The coolest cafes in Chiang Mai
[Travel Newsletter: 19 July 2024] How Lonely Planet founders revolutionized the way we travel, notes on Hanoi, visiting the Mentawai tribe, trekking across Switzerland, and more travel reads
Welcome to the Nomadic Notes Travel Newsletter, where I curate the best travel reads of the week.
I arrived in Hanoi this week after 2 months in Chiang Mai. I’m here as there is a direct flight from Chiang Mai to Hanoi, so ‘I’m starting my next Vietnam research trip from here.
I haven’t written a lot about Chiang Mai, so I will be posting some articles soon. Before I begin new posts, I cleaned up one of my oldest posts this week. I first published my Chiang Mai cafes list in 2012, and I had not updated it in maybe 8 years. The old list was so outdated that the new list is a 100% rewrite. I made a point to look for new cafes, and I found some great places in old warehouses, a semi-abandoned department store, and at the foot of the great Mount Suthep.
Latest posts at Nomadic Notes
• Chiang Mai cafes: best cafes listed by neighbourhood
A list of the best cafes in Chiang Mai, including specialty roasters, hidden cafes, and beautiful spaces.
Travel reads
• How Lonely Planet founders Tony and Maureen Wheeler revolutionized the way we travel
“Paige McClanahan on the origins, development and popularization of the travel guide.”
“Things I saw while walking the city's streets and peering out from inside its cafes.”
• Trekking across Switzerland, guided by locals’ hand-drawn maps (archive)
“Nostalgic for a time before ubiquitous connectivity, a writer ditched his phone and relied instead on serendipity — and maps made by people he met along the way.”
• Visiting the Mentawai tribe: a complete guide
• Stone sentinels of Central Sulawesi
“The mysterious megaliths of the Bada Valley.”
• New map: ancient roads of China by Paul Salopek
“Over the past two-and-a-half years I’ve walked 6,700 kilometers across China. The span of this hike equals the linear distance between Paris and Chicago. Looking back on a new storytelling map of my GPS tracks made by our partners at Esri, it seems hard to believe.”
• How a 'boring' Arctic town became Europe's Capital of Culture
• I’m a disabled traveler. this Is how to talk about accessible travel.
🚆Train travel
• London to Vilnius: my rail odyssey to the Baltics
✈️ Air travel
• The artist painting the world through a Boeing 737 window
“In "This Land is Your Land," contemporary artist Leslie Wayne invites you to see the beauty of the world from above.”
“Fight back against in-flight hibernation with an open window shade.”
Featured travel sites
• Kiwi.com creates combinations of flight, train, and bus tickets and offers them in a single itinerary. Kiwi.com is offering users 20 EUR off for purchases over 270 EUR made on the Kiwi.com site.
Promo code: SUMMER2024KIWI
This promo code is valid from July 1 to July 31, or until the inventory is exhausted.
• GetYourGuide: Save up to 30% on Summer Experiences
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James Clark – Hanoi, Vietnam.
Looking forward to getting back to Chiang Mai for the coffee alone! My fav little spot for a morning caffeine fix in Chiang Mai, when I was there, was Roastiv -- partly as it was just around the corner from the Art Hotel, where I stayed with my dad. It's TINY, so not a working space. But excellent coffee, and unlike Roastery (of which there are two outlets in that area of Nimman), and many other cafes in CM, they weren't always playing crappy pop tunes :))) it was also conveniently partnered with a bagel shop (Volks Bagels) which makes excellent NY-style bagels. Every morning, a steady flow of expats and Thai (lycra-clad!) cyclists seemed to be stopping by for a coffee - bagel.