The Best Laptop-Friendly Cafes and Coffee Shops in Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai is coffee central. You can’t swing a small-sized cat without hitting one (don’t do that though, for obvious reasons). It means finding the best laptop-friendly cafes and coffee shops in Chiang Mai should be easy, no?
As a digital nomad, it is likely you do one of three things:
- Use coworking spaces
- Work from your accommodation
- Find a cafe to sip coffee and tap away at your keyboard
Finding a laptop-friendly cafe or coffee shop in Chiang Mai is not so simple, even in a city with over a thousand places to grab a great cup of joe and a strong reputation as Thailand's digital nomad capital.
Well. After three years under the belt (this time around!), it’s been a challenge, but here is a list of cafes and coffee shops that are now well-established (yes, coffee joints open and close as often as the elevator doors of the Empire State Building here) and you can freely pop out the laptop and get to work.
1. BOB Coffee, Santitham
Tucked away in a corner of Santitham BOB is perhaps the most hidden gem of all laptop-friendly cafés in Chiang Mai. At the front, it looks like little more than a coffee kiosk with a bench to sit at. Don’t be fooled though, it has TWO separate larger areas around the back where nomads, students and coffee-drinkers mingle seamlessly.
The coffee is pretty cheap too, even for Chiang Mai, and the internet speed matches up to its local reputation as a great coworking café. It also has a food menu, which is actually rare in coffee places in Thailand, and plenty of parking.
2. Cloud Coffee, Suthep
Another café that is very much set up for people to work at. It is between the main university campus and Nimman, so you see a lot of students there, but the tables and vibe are for working. It’s still relaxed though, has incredibly friendly staff who’ll remember your order months later, and you’ll be surrounded by people doing exactly the same as you.
It also has a private room you can book, plenty of parking, and the coffee is great!
3. Blue Coffee at Agriculture CMU, CMU Campus
Not far from Cloud Coffee or Nimman, is this branch of the growing Blue Coffee group. This is the best one for working from, though. The modern building overlooks the fields of the Agriculture School, offering some green dopamine most of the year, and is often abuzz with students. Nomads in the know use this spot too, racking up loyalty stamps (which is a rare find in Thailand), and sitting at designed-for-study booths and tables.
There is a private room you can book for meetings that overlooks the fields, and Blue Coffee’s usual good range of beans and coffee drinks is on offer.
4. The Baristro Asian Style, Suthep
This one is a little different. Baristro has several cafés around the city (including the one at the train station, which is incredibly appropriately designed, and the Ping River site offers riverside chilling), but this one tucked away off Suthep Road is a treat. The tropical garden offers a lovely spot to relax, and there is a mixture of Asian styles throughout the outbuildings. The modern industrial/wood interior of the main building is a popular spot for nomads to work.
You have to pay to get in, but you get that as credit off food and drink. The extensive coffee menu and huge selection of sweet treats mean you’ll be back to try more to fuel your work time!
5. The Story 106, Chang Moi
There was a period when cafés and even hotels post-Covid rebranded themselves as coworking spaces in Chiang Mai to hack the Google Maps SEO. While a lot of them have fallen by the wayside, The Story 106 has lasted well and in fact grown.
Set across two floors, the second floor is more conducive for working and setting up for a few hours of work. The full menu (one of the better breakfast-food spots in town!), central location just a walk from Thae Pae Gate, and work-friendly furnishings make it a popular spot for nomads.
6. Heartwork The Sharing Space, Chang Khlan
Not far from the southeast corner of the Old Town, Heartwork is a print shop, but has an upstairs gallery with seating overlooking the ground floor. It has a basic Thai menu, good coffee, and is welcoming to nomads.
The WiFi is good and is on a street full of local restaurants, next to the newly renovated Mae Kha Canal, and of course perfect if you need anything printed!
Alternative Bonus Pick: CMU Library
This is left-field, but if you are on a budget and staying for a little while, you can join CMU library for THB200 for a year. The four floors of different style rooms and seating, and the buzz of learning going on, is a secret hidden-in-plain-sight option that very few know of.
You’ll need to hotspot for internet, or the main phone suppliers (AIS and TRUEMOVE) have wifi hotspots that cost from THB100 a month to sign up for. For a change of scenery once in a while, or if your budget is tight, this is a very viable alternative to cafés and coworking spaces in Chiang Mai. There’s an Amazon Coffee next door, or several cheap, student-priced kiosks all around campus to grab some caffeine on your way in.
Honorable mentions…
- Akha Ama has two sites in the city (and another out in Mae Rim where they do their roasting), and are fantastic coffee spots. They are often on the list for cafés to work from, but they aren’t really set up for it. The one in the Old City is definitely worth a visit, and you can work from there for a short time if you don’t need a power outlet. It’s a popular Instagram spot and can get very busy.
- Oasis Café is a little out of town to the north, but most of you will likely have a motorbike or Grab is cheap. It’s a beautiful spot - as the name suggests - and they have an extensive menu. It’s definitely worth a visit for a working brunch or lunch and a different vibe.
- Ombra is another that makes a lot of these lists, and now has a couple of locations. However, at their original Santitham branch there are sometimes issues with WiFi and it’s a little claustrophobic. They recently opened a new venue in a hidden street on the south end of Nimman which has airier spaces, the same modern menu and excellent coffee.
- CAMP is an AIS-run space which makes it a little curious that the WiFi speed isn’t super-fast. It’s on the list because it seems everyone recommends it, but really it’s a funky place for students to work from. It’s in Maya Mall, so perhaps convenient if you don’t mind navigating your way to the top floor. It does have good views of the mountain though! Buy a drink and you get a couple of hours of internet access.
- Artisan Café is the polar opposite. It is on the ground floor of a hostel on Wua Lai Road in the south of the city, but has a really nice vibe to work in. Limited tables, but it makes a great coffee and the leather/wood furnishings make for a nice spot to work at. Perhaps not somewhere to camp out for the day, but if you need a spot for a couple of hours in a chilled spot, then it ticks that box well.
- WAKO Bake is on the corner of Jed Yod and Suthep and has excellent meeting rooms to book as well as a good space to work from. The coffee lets it down somewhat, but still a popular place to work from and book meetings/workshops at.
Conclusion
Finding somewhere to get a coffee in Chiang Mai is not a problem, so there are literally into the thousands of places you could sit and do some work in the city. But, finding laptop-friendly cafés and coffee shops in Chiang Mai you can actually work from is not quite so easy.
These - after extensive research! - should stand the test of time in a city where cafés open and close in the blink of an eye, but also have remote working and digital nomads in mind.
If you’ve some favorites we could check out in the city then do let us know…There is always time for coffee!
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