Halfway down the mountain from Chiang Mai’s crown jewel of temples, Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, is a hidden gem known as Wat Pha Lat.  This absolutely gorgeous temple, nestled in the middle of jungle, can only be accessed by hiking the Monk’s Trail!

Orange ribbons created from the robes worn by monks, mark the trail. We took the Monk’s Trail, on the way down the mountain, after visiting the super-crowded Wat Phra That Doi Suthep. Highly recommend doing things in that order. Folks hiking the 4-miles up, to the the sacred temple, seemed pretty sweaty and exhausted already! 

From the Meditation Center, keep going downhill until you see some steep stairs to your left. We could’ve easily missed this trail start, if it hadn’t been for a barefoot hippie chick, several yards ahead of us, suddenly darting down the rabbit hole!

The path is fairly steep in places. Roots become friendly stairways. Not too far into the trek, shortly after ribbon marker number 4, you will need to cross the road to make it to the other side of the trail. Awaiting you on the other side is a beautiful cascading waterfall.  A nice spot to take some selfies and a break.

Once you reach the waterfall, everything becomes kinda magical and wow-esque! Along the water, a cave full of buddhas. A stray dog leads the way up to the Wat Pha Lat temple grounds. It’s like walking into the pages of a fairy tale. A mossy enchanted Buddhist temple in the middle of a jungle. Magnificent, mythical and mystical deities and dragons meet your gaze, as they guard the entryways to the sacred. Simply awesome.

As we fell into the serenity of this place, exploring the grounds became a dreamy walking meditation. So much peace and beauty for all of the senses. Relaxed and rejuvenated, we journeyed on.

On the descent, the hike offers spectacular views of Chiang Mai. This part of the hike is definetely easier than the first half, and seems to have more signage. The tenth tree, with a special orange ribbon signifies the end of the Monk’s Trail, if coming down from Doi Suthep, but it is actually the starting point if heading up to the temples.

Little tigers mark the entrance to the Monk’s Trail, along with a trail map. Back on road, go right to go towards Chiang Mai University and downtown. At this point you can opt to catch a red songthew into town for about 80 baht. We decided to carry on walking and check out the university part of town.