48 Hours in Thailand’s Secret Mountain Retreat
Sitting beneath one of Thailand’s highest mountain, this place has private pool villas overlooking the rice fields, a honeymoon suite with its own hot tub and sauna, and some incredible mountain views. The sunset right now, so it looks super cool. This is actually one of the most unique entrances to a hotel I’ve ever had. Hidden amongst the rice paddies beneath Doi Chiang Dao, this is Ya Teeka Boutique. It’s a small luxury resort heavily inspired by northern Thailand. From the architecture and artwork to the food and cultural experiences that we try and throughout our stay.
But the real selling point is the location. The resort sits directly among the rice fields with Doi Chiang Dao providing the backdrop to almost everything. instead of taking a day trip out into the countryside, you’re actually living among it. over the next 48 hours, I wanted to put it to the test. Trying the different rooms, exploring the resort, and seeing if it was actually worth recommending. And for night one, we are staying in one of the best rooms at Ya Teeka.
This is the two-story private pool pavilion, one of the best room categories at the resort, sitting directly on the edge of the rice paddies. Downstairs is a large living area and kitchen along with the first of the two bedrooms. The design is modern but still has plenty of northern Thai influence and despite being out in rural Chiang Dao, you’ve got all the comforts you’d expect from a luxury hotel. There’s a large bathroom with a Japanese style toilet and indoor and outdoor showers and plenty of space throughout. But the main reason you’d book this room is outside.
And then most importantly, as you step out, we’ve got a pool right on the edge of this rice paddy. So you can see the rice paddy. A little bit flooded right now because it rained on the way here, but very cool view. Upstairs is the second bedroom along with a large balcony and seating area overlooking the rice fields. So there’s easily enough space here for a family or even two couples. But the most surprising feature wasn’t the private pool or the mountain views.
It was hidden away downstairs. It’s one of the maddest things I’ve ever seen in a hotel anywhere. There’s a seating area outside the window. And then you can look in these rice paddies and see in the other house here. So yeah. Pretty cool.
It’s got a little secret window. I’ll put the private pool to the test tomorrow morning, but for now the hotel had a few things planned for our first evening. We started with sunset drinks beside the rice paddies where the hotel has a relaxed outdoor area looking directly towards Doi Chiang Dao. The staff prepared us a couple of cocktails and as the sun started to disappear behind the mountain, we headed over for dinner. The restaurant is slightly elevated above the rice fields and the menu has a big focus on northern Thai food.
The Pool Villa at Ya Teeka Boutique
Naturally, we had to order Khao Soi, the rich coconut curry noodle soup that’s probably the region’s most famous dish. Alongside it, we tried nam prik, a spicy chili dip served with fresh vegetables, and gaeng hang lay, a slow-cooked northern Thai pork curry with Burmese influence. Everything was absolutely delicious, but what I particularly liked was that Ya Teeka’s focus on northern Thailand went well beyond the food. After dinner, the staff had arranged for us to make our own krathongs, kind of like a lantern that you throw down the river. Loy Krathong is one of Thailand’s most famous festivals, normally celebrated once a year in November when people float decorated krathongs on the rivers and lakes as a way of letting go bad luck and making wishes for the future. We weren’t actually visiting during the festival itself, but Ya Teeka recreated the tradition for its guests.
after making our own, we headed down to the lake area to float them. And there was one final experience planned for the evening, stargazing. Chiang Dao has very little light pollution, making it one of the best places in Thailand to see the night sky. Unfortunately, there were quite a few clouds and a full moon, so we weren’t able to see it at its best, but even then, I could see far more stars than I’m used to seeing back home in Bangkok. And with that, it was time to call it a night. Morning.
we just woke up here at Ya Teeka. It’s currently about 6:30 a.m. in the morning, and what a sight to wake up to. I mean, we’ve got these nice beautiful rice paddy fields here. It’s a bit cloudy, so you can’t really see the mountain, but I’m just looking around here, and I’m seeing some pretty huge birds, stork birds walking around the rice paddy fields. But yeah, just a really, really beautiful sight to wake up to.
Last night, we did some activities that were some hotel activities, which usually I don’t always like to do hotel activities, but I think when you’re out here somewhere remote, like I think that’s the kind of thing that would keep me here for like multiple days is having stuff on. Anyway, so later today we’re doing a few activities around here, but for now I think we’re just going to enjoy the pool and just being here waking up at this beautiful location. After that, it was finally time to put our private pool to good use. And this is probably my favorite thing about the pool pavilion, is swimming right on the edge of the rice paddies with Doi Chiang Dao rising up behind it. Now, most luxury hotels in Thailand sell you a pool suite with an ocean view, but this is something completely different and much more unique. And since we’ll be moving to the honeymoon suite later today, I knew we needed to make the most out of it.
And staying here means you don’t have to experience Chiang Dao as a quick day trip from Chiang Mai. You get to wake up in nature and enjoy the quiet mornings and actually slows things down for a couple of days. Coming from Bangkok, this is something that I definitely appreciated. Eventually, we headed over for breakfast where there was a good mix of western and northern Thai food. That included another famous Thai dish, sai ua, northern Thailand’s famous herbal sausage, alongside eggs, pastries, fresh fruit, and a plenty of coffee. But as relaxing as it would be to spend the entire trip at the hotel, one of the biggest reasons I’d actually recommend staying in Chiang Dao is everything around it that you can experience.
The day before, after flying from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, we turned the drive north into a bit of a road trip. Starting with one of my favorite temples in northern Thailand, Wat Ban Den. This is actually my second time in this temple. It’s called Wat Ban Den, and I really think it’s actually one of the most beautiful temples in the whole of Thailand. And I say that because I think the colors of this temple just make it so unique. Like these deep purples and blues make it unlike almost any other temple in Thailand.
Exploring Chiang Dao and Wat Ban Den
The only one I can think of is the blue temple in Chiang Rai, but I think what makes this one stand out even more is that one it’s way bigger but it’s mountain backdrop like you can see for miles around just countryside and mountains which makes it even more beautiful in my opinion. Even if you like visiting on a day like today there’s pretty much no one here so it’s definitely an off the beaten path temple experience. Our next stop was Buatong better known as Sticky Waterfalls and this is one of the more unusual waterfalls you’ll find in Thailand. The water here flows over limestone deposits that give the rock an unusually grippy surface. So rather than just stand at the bottom and looking up at the waterfall you can climb straight up it. There are ropes along some of the steeper sections but for the most part the rock gives you a surprising amount of grip. It’s a really fun stop to combine with your journey up from Chiang Mai. My only advice would be to arrive earlier than we did.
By the afternoon it was getting fairly busy particularly around the more photogenic spots. But those are really just the stops along the way. Once you’re in Chiang Dao there’s still plenty to explore. On a previous trip back before I had a baby we spent a few days exploring the countryside and one of the most adventurous things you can do is head into Mount Chiang Dao itself. At the foot of the mountain is Chiang Dao cave part of a huge cave system running beneath the limestone mountain. After passing through the temple at the entrance you can head straight underground with a local guide weaving through huge caverns and crawling through narrow passageways. Some sections get pretty tight so it’s definitely not for anyone who’s claustrophobic but if you like a bit of adventure it’s one of Chiang Dao’s most memorable experiences. But personally though one of my favorite ways to experience Chiang Dao is much simpler.
Rent a bicycle and just start exploring by yourself. We previously spent hours riding through the rice paddies stopping at little cafes viewpoints and hidden temples whenever something caught our attention. And I think that’s part of the fun of Chiang Dao. You don’t necessarily need a packed itinerary half of the appeal is just having time to explore the countryside without really knowing where you’re going or what you’re going to find. On this trip though, we decided to take things even slower. Rather than heading back out, we stayed at Yetikee for something I hadn’t done in Thailand for a long time, cooking class set right amongst the rice fields. We’ve actually just been invited to go do a northern Thailand cooking class here and they’ve got their own garden at the back. we’ve just been asked to put on our aprons, our hat, and then we’ve gone in the garden and picked all of the fresh herbs, things like mint, kaffir lime, and lemongrass, a few other things.
we cooked tom yum goong, som tam, and laab moo, some of Thailand’s most iconic dishes using some of the ingredients that we just picked from the garden. My favorite part came afterwards though. Rather than eating inside the restaurant, the staff set up a table for us out in the garden where we could sit back with an ice cold beer and eat everything we just cooked surrounded by the fields. Our daughter actually fell asleep halfway through the class and the staff went off and found a cot so she could nap outside while we finished cooking. This was very much appreciated. It was exactly the kind of slow afternoon that this place does so well. But we still have one big question to answer. I come here wanting to find out which was the best room at Yetikee.
And after a night in the private pool pavilion, I thought it was going to be very hard to beat. But now, it was time to check out its biggest competition, the honeymoon suite. We’ve got this huge hot tub facing the mountains there with a really, really killer view. Can’t wait for that at sunset. That’s going to be unreal. And then, yeah, again, you know, as you’d expect, we’ve got a nice bed, we’ve got a nice view, yada, yada, yada. But the next best thing is this, the sauna in the corner of the room. apparently it takes about 10 minutes to heat up, but can’t wait for this.
Yeah, we’ve got a whole wooden sauna right here in the room, facing the mountains as well. definitely pretty cool. And over the next few hours, I started to understand why this room might actually give the pool pavilion a run for its money. We started off with a traditional Thai massage. The hotel can actually set these up outside amongst the rice paddies, but with the heat and humidity that afternoon, we decided to have ours in the room instead.
The Honeymoon Suite at Ya Teeka Boutique
Then, as the sun began to drop behind Doi Chiang Dao, it was finally time to put the room’s main attraction to the test. We filled the hot tub, opened a bottle of champagne, and watched the last light disappear behind the mountain. And this was the moment the honeymoon suite really started to win me over. when we first moved to this new room, I was a little bit unsure after being in the pool villa. That’s mainly because the pool itself is that within the rice paddies, so you feel like you’re a bit more in nature. And this felt a little bit like you were behind glass a little bit, like you’re looking out onto it. But that being said, now I’ve realized you can kind of open the windows, and like have the pool, have the hot tub right here.
This really opens it up and frames frames the view in a way which just feels super cool. I’m coming around to it a bit more where I was leaning towards the pool villa a bit more in the first place. Later that evening, we tried one of Utika’s sound bath sessions. I’d never actually done anything like this before, and I’ll be honest, I found it quite difficult not to fall asleep, but it was definitely really, really relaxing, and that’s kind of the point. Between the massages, hot tub, sound bath, and everything we’d done over the previous 2 days, Utika had managed to get me completely to slow down. The next morning though, it was time to test out the private sauna. It heats up pretty quickly, and having it right there in the room makes the honeymoon suite feel much more like a private spa than just a hotel room.
And by this point, my only real complaint was that we hadn’t booked another night to stay here. in the end, which of these rooms would I actually choose? After spending the night in both of Ya Teeka’s flagship rooms, which one would I actually book? Well, if you’re traveling as a couple, I’d probably go honeymoon suite. At almost 20,000 Thai baht per night, around about $500, it’s a significantly cheaper option than the pool pavilion. Watching the sunset from the hot tub with a bottle of champagne was one of the highlights of our stay, and for a romantic trip, it’s ideal, especially if you’re going to make use of the sauna. But personally, though, my favorite was the private pool pavilion.
I loved being that little bit closer to nature with the pool sitting right on the edge of the rice paddies, and traveling with a young family, I feel like we got a little bit more use out of it. It is considerably more expensive, though, at around 36,000 Thai baht per night, or almost $1,000. But there’s an important difference here. You’re getting two bedrooms. if you’re traveling as a family or as two couples and splitting the cost, suddenly the price starts to make a lot more sense. But here’s the good news, though. You don’t actually need to spend anywhere near that much to stay here.
While we were at Ya Teeka, we also got to explore one of the resort’s more affordable room options. The cottage area start from around 8,000 baht per night, or roughly $250. And although they’re the entry-level room, they still give you a lot of what makes this place special. They’re quite different from the contemporary and modern pool pavilions with a much more traditional northern Thailand feel. Wooden interiors, thatched roofs, and little outdoor spaces overlooking the rice paddies. And importantly, you’re still getting the exact same setting. you still wake up beneath Mount Chiang Dao and eat the same northern Thai food, and have access to all the resort facilities, and take in the same cultural experiences.
And it even feels a little bit more authentic to in these wooden huts. After 48 hours here, Ya Teeka Boutique is comfortably one of the best hotel stays I’ve ever had in Thailand. And I’ve stayed in some of the best hotels in the country.
