Tha Phae Gate, Chiang Mai
Tha Phae Gate in Chiang Mai is a historic city wall entrance and lively public square, popular for its markets, festivals, and easy access to the Old City's temples and street food.
Tha Phae Gate, Chiang Mai
Tha Phae Gate is the main surviving gate in Chiang Mai's old city wall, on the eastern side, where the moat is crossed to enter the walled square. The city was founded in 1296 and the wall and moat still define its shape almost exactly; the gate has been rebuilt more than once, most recently from photographs and archaeological work in the 1980s.
The open brick plaza in front of it is the city's default gathering place - the end point of the Sunday walking street, the setting for Loi Krathong and Songkran, and where the pigeons and the buskers are on an ordinary evening. Sections of the original wall run away on either side.
It is the most useful orientation point in Chiang Mai: the old city temples are inside the gate, and the night bazaar and the river are a straight walk east from it.
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