Hospitals in Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai is the medical centre of northern Thailand, and for a city of its size it is unusually well supplied: a 1,400-bed university hospital that takes the region’s worst trauma, a regional public hospital of more than 800 beds on the Mae Rim road, a 350-bed private hospital ten minutes’ walk from Nimman, a BDMS hospital on the Superhighway, and three older private hospitals — Lanna, McCormick and Rajavej — that treat most of the city’s long-stay foreigners at a fraction of the price. Add the university’s own premium centre, Sriphat, and a visitor has a wider choice than the size of the city suggests.

This page lists all eight with the practical detail: what kind of hospital it is, roughly how big, where it is, how to call it and how to find it on a map. Every name opens a full page on that hospital. Details were checked against each hospital’s own website in September 2026 (Lanna’s against its registration and LINE pages, since its main site blocks automated visitors). Switchboards do change — several Chiang Mai hospitals have moved from 053 to 052 numbers in recent years and the old ones linger in directories — so if a number fails, call 1669.

The 8 at a glance

Bed counts are approximate. Tap a name for the full page.

The hospitals

Which hospital should I go to?

For a serious emergency with insurance, or anything complicated, the two internationally accredited private hospitals are Chiang Mai Ram, just outside the west moat, and Bangkok Hospital Chiang Mai on the Superhighway east of the city; Ram is the bigger and the more central, Bangkok Hospital the one many insurers’ assistance lines know best. For a minor illness or injury at a lower private price, Lanna Hospital north of the moat, and McCormick and Rajavej on the east bank of the Ping, all see foreigners every day and speak enough English. Without insurance and facing something serious, go to Maharaj Nakorn Chiang Mai (Suan Dok), the university hospital west of the old city and the north’s trauma centre; Sriphat, on the same campus, is its premium centre for anything that can be planned. Nakornping is the big public hospital if you are staying out towards Mae Rim. In a life-or-death emergency, the nearest emergency room, or 1669.

What will it cost?

Three tiers. The public hospitals — Suan Dok and Nakornping — charge foreigners more than Thais but still very little: a consultation, blood tests and medicine usually come to less than a mid-range hotel night, and even a few days on a ward is affordable. Sriphat and the mid-market private hospitals — Lanna, McCormick and Rajavej — charge a few times the public rate for the same outpatient visit and expect a deposit if you are admitted; for a scooter scrape that needs cleaning, an X-ray and stitches they are the sensible middle. Chiang Mai Ram and Bangkok Hospital Chiang Mai sit at the top: still generally below the big Bangkok hospitals for comparable care, but a serious admission with surgery and intensive care runs into the hundreds of thousands of baht, which is what travel insurance is for. Ask for a written estimate before any procedure, at every one of them.

Insurance, deposits and paperwork

Thai hospitals are used to travel insurance, and the private ones will call your insurer for a guarantee of payment — but only if the insurer has a contract with them, and usually only for an admission; outpatient visits are almost always pay-and-claim. If there is time, phone the assistance number on your policy before you go: it can name the hospital it prefers and open the claim. Take your passport, your policy number and any medication you are on. After a road accident bring the rental agreement and your licence too: the compulsory motor insurance on a rented scooter covers some injury costs, but only for a licensed rider, and Chiang Mai’s mountain roads produce a steady stream of riders who were not. Always ask for an itemised receipt and an English-language medical certificate before you leave, and photograph both.

Getting there and ambulances

The national ambulance number is 1669; it is free, and it takes you to the nearest appropriate hospital, which for an uninsured patient usually means Suan Dok or Nakornping. Several hospitals run their own 24-hour ambulances and will send one when you call: Chiang Mai Ram on +66 52 004 601, Suan Dok’s emergency medical service on +66 53 938 777, McCormick via its emergency line. For anything that can wait ten minutes, a Grab or Bolt car is the fastest way across town; the red songthaews are cheap but meander, and a motorbike taxi is no place for an injury. Distances are short — Ram, Suan Dok and Sriphat are all within five minutes of Nimman — but the moat road and the Superhighway jam from late afternoon, and Nakornping is a proper drive north. Allow for it.

Pharmacies

For a cold, a stomach upset, a rash or a hangover you do not need a hospital at all. Thai pharmacies sell most everyday medicines over the counter, including antibiotics and painkillers that would need a prescription at home, and a licensed pharmacist — look for the framed certificate — will usually speak enough English to advise. Boots and Watsons in the Maya and Central Festival malls are the easy option; the independent pharmacies along Nimmanhaemin, around Tha Phae Gate and on Chang Klan Road by the Night Bazaar stay open late. Two local notes: dengue is present in Chiang Mai, so a fever that lasts more than a couple of days needs a blood test, not a pharmacy; and in the smoke season, roughly February to April, pharmacies sell out of N95 masks and inhalers early — anyone with asthma should bring their own.

Beyond Chiang Mai

The mountain towns have district hospitals, not trauma centres. Pai has a small public hospital that stabilises and sends anything serious three hours down the 762 bends to Chiang Mai; the same is true of Mae Hong Son’s provincial hospital, further still. Chiang Rai, three hours north-east, is better placed: Bangkok Hospital Chiang Rai (+66 52 051 800, or 1719 from a Thai phone) is the BDMS hospital there, Overbrook is a long-established private hospital in the town centre, and Chiang Rai Prachanukroh is the large provincial public hospital. If you are planning a motorbike loop, note where these are before you set off — see the Chiang Rai and Mae Hong Son guides — and remember that the most serious cases from the whole region are ultimately brought back to Suan Dok.

Chiang Mai travel guide / Chiang Mai tourist map / Chiang Mai hotels / Thailand visa guide / Thailand destinations / Hospitals in Thailand / Hospitals in Thailand / All hospitals

Travel information, not medical advice.

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