Wat Phra That Doi Suthep: The Temple on the Mountain
A relic, a white elephant and 1383 — and then everything the elephant started: a 24-metre gilded chedi, two shrine halls, a bell row and a terrace looking down on Chiang Mai from about 1,070 metres. Every Wat Phra That Doi Suthep tour ends up on that terrace.
1383, a relic and a white elephant
The temple is said to have been founded in 1383, under King Kue Na of Lan Na. A monk named Sumanathera had come north with a bone believed to be the Buddha's shoulder, and rather than choose a site himself the king put the relic on the back of a white elephant and let it walk.
The elephant climbed the mountain, trumpeted three times, turned around three times, knelt, and died. The chedi was raised over the spot, and the story is told at the shrine near the top of the staircase where a white elephant statue still stands.
The relic is not on display, and never has been. It is sealed inside the chedi, which is why the building itself is the object of veneration and why visitors walk around it rather than into it.
The chedi — 24 metres of gilded copper
The stupa at the centre of the terrace stands 24 metres tall, square-based and stepped, plated in gilded copper sheet and crowned with a five-tiered honorific umbrella. It has been rebuilt and enlarged repeatedly since the fourteenth century, so its proportions are Lanna work of several periods layered on one another.
The four corner umbrellas are later additions and are the detail most photographs miss. Look at the base as well: the gilding stops where centuries of hands have polished the lower course.
Walking the terrace clockwise
Buy the offering. A lotus, a candle and three incense sticks, from the stall inside the cloister.
Circle three times. Clockwise, right shoulder toward the chedi, following whoever is ahead of you.
Place the offering. At the shrine table on the eastern face, then light the candle from the ones burning there.
Then look up. The bells, the umbrellas and the valley — in that order, once the ritual part is done.
The two viharns
The shrine halls sit east and west of the chedi and hold different things. The eastern viharn is the older in feeling, dim and heavy with gold leaf, with a principal Buddha image at the far end and rows of smaller images along the walls. The western hall is lighter, and holds an emerald-coloured Buddha replica that draws a queue on holy days.
Both are working halls rather than exhibits. Shoes come off at the door, feet point away from the images, and photography is fine as long as you are not standing in front of somebody praying.
The naga staircase and the count that never agrees
The staircase from the car park is flanked by the longest naga balustrade in Thailand, two serpents whose heads rear at the bottom step and whose bodies run the whole way up. Wikipedia gives 309 steps; two of the operators here say 306; the count depends on which step you decide is the first.
It takes five to ten unhurried minutes, the treads are shallow and there is shade for most of it. The funicular runs alongside for 20 baht if the stairs are not for you.
Kruba Srivichai and the road of 1935
Until the 1930s the only way up was on foot, five hours or more through the forest. The road was built in 1935 by volunteers organised by the northern monk Kruba Srivichai, who raised the labour from villages across the region rather than the money from the state.
His monument stands at the foot of the climb, at the point where the Huay Kaew road starts to rise, and it is a scheduled stop on one of the sunrise departures. People still leave flowers there before driving up.
Chanting at dawn and at dusk
The monastic day bookends the visiting day, and being on the terrace for either is the difference between seeing the temple and experiencing it.
| What | Roughly when | What you will see |
|---|---|---|
| Morning chanting | around 06:00 | Monks in the eastern viharn, the terrace nearly empty |
| Alms round | after dawn | Offerings made at the shrine and on the path |
| Evening chanting | around 18:00 | Candles on the terrace, the city lighting up below |
| Holy days | full-moon dates | Candlelit processions three times around the chedi |
Be there when the chanting starts
An ordained ex-monk leads the dawn chanting, a first meditation and the alms offering, with every admission already inside the fare and nine travellers maximum.
What visitors walk straight past
The bell row
Along the cloister wall. Strike each one once, in order, walking as you go — it is a merit-making circuit, not decoration.
The white elephant shrine
Near the top of the staircase, marking the animal that chose the site.
The murals in the cloister
Scenes from the Buddha's life, repainted often, easy to miss between the Buddha images.
The model of the temple
A miniature of the whole terrace, useful for working out what you are looking at.
The viewpoint terrace
Reached through the western side, and the only place the whole Chiang Mai grid opens up.
The monks' Q&A
Held on the terrace at set hours, in English, and genuinely open to anyone who sits down.
Ready to see it? Every departure is compared on fare and time on the terrace on Doi Suthep Tours, or read plan your visit for the hours and the fees.