
Chiang Mai 50100
Opening Times: 10.30am-8.30pm every day
As part of the local charity Thai Freedom House your visit here not only gets you some lovingly prepared vegan food, but helps raise funds for their work with Thai families living in poverty and refugees from neighbouring Burma. Just outside of the old city it has a relaxed and informal vibe, great healthy salads including the ‘Shan Salad’ (pictured), it’s a perfect spot to spend a few hours eating, drinking and hanging out.
Pun Pun Organic Vegetarian Restaurant
Pun Pun Organic Vegetarian Restaurant
Wat Suan Dok
Suthep Road
Chiang Mai 50200
Opening Times: 9am-4pm closed Wednesday
Just out of the old city and set within the grounds of Wat Suan Dok this is certainly worth a visit even if it is just to try the AMAZING tempura mushrooms, lightly fried and packed full of flavour. They were delicious, as was everything else we tried. They serve vegetarian Thai food and have a good selection of vegan options too.
Vegan Friendly Restaurants in Chiang Mai
By Hand Pizza Cafe
By Hand Pizza Cafe
25 Moonmuang
Soi 7
Chiang Mai 50200
Opening Times: 5pm-11pm every day
Located at the end of Soi 7 next to Wat Lamchang this is a very popular little pizza place that definitely serves the best vegan and veggie pizzas in town, arrive early to grab a table and watch the pizzas being prepared and baked in the authentic wood fired oven.
Khun Kae Juice Bar
Khun Kae Juice Bar
Moon Muang Road Soi 7
Chiang Mai 50200
Opening Times: 10:30am-7.30pm
We don’t think there’s a better option for your daily fix of fresh fruit juice, king coconut and (if you’re feeling adventurous) a shot of freshly squeezed wheatgrass – these guys do a roaring trade and rightly so! It cheap and friendly and not to be missed. We’ve been reliably informed by Dee from Veggie in Chiang Mai that there are also delicious smoothie bowls available here now also!
The Salad Concept
The Salad Concept
49/9-10 Soi 13
Nimmanhamin Road
Chiang Mai 50200
Opening Times: 11am-10pm every day
Started by two sisters who wanted to create a place to sell healthy food, there are a couple of branches of this modern, easy restaurant and more in the pipeline. Think big salad bar with lots of vegan options including vegan dressings and vegan wraps; it’s great value for money, tasty, plant based cuisine that leaves you feeling healthy, virtuous and certainly full up as the portions are huge!
Blue Diamond
Blue Diamond : Facebook Page
Moon Muang Road Soi 9
Chiang Mai 50200
Opening Times: 11:30am-8:30pm closed Sunday
A cross between a health food shop (stock up on all your healthy nuts, seeds, grains and supplements as well as buy natural toiletries and other goodies), a bakery (they sell vegan cake, bread and croissants!) and a restaurant, Blue Diamond is well established on the veggie scene in Chaing Mai. We loved the cakes, the wholegrain croissants, cookies and even coconut yoghurt.
Vegan Friendly Luxury Hotels in Chiang Mai
Shangri-La Hotel
Shangri-La Hotel Chiang Mai
89/8 Changklan Rd
Chiang Mai 50200
Located in central Chiang Mai and adjacent to the night bazaar is the 5 star Shangri-La Chiang Mai, what better place to treat yourself to some vegan luxury! During our stay we enjoyed a extensive plant based breakfast in ‘Kad Kafe’ and vegan cocktails and canapes each evening in the ‘Horizon Club’. For furtehr information here’s a detailed review of our experience at Shangri-La Hotel and also our vegan fine dining meal at Shang Garden which has been rebranded as China Kitchen since our visit in 2015.
Terraces at Four Seasons Resort Chiang Mai
Terraces
Four Seasons Resort Chiang Mai
Mae Rim
Chiang Mai 50180
In a stunning location overlooking the surrounding rice paddies, this is one of those luxury dining options perfect for a special occasion and well worth a visit to watch the sun go down and enjoy a specially created vegan meal (tell them in advance that you are vegan). We ate wonderful arancini balls, quinoa and barley salad, the lightest tofu and the most delicious vegan chocolate brownies, here you can read a detailed review of our meal at Terraces.
HappyCow in Chiang Mai
Of course, no vegan travel adventure would be complete without using the excellent HappyCow website or app, their Vegan Chiang Mai page currently lists an epic 23 all vegan and 75 all vegetarian restaurants for you to choose from. HappyCow enlists ambassadors in each location to keep their information up to date and we are thrilled to fulfill that role in our current HQ of Siem Reap, Cambodia. The HappyCow Ambassador for Chiang Mai is Lilac Hippy AKA Dee from Veggie in Chiang Mai who has been kind enough to help us update our Vegan Guide to Chiang Mai, here are links to the HappyCow listings for her Chiang Mai ‘Ambassador City Picks’:
Other Vegan Guides to Chiang Mai
Some of our favourite vegans live in Chiang Mai and they are far more likely to have all the up to date information of where to find the best vegan food. Check in with Cody and Giselle of Mindful Wanderlust and Dee from Veggie in Chiang Mai for lots of vegan goodness about Chiang Mai and other vegan friendly locations in the region. Here are some other vegan guides to Chiang Mai from friends of ours that you might find useful too:
The Complete Chiang Mai Food Guide from Mostly Amelie
Guide to Eating Vegan in Chiang Mai from Indefinite Adventure
Vegan Chiang Mai Guide from Vegan Nom Noms
Bad, bad idea reading this on an empty stomach! I’ve heard such great things about the vegan food scene in Chiang Mai, and this guide just confirms them all! So looking forward to finally discovering these treats for myself!
thanks for the comment Sam – since leaving Chiang Mai we have missed the food SO MUCH!
i’m currently in Siem Reap and Caryl is in Vientiane and so far we have found nothing that compares – it really is the best location for vegan food, our article only covers a few of our favourite spots and there are many more…
hope you get to enjoy it soon 🙂
Paul
You make me miss Chiang Mai ad the delicious Thai food so much. I remember Blue Diamond being superb! Have you tried Diva? It’s a vegan raw food place in Chinag Mai which we went once, it was very interesting and not too bad 🙂
hi Franca
we didn’t get to Diva, to be honest in the 3 weeks we were in town we were running out of days to get back to our favourite spots!
the cakes at Blue Diamond were sublime and a cool place to hang out too..
we both miss Chiang Mai 🙁
Paul
I so shouldn’t have read this before I managed to organise my lunch. I’m looking at making whole wheat spaghetti with spinach and tomatoes and it just does not feel anywhere as satisfying as any of these options!
I still have so much to try out here vegan food wise. Creature of habit, can’t help but go to my favourite places. 😉
Are you guys in Cambodia now? We are off to Burma next month to do our border run to get our last visa entry before our triple entry expires!
hi Jess,
We certainly manages to check out a few places whilst in town but feel there were so many more we missed and also some we just didn’t visit enough! Saying that, you’re whole wheat spaghetti with toms and spinach sounds pretty good, I fancy a nice bowl of pasta…not found many options here so far but will keep looking…
Caryl is in Laos still with my parents and I’m in Siem Reap looking for an apartment for when they arrive on Monday…
Enjoy Burma, how long are you staying for?
Paul
As always, love reading your blog. I can confirm the food at Aum is excellent and such good value for money. Also, despite having sated my appetite at some of the places we enjoyed in your wake, we always had room for the delicious Khanom Krok. Hope you’re as good a guide in Siem Reap.
Thanks for your comment Eileen, sorry for the delayed reply, we will do our best in Siem Reap although the home cooked food in our apartment is proving hard to beat!
Real helpfull post. I’m leaving for Thailand next week for a 4 week vacation with my husband and 3 young children. I’m vegan since a couple of months so this is very usefull information, thanks!
Thanks Kiki, so glad we could help you out! Chiang Mai is a paradise for vegans as there are so many options and Thai food is amazing! We absolutely love Thailand… we wrote a Vegan Guide to Bangkok too, another very vegan friendly destination!Where will you be visiting in your 4 week trip?
Thanks for the reply. We’ll be travelling Bankgkok-Chiang Mai-Kanchanaburi-Phetchaburi-Phrachuap Khiri Khan-Bang Saphan-BKK. We’ve been to Thailand before and love to eat at nightmarkets and foodcourts, so I’m planning on pointing and nodding my way to a vegan meal at the stalls without a menu. And if all fails I’ll just get myself some fruit. Love going through your blog and reading all the tips, so very welcome for me as firsttime vegan traveller.
If you love food courts then you’ll absolutely love the all vegan food court near Ari BTS in BKK!! Its so amazing and so cheap too! I can’t wait to go there again. Plus I love the fact that you can always get a ‘cup of sweetcorn’ (just ask for no butter) in a market but the very best thing about Thai markets? Khanom Krok – those little sweet, salty, coconut pancakes that are accidentally vegan!!! I’m so glad you find our tips helpful, I’d love to hear how you get on in your travels as you’re going to some places we haven’t explored yet… do keep us posted and happy vegan travelling!
Oh my, I want to eat all of this. The more I read about Chiang Mai the more I NEED to go there!
HI Nicole
You are right to want to visit Chiang Mai as it really is the perfect vegan location – we are always discussing when we can plan a return trip!
Although, surely you are not short of plentiful vegan food being based in Berlin? Once back in Europe (not sure when that will be) a visit to Berlin is top of our list…
Thanks for your comment 🙂
Caryl
Oh do! It’s such a lovely setting (and the cocktails are great!) Worth going early to catch the sun setting over the rice fields.
Chiang Mai is so good for veggie travelers isn’t it!
🙂
A great list, had no idea about a couple of these. I thought I knew them all in Chiang Mai! Will be checking out Terraces for sure. Thanks!
This has made me very hungry, I wish I’d read your blog before we went to Siem Reap. Going to Thailand soon and can’t wait to have some Massaman!
Thailand has some great food for vegans – you’re sure to enjoy Chiang Mai too! Thanks for the nice comment and happy vegan travels 🙂 Do let us know if you discover anywhere in Chiang Mai that we should mention in our guide! Caryl x
Yum yum!! Can’t wait to check these out on my return to Chiang Mai in April. Last time I was there I was vegetarian. I remember going to Blue Diamond but don’t recall anywhere else, I do remember thinking though that compared to other parts of Thailand this was a little veggie haven. I had just come from India where I had had it so easy as a vegetarian so got a bit of a shock on my arrival in Thailand. Once again I’ll be flying in from India, this time as a vegan, better prepared and ready to seek out all the vegan food!!….plenty of new places to discover by the looks of this!
Hi Mindy,
Thanks for the comment – we can’t wait to go back either as there are so many new places that we want to try too. it’s such a little paradise for vegans! Have fun on your travels and I look forward to seeing what you discover on the way 🙂 Caryl
We just opened a vegan friendly restaurant called Datsun Kitty” close to Chiang Mai gate, opposite “Trail Head” bike tours. We serve Middle Eastern falafel, Italian vegan pasta’s and Carribean pumpkin soup with purple sweet potato and mango chutney. Also we have a fresh juice bar and home roasted coffee and home baked cakes.
Great blog thanks for sharing
thank you for your kind words!
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