Chiang Mai is increasingly becoming an excellent destination for families. Not only is it a wonderful place to come and live and have your kid study here. Being the most friendly city globally, outstanding access to nature and outdoor activities, reasonable prices and remarkable cultural heritage. Furthermore, we have many restaurants with playgrounds in Chiang Mai. There are plenty of them, and here are a few of the best ones:
Six restaurants with playgrounds in Chiang Mai
- Triplets Eat and Play
- Nic’s Restaurant & Playground
- Ginger Farm
- Cup Fine Day
- Take a Walk house and coffee
- Begin Coffee and Playspace
Triplets Eat & Play
They are located in Hang Dong. When it comes to restaurants with playgrounds, Triplets has a pleasant bamboo construction climbing frame for kids to play on. And the soft river sand is probably the best in any garden in Chiang Mai. There is a trampoline and a small area for bunnies. The variation of the games you see kids enjoy when they play the bamboo construction is outstanding. Foodwise, the pizzas are popular with the kids, especially the Margarita.
Triplets offer a lot of variation for starters, and the price is much in balance with what you get. Inside the main building, there is a nice variety of ice cream flavours presented.
Throughout the years, we had many birthday parties here with our playgroup in Chiang Mai. There is pretty much a consensus that you get a lot for what you pay for. There is also a new sala/aircon room to sit in. The owners are friendly and flexible. On a few occasions, there have been some disappointments about the food.
But it is a minor dilemma, and the owners are attentive listeners and problem solvers if you bring any issues up. You can reason with and talk to them.
Nic’s Restaurant & Playground.
This is the original restaurant with a playground in Chiang Mai. Nic’s has a showcase flagship, the bamboo pirate ship construction. Once focusing intensely on the Panyaden School Community, the restaurant caters to a broader crowd. They downplayed the play part bit a little bit because they wanted not to be a playground with food but a nice restaurant with opportunities for kids to play while the parents enjoyed high-quality wines and food.
The implications were that some parents found Nic’s a bit pricey and avoided the restaurant. However, for my family, our kids enjoyed Nic’s and Triplets on an equal level. It is more the mood of the day. Suppose we have been to Nic’s once the next time, the kids would ask for Triplets or the reverse. Both are great restaurants with playgrounds.
We enjoyed a Christmas Party there once. Beautiful decorations and a lovely arrangement. In general, the food standard is high. When it comes to food, I enjoy their Wienerschnitzel or the Cordon Bleu.
Impressive burgers and nice variation in the menu. When I thought about it, Nic’s is the only place out of these five that I would consider going to without the kids, and just for the meal, the bill can get a bit expensive.
Moreover, they can arrange birthday parties. On occasions, you get small flea markets here as well. There is a slider and a mini-football field. Options are to sit inside or outside. In addition, they have a section of quiet rooms.
All in all, Nic’s is very clean and nicely managed.
Ginger Farm
They were initially starting from having a very nicely decorated restaurant in downtown with their design shop and items for sale. Ginger now has several branches around Chiang Mai.
The farm branch is educational with a barn, chances to play hey, slide down in a mud pool, or ride a water buffalo.
Incredible fun and very good Thai food. The service has been adequate but not as friendly and welcoming as Nic’s and Triplets.
Cup Fine Day
Located just by the foot of the Doi Kham mountain temple staircase, this is a classic and more local simple play area. Of all the restaurants with playgrounds that we visited in Chiang Mai, I think this was the first one. Cup Fine Day is more suitable for the younger kids digging sand, small climbing frames, a giant trampoline. Ok food, and inexpensive. They also offer good coffee deals for early bicyclists passing by. Already at 6.30 in the morning, you can get a coffee here.
I like the location around Wat Doi Kham and the forests in the mountains behind.
Remember that on any important holy day, and for New Year, traffic in this area is Bangkok style. Hoards of people heading to Doi Kham temple for merit-making and many vendors on the way waving in cars.
Service at Cup Fine Day is just neutral. It is a bit of a pity that they close early, already at 5.30 pm.
Take A Walk House and Coffee
I recently wrote a whole blog post about this place. My daughter exclaimed that this is the best restaurant with a playground in Chiang Mai. You get climbing frames, bridges, a treehouse, a hobbit house and a small animal farm: an open grass area and access to the water in the Mae Wang river. However, a visit here is more of an outing since you need to drive one hour outside Chiang Mai to the Doi Saket Phang Hai area.
The food here is modest. It is more a coffee shop, but you find easy dishes like fried rice and some meat topping the rice—no Alcohol for sale.
Connected to Take A Walk is also a B&B. We stayed here for s night and had a wonderful experience. The whole area is so spacious. Read more about our overnight experience here on this link: Take A Walk House and Coffee | Perfect Escape Day from Chiang Mai
Begin Coffee and Play Space
We just recently went here for the first time. It is a resort, but also with educational play space facilities and at least now during the Covid – era you can have your kids access the two swimming pools and play the different games and toys they have(the playground itself is not very big) for (today’s date 60) baht.
The food was indeed a pleasant surprise. I enjoyed the quesadillas. The Mexican fare was excellent. The desserts were also impressive, like the pavlova with tropical fruits. No one dared to try the Nutella pizza with strawberries, though. Bonus point for good coffee as well.
Newcomers, The Teak A Boo is popular on weekends. And Chada is a Restaurant Playground that I just recently visited. Read more here.
A great source of information about what to do with kids in Chiang Mai is the Chiang Mai Family Guide.
It is written by a Canadian ex-pat that worked as a teacher in Chiang Mai for six years. And still lives here with her family. See the link below: