Loi Kroh Road nightlife in Chiang Mai - It's the Red Light district

If you were walking around Chiang Mai at night it certainly wouldn't take you very long to figure out that this area is definitely the "naughty" part of town. For anyone that has ever been in Thailand you are already very aware of the tell-tale sign that you are in the girly bar part of town.

source

For one thing there are always a group of young(ish) ladies sitting near the front of the establishment dressed in something they definitely wouldn't wear around their parents. This is kind of the bar's way of advertising what they have there.

This style of bar actually isn't as "seedy" as it sounds because the people that work there are doing so willingly and I actually find them to be exceptionally friendly. I don't participate in the major unspoken-of transaction that can take place here but at the end of the day these girls (well, some of them aren't girls) are doing this job because they want to do it. I'm not going to judge them for this and I have actually had some really great conversations in bars of this magnitude.

If you are alone in town this is a great way to chat the night away - I wouldn't get too enthusiastic about any of them becoming life-long friends and for the love of everything holy don't be one of those morons that thinks you can "save" one of these girls and change their lives. I have met many a bar girl in my life in Thailand and for the most part they genuinely enjoy what they do for a living and the alternative is to do something that pays significantly less.

enough about that

Every one of these bars, unfortunately, are pretty much the same: Slightly overpriced drinks with pretty girls, loud music, and a pool table you can play for free. They also offer "take-away." That's pretty much it.

source

A bit further down the road and to the side is the Loi Kroh Boxing Stadium which isn't really a stadium as much as it is a parking lot with 25 more bars (with girls and pool tables) that happens to have a boxing ring in the middle of it all. These bars tend to be a bit better and the girls working there of a "higher caliber," if you know what i mean. Sometimes they charge to watch the fights, sometimes they don't - I really don't know what the system is.

I would say that if you were going to visit the red-light district of Chiang Mai, just to experience it, this is likely the best place to go. I will admit that they are very adept at getting you to spend money so if you are a stingy fella this is probably not the best place to go.

Overall I would say that you would be doing yourself a disservice if you didn't at least have a look at Loi Kroh Road and in particular the boxing stadium area, while you are here. It is very near the other "regular" nightlife in the Old City, so if you get there and realize it isn't for you at least you don't have to go very far to change the scene.

location including GPS coords