Because January is in the middle of Thailand’s winter and it is not stinking hot with bad air pollution, it is peak tourist season, which does unfortunately mean travel and accommodation costs are likely to be higher than other times of the year.

Accordingly, we recommend not leaving the booking of your flights until the last minute; the earlier you book, the cheaper the price is likely to be.

It is currently not possible to fly to Thailand non-stop. It is possible to fly to Chiang Mai (CNX) with one stopover in China or Taiwan, otherwise you will need to to Chiang Mai via Suvarnabhumi (BKK), Bangkok with a stopover, usually in Australia, Malaysia, or Singapore.

You may find it cheaper to fly into BKK, and then catch a separately booked domestic flight to CNX. This obviously involves a bit more planning than booking one ticket to Chiang Mai via an international stopover and then Bangkok, and in terms of cost savings YMMV.

We would recommend, if booking domestic flights between Bangkok and Chiang Mai (and vice versa), looking into flights from/to Don Mueang International Airport (DMK), Bangkok’s ‘second’ airport. It may be possible to find cheaper flights, and, although it would require a bit more coordination, there is a free shuttle bus that runs between the two airports, and the drive time (in our one-time experience) is about 1 hour.