Choui Fong Tea Plantation

Set in the hills of Mae Chan district, roughly thirty kilometres north of the city, the Choui Fong tea plantation is one of northern Thailand's most beautiful and photogenic landscapes, its neat rows of tea bushes rippling in green contour lines across the rolling hillsides. It is a genuine working plantation, one of the largest in the country, and the cool highland climate here is ideal for the oolong and green teas the north is known for. The draw for visitors is a stylish modern cafe and viewpoint, its roof shaped like tea leaves, perched above the terraces and serving freshly brewed local teas alongside green-tea cakes, matcha desserts and light meals with a sweeping panorama over the fields. Walking paths let you get in among the tea rows for photographs, best in the soft light of early morning when the hills are often wrapped in mist. It combines naturally with a wider drive through the tea and mountain country north of Chiang Rai.