Lamphun Travel Guide
Lamphun ‘Small Province but Valuable of Culture’
Although Lamphun is the smallest province of northern Thailand, but it’s still one of the best tourism towns. The province is baked of long-time history. There are many interesting things for you to find out.
Geography
Lamphun is in the Ping River valley. It is surrounded by mountain chains, with the Thanon Thong Chai Range in the west and the Khun Tan Range in the east of the province. It is some 670 kilometres from Bangkok and 26 kilometres from Chiang Mai.
The Territory Information
The province is divided into eight districts (amphoe). These are further subdivided into 51 sub-districts (tambon) and 551 villages (muban).
- Mueang Lamphun
- Mae Tha
- Ban Hong
- Li
- Thung Hua Chang
- Pa Sang
- Ban Thi
- Wiang Nong Long
An Unforgettable History: From ‘Haripunchai Town’ to ‘Lamphun Province’
For your information, Lamphun Province was once a town named ‘Haripunchai’, which is an important ancient town of Thai history.
The legend says, Wasuthep the Anchorite was the one who established Haripunchai. He recruited Mon people to complete the task.
Haripunchai took place between Guang River and Ping River. After the town had been finished completely, the daughter of Lawo king named ‘Camadevi’ was invited to be the very first ruler of the town.
After the period of Camadevi, many rulers follow. Finally, in the period of Phaya Yeeba, Haripunchai was taken over by Phaya Mangrai, the one who gathered northern Thai towns together and created Lanna Kingdom. That means, Lamphun was a part of Lanna Kingdom too.
Lamphun was maintained as Hripunchai Town until the year 1932. After the last ruler ‘Major General Chaochakkhamkajornsak’ had passed away, Hripunchai was changed into ‘Lamphun Province’.
A Memorable Identity: Art and Culture
All these years, Lamphun has spreaded many parts of art and culture to foreign people.
There are many architectures and artworks in Lamphun that reflec the intellect of people from the past, for examples, temples, museums, weaved-fabric, etc. These things are created by both ethnic groups and normal villagers. After all, there have been many nations of people inhabited in Lamphun.
Some tourist attractions, like many ethnic villages, are one of the best learning sources to track down what has became of the province since the past. You can see their lifestyles and their handicrafts.
An Impressive Tourism: All You Can Find There
As Lamphun is a historic town, most of tourist attractions are something like temples, museums, and ethnic villages. However, that’s not the end of that. There are still many other types of tourist attractions there. You can have fun no matter what you like.
For an example, if you love shopping, you probably go to Lamphun Walking Street or any market. There are plenty of food and souvenir vending booths.
If you love something exciting, you can go to some place like The Sun New Center, which is an amusement park. See? There is something like this even in Lamphun. You won’t be disappointed for sure.
In case you love nature, you can visit a waterfall or a national park, for an example, Kho Luang Waterfall or Doi Khun Tan National Park.
Here are the list of attraction in Lamphun.
Convenience: Travel Around Without Anxiety
There are many ways for you to get to Lamphun. Most people will choose a plane or a train. Or you can get a tour bus if you want to. But getting a bus may not be good if you know you get sore easily, as road travel to Lamphun takes many hours. In that case, just choose a plane or a train.
But if you’re in perfect health, you may even drive your car to Lamphun by yourself. That will be good for you, as you can make a few stops on your way, just to find some snack at gas stations or souvenir shops.
Within the province, if you’re not a Thai tourist and you drive a car on your own, it may be a little bit difficult for you, as there are barely direction signs with English words on. Therefore, if you come from another country and want to drive in Lamphun, you should carefully study the route you want to go before driving, or you just use Google Map on English mode.
If you have no car, that’s not a problem at all. You can still wander around Lamphun. There are many public vehicles for you to choose, for examples, motorcycle, truck, and, the most popular one, tricycle. Tricycle can be seen anywhere in Lamphun. You may want to take this as your first choice. The price starts normally from 20 Baht to 200 Baht, for those who want to pay in lump-sum. In fact, tricycle is the best way if you want to have a tour around Lamphun or want to get to somewhere near your location.
How to get to and from Lamphun
