137 Pillars House

"Thirty suites set in a series of 19th-century teak houses in the leafy, pretty Wat Gate neighborhood; in the colonial era, foreigners, many of whom were involved in the teak trade, were required by law to live on this side of the Mae Ping River—only Thais could live on the other side. The look: Irreverent colonial. The rooms, like the public spaces, are outfitted in gleaming dark teak and accented with elephant-printed cotton cushions and large celadon urns. But it’s not a slavish recreation of a bygone age: the property is punctuated with beautiful living walls thick with jungle-green creeping vines (all the better to block out the ugly modernist condominium that looms over the property), and, behind the check-in desk, a wall designed to look like an apothecarian’s many-drawered chest, which covers the ceiling as well. The experience: The best thing about this sweet and modest property is its neighborhood; Chiang Mai hotels tend to be located either outside of town or in their own tourist-only enclaves—Wat Gate, while not immune to the café-and-gallery encroachment, feels like a real community with its charming little houses and numerous flowering trees."