This guide is built from the live tour page of Chiang Mai Food Tour on A Chef’s Tour — price, start time, group size, tastings and dietary notes come straight from the operator, never invented.

What the Chiang Mai Food Tour Is — and Who Runs It

A Chef’s Tour runs small-group food walks in around 80 cities, led by cooks, chefs and local foodies — in Chiang Mai, “one of our superb Chiang Mai food hosts”. Groups are capped at eight; private tours and groups of nine or more are arranged by contacting them.

The Chiang Mai Food Tour is unusual because you ride between stops. The page describes a private local songtaew van — one of the city’s red rod daeng trucks — that takes the group outside the old city walls to “secret street eats and real local markets”. It meets at Wat Lok Molee temple along Manee Nopparat Road, where your guide wears an A Chef’s Tour t-shirt, and is listed at 17h00–21h00. The pitch is Northern Thai food, with the history and the Burmese influence on the region explained along the way.

How we wrote this: we are Joona and Alla, family travellers based in Rovaniemi, Finland, and we have not taken this tour. We research food tours from the live tour pages and send readers to the ones that hold up, so every fact below comes from A Chef’s Tour’s own page. We don’t repeat ratings we can’t check.

What You Eat on the Chiang Mai Food Tour

The page promises 16+ tastings — the highest count among A Chef’s Tour’s Thailand tours — and names only a few:

• Khao ka moo, braised pork in five spice, to start, from a stall the page calls “the famous cowgirl”.
• Roasted pork.
• Gaeng hang lae curry, the Northern Thai pork curry.
• Minced larb salad.

The page is blunt about what it isn’t: “You won’t be trying pad Thai or red Thai curry on this tour.” Instead you get Northern Thai food, which the page says is a mystery to most visitors, plus a look at how locals shop for ingredients in real markets. Pork is clearly central, so the tour suits adventurous eaters and is a poor fit for people who avoid it.

Beyond those four dishes, the other tastings are a surprise. We like that: street stalls and markets vary from day to day, and a fixed menu would promise something the operator couldn’t always deliver.

Price, What's Included and What Isn't

The tour costs US$59 per person. According to the live page that includes:

• 16+ tastings
• Bottled water
• Transport between stops in a private local songtaew van
• A Chiang Mai food host and a group of no more than eight

Not included: getting to Wat Lok Molee, though the page says the temple is easy to reach and details come on your voucher. The page adds that your guide can help you find transport back at the end.

Children: the Chiang Mai page does not list a child price or age policy. Other A Chef’s Tour pages give half price for ages 3–12, but we won’t assume that applies here — ask the operator (info@achefstour.com) before booking with children.

Good value? We think so. At US$59 per person it matches Bangkok’s price, and you get one extra tasting and a van ride in place of the long walks other tours rely on. It is weaker value for vegetarians, who the page says it is unsuitable for, and for light eaters.

Chiang Mai vs Bangkok: Which Thai Tour

If you have time for both cities, they are different enough to do both. Choose Chiang Mai for regional dishes you won’t find in Bangkok and for the van ride; choose Bangkok for Chinatown at dusk and a printed child policy. If you only see one city and want the most famous Thai street food, Bangkok is the easier first choice.

Dietary Needs: What A Chef's Tour Actually Says

This is a pork-forward tour, and the Chiang Mai page is frank. “Possible” means possible with compromises, not suitable.

• Vegetarian / vegan: “Unsuitable for vegetarians / vegans sorry, as over half the menu has meat or seafood-based ingredients”.
• Pork: “Pork is used in 3-4 tastings”.
• Pescatarian: “Possible but meat is present in 5-6 dishes, with no alternatives possible”.
• Gluten: “Gluten in 2-3 tastings (out of 15 total) so OK if a mild intolerance. Not advised for celiac disease, as unavoidable traces of soy sauce in some tastings (out of 15 total)”.

The page lists nothing on halal, lactose, beef, nuts or shellfish: A Chef’s Tour doesn’t list this — ask them before booking (info@achefstour.com). Thai cooking commonly uses fish sauce, shrimp paste and peanuts, but the page doesn’t say which tastings include them, so allergies need a direct answer.

Severe allergies: street kitchens share woks, oil and sauces, and no street-food tour can guarantee an allergen-free dish.

Practical Bits and Kids

On paper the tour suits curious eaters; it is harder going for toddlers and picky eaters.

• Timing: 17h00–21h00 is a four-hour evening, which finishes late for under-sixes.
• The van: a songtaew is an open-sided truck with benches; the ride is part of the fun for many children, but ask about car seats and whether the vehicle has seat belts before booking with a baby or toddler, because the page doesn’t say.
• Heat: Chiang Mai is cooler than Bangkok in the evening during the cool season, but can be hot and humid in other months; bring water and a light layer.
• Spice: Northern Thai food can be hot; the page doesn’t say how hot. Mention children when booking.
• Getting home: not included, though your guide can help you find transport.

Where does it fit in a Chiang Mai stay? Most visitors spend their days among the old city’s temples, the hills and day trips, and an evening food tour rounds off a busy day without more walking, because the van does the distance. Book it for one of your first evenings, so that the dishes you meet there — and the names to look for on menus — carry over to your later meals. If you are heading on to Bangkok afterwards, the Chinatown tour there will feel like a different country’s cooking.

Without a printed child price, ask first. We wouldn’t plan a tight morning after an evening tour that ends at 21h00 with a full belly.

Who Should Book — and Who Should Skip

Book it if you eat pork, want regional Northern Thai dishes rather than the Thai menu you already know, and like the idea of a van-and-market route.

Skip it if you are vegetarian or vegan, if you are coeliac, if a severe allergy is involved, or if you want a printed child price before you commit.

Honest trade-offs: no child policy, a four-hour evening, pork-heavy tastings and a 48-hour cancellation window that is tighter than some of A Chef’s Tour’s other tours. On the plus side: 16+ tastings, a van that spares your feet and a small group.

How to Book the Chiang Mai Food Tour

You book directly with A Chef’s Tour on achefstour.com — we never take payment. Open the Chiang Mai Food Tour through our link, choose a date on the live calendar, add your guests and pay. According to the tour page, confirmation is instant and the exact meeting details come with your booking.

• Book early in your stay. Groups cap at eight.
• Arrive hungry and wear comfortable shoes.
• Flag diets and allergies when booking and email info@achefstour.com about anything not covered above.
• Nine or more, or a private tour? Contact A Chef’s Tour directly.

Cancellation, from the tour page: “Cancel any time up to 48 hours before your tour and receive a full refund.”

We are an A Chef’s Tour affiliate and earn a commission on bookings made through our links — it does not change the price you pay.

FAQ

Our Honest Final Word

Is the Chiang Mai food tour by A Chef’s Tour worth it? For adventurous eaters who eat pork, yes. US$59 per person buys 16+ tastings of Northern Thai food that is hard to find at home, a van that spares your feet and a group small enough for the real local markets. The trade-offs: unsuitable for vegetarians and vegans, a four-hour evening, no child policy printed and a 48-hour cancellation window. We haven’t taken the tour ourselves — we send readers to it because the facts on the page add up.

Book the Chiang Mai Food Tour for the north, or the Bangkok Food Tour for Chinatown. Heading south, the Phuket Food Tour (US$59 per person) runs through old Phuket Town rather than the beach resorts.