"Drive 10 minutes from downtownChiang Maiand you’ll find the sanctuary of Siripanna Villa Resort & Spa, a 104-room oasis of calm that feels light years away from the old city’s tourist throngs. The property is home to more than 1,000 species of tropical plants and flowers, as well as an orchard where you can pick your own fruit each morning. In addition to cooking classes and meditation courses, there’s a rice paddy that guests can help farm, and a traditional teak huen silp slah house that hosts art and cultural events. Perhaps most inviting of all, however, is the pool, a shimmering expanse studded with fragrant frangipani trees."