Mae Fah Luang Chiang Rai International Airport ‘Where you will start you journey…’

It is best to travel to Chiang Rai by a plane, as that will be quick and save your time. If you get aboard in Bangkok, probably Don Muang International Airport or Suvarnabhumi Airport, you should arrive at Chiang Rai within 1 hour or less. 

As you may imagine or you may not, Chiang Rai Airport is another important and good travel centre. It has been being on business for almost 20 years.

Mae Fah Luang Chiang Rai International Airport has been being on business for almost 26 years. It had been under the care of Department of Civil Aviation before the organization transfer the airport to Airports of Thailand PLC. instead.  

The airport consists of total 10 airlines and provides customers with about 35 flights per one day. The size of the passenger building is about 22,960 square metres, which allows it to contains more than 1,000 people. There are total 6 minor zones within the building: domestic and international arrival lounge, domestic and international departure lounge, office of Mae Fah Luang – Chiang Rai International Airport, areas for rent by entrepreneurs, areas for offices of public agencies, and other public areas.

Here are the list of some airlines at Chiang Mai airport.

The service hour starts from 6:30-22:00. There are taxi available for tourists, of course. In case you arrive at Chiang Rai Airport without someone waiting for picking you up, just hail a taxi to get to your destination. Or, you may contact the car rent booth, in order to rent a car for yourself.

However, if you arrive at the airport and still have more time before leaving it, you can still spend some relaxing time first, as there are quite many facilities within the airport. These facilities include…

• The restaurant ‘Khao Soi House’. This is in fact a traditional restaurant. You can order some dishes to eat if you’re quite hungry.
• The convenient store ‘To Go’ allows you to purchase some snacks and drinks.
• The shop ‘Mapas’ offer you many souvenirs like cloths and ornaments.
• ‘Suana&Spa’ can provide you with comfortable massage.

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Beside of these, there are still other service zones, for examples, religious activity zone, foreign customer service, banking service, information service etc.

Lastly, like any other airports in the world, Chiang Rai Airport has strict safety rules for all passengers. The most important parts are about prohibited items on board. You have to be careful about what you are going to take up to the passenger room of your plane.

The rules are quite complex and long. However, here are the short conclusions of them. If you want further information, you may visit the website www.chiangraiairportthai.com.

1. Any liquid items, probably perfume, foundation, sunscreen cream, can be taken aboard within the total capacity of 1,000 ml. But each item must be no more than 100 ml. You should put all of them into a clear plastic bag, in order that the officers at the airport can check them.
2. Dangerous animals are prohibited in every circumstances.
3. You are not allow to take weapons, or weapon-like items, aboard.
4. You have to put your belongings in a tray at the X-Ray screening machine. By doing so, the officers can check whether you have prohibited objects with you or not.
5. You can take power bank aboard. But there are some limits. For 20,000 mAh(or less) power bank, you can take them with you as much as you can. For 20,000 mAh to 32,000 mAh power bank, you can only take two of them. But for power bank that contains capacity of over 32,000 mAh, it is prohibited in every circumstances.

How to get there 

You can get to Chiang Rai Airport by several methods. 

First, if you have a car, you can just drive it through Chiang Rai downtown, going along the Rattanakate Road. Try to head for Ban Khu District. Then head for another 8 kilometres. Lastly, turn left to the airport. Or, you can hail a taxi to give you a ride instead. That will be the quickest way if you travel with other people, like your friends and your family.