Thai Cooking Class with Market Tour & Hotel Pickup Chiang Mai

A Fresh Market Visit with Your Chef

Every class begins with a guided visit to a local fresh market, where your chef shows you what goes into Thai food before you cook it. You learn to recognise lemongrass, galangal, fresh turmeric, kaffir lime leaves, coriander roots, shallots and the small, fiery bird's eye chillies, and to tell Thai basil from holy basil by their scent. The chef also explains the sauces on every Thai table: fish sauce, oyster sauce, soy sauce and palm sugar.

The market visit is short and practical, about 20 to 30 minutes, and gives you the vocabulary to shop in any Thai market later in your trip. For anyone searching for a cooking class with a market tour in Chiang Mai, this is the part that turns recipes into real understanding, because you see, touch and smell each ingredient fresh.

The Family-Run Cooking School near the Old City

The class takes place in a small family-run cooking school on Rat Chiang Saen Road, just south of the moat that surrounds Chiang Mai's Old City. The atmosphere is relaxed and personal, more like cooking in a Thai family kitchen than in a large teaching hall, and on arrival you are welcomed with a drink and a snack before putting on your apron.

The square Old City, still ringed by its moat and the remains of brick walls and gates, holds most of Chiang Mai's historic temples, and the school's location makes it easy to combine the class with a day of sightseeing. If you prefer to come on your own rather than take our pickup, we confirm the exact meeting point and directions with you after booking.

Your Own Wok Station: Pad Thai and Stir-Fries

In the kitchen every guest has their own wok, utensils and cooking station, so you do every step yourself rather than watching a demonstration. The chef cooks each dish first, then guides you as you chop, pound and fry. You learn how high heat, the right order of ingredients and a quick hand give Thai stir-fries their smoky, fresh flavour.

You create your own menu from a list of Thai classics. Pad Thai, with its rice noodles, tamarind, egg and peanuts, is the favourite of most first-time cooks, and stir-fries with holy basil or cashew nuts are popular too. Each dish can be as mild or as spicy as you like, and vegan and vegetarian versions are prepared on request when you book.

Curries, Soups and Mango Sticky Rice

Beyond the wok, the class covers the other pillars of Thai cooking: fragrant soups such as hot and sour tom yum or coconut-based tom kha, and curries built on a paste of chillies, herbs and spices. The chef explains how to balance the four Thai tastes, sour, salty, sweet and spicy, so that you can adjust any recipe to your own taste at the end.

The class closes with mango sticky rice, the much-loved Thai dessert of sweet glutinous rice, coconut cream and ripe mango. Then you sit down to eat everything you have cooked together with the group. After the class you receive a digital recipe e-book and photos of your session, and our driver takes you back to your hotel about 3.5 hours after pickup.