Where to buy groceries (and medicine) in Chiang Mai

Fresh markets — the cheapest way to eat

Nothing beats the markets on price. Fruit and veg cost a fraction of supermarket prices, and meat runs under ฿100 a kilo at a market stall versus ฿250–300 in a supermarket. Go early in the morning for the best of everything.

Warorot (Kad Luang) — the city's oldest and biggest market, by the river in Chinatown. Produce, dried goods, spices, northern specialties like sai ua sausage — plus half the household goods you'll ever need. Open daily, roughly 6am–6pm, with street stalls carrying on into the evening.

Muang Mai — the wholesale produce market just north of Warorot, where restaurant owners do their buying. Opens around 4am and is at its best before mid-morning. If you're cooking a lot, this is the cheapest fruit and veg in the city.

Thanin (Siri Wattana) — a kilometre north of the Old City, and the one we'd send you to for everyday shopping: clean, well organised, great produce and meat, and a famously good cooked-food section where a proper meal costs ฿20–50. Open roughly 5am–8pm.

Ton Payom — the neighbourhood market on Suthep Road near the university, handy if you're based around Nimman. Open about 6am–6pm.

Open 24/7: 7-Eleven and Mini Big C

Thailand runs on 7-Eleven — there are more than 15,000 stores in the country, they're effectively all 24/7, and in Chiang Mai you're never more than a few minutes from one. They also deliver around the clock through the 7-Eleven TH app (free over ฿100) — the app is Thai-first, so expect a bit of menu-guessing. LINE MAN delivers from 7-Eleven too.

Mini Big C is the other 24/7 option, and the more useful one for actual cooking — unlike 7-Eleven it stocks fresh meat, fruit and veg. And if you'd rather not leave the sofa at all, GrabMart delivers from Lotus, Big C and Tops.

The supermarkets

Three chains matter here, and they slot neatly into a ladder: Lotus is the cheapest, Rimping is the premium one, and Tops sits in between.

Lotus — the cheap workhorse

Lotus (the old Tesco Lotus) is where you'll get the most for your baht — most everyday things, solid quality, low prices, and coupon deals in the My Lotus's app. The big stores are open 8am–10pm daily, and the small "go fresh" minis are scattered all over town — most of them run 24/7 and stock fresh meat and veg, so they're also the answer when you need chicken at midnight.

The three big ones: Kham Thiang on the Superhighway (right next to the JingJai farmers market — worth a Saturday-morning visit itself), Hang Dong Road in the south next to Makro, and Ruamchok up in the north-east.

Tops — the middle ground

Tops is the Central Group's supermarket — a step up from Lotus in selection and price, and the natural stop if you're already at one of the malls. Hours are roughly 9am–10pm (mall branches follow mall hours), and the The1 app collects points on everything.

You'll find it at Central Festival (the big Tops Food Hall — the best of the bunch), Central Chiang Mai Airport, Tops Green near Kham Thiang, and 89 Plaza in the south.

Rimping — the premium one

Rimping is Chiang Mai's own premium chain, and the answer to "where do I find…?" for anything imported. Proper Western cheese — mozzarella, Pecorino Romano, Parmigiano Reggiano and more, a whole counter of it — plus the widest meat selection in town, from dry-aged steaks (they've run their own programme since 2007) up to A5 Wagyu. You pay for it: imported goods run 10–20% over what you'd pay at home. Most branches open 8am–9pm (Maya and Mali Place until 10pm).

It's genuinely all over the city: Nawarat by the river, Nim City near the airport intersection, Maya in the basement of the Nimman mall, Mee Chok in the north, Kad Farang out in Hang Dong, Mali Place in Mae Hia, two San Sai stores — and one more up in Mae Rim.

Buying in bulk

Makro is the wholesale cash-and-carry — big packs, and the best per-kilo prices on meat and cheese if you have freezer space. Two stores: one on the Superhighway, one on Hang Dong Road. Big C Extra on the Superhighway is a classic budget hypermarket if that's more your speed.

A quick bonus: pharmacies

While we're being practical — pharmacies are on every corner here, and for everyday stuff any of them will do, cheaply. But if you take medication you're used to from back home and can't find it anywhere, head to Dara Pharmacy near Warorot — they stock just about everything. Another one that's served us well is Sriping Pharmacy in Chang Phueak, close to Thanin market.

Good to know

A few things that surprise newcomers: Thai supermarket bread is sweet and soft — for a proper loaf you want a bakery. Cheese, deli meats and wine are the wallet-hurters, thanks to import duties. And bring your own bag — the big chains stopped handing out free plastic bags back in 2020, so keep a tote under the seat.

The one-line summary: markets for fresh, Lotus for cheap, Tops for convenient, Rimping for fancy — and 7-Eleven for everything at 2am.