Hospitals in Chiang Rai

Chiang Rai is a small provincial capital, but it is the medical centre for the whole of Thailand’s far north — the hill districts, the Golden Triangle and the Mae Sai border — and it is served accordingly. A public regional hospital with close to 800 beds sits a ten-minute walk south of the clock tower; the oldest hospital in the province, private and foundation-run, is a similar walk north of it by the Kok River; a mid-market private hospital stands on the highway south of town; and the BDMS group’s Bangkok Hospital Chiang Rai, the newest and most expensive, is out on the highway north towards the airport and Mae Sai. At the border itself, Mae Sai has a busy public district hospital of its own.

This page lists all five 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 or, where that was not possible, against two independent directories, in September 2026; switchboards do change, so if a number fails, call 1669.

The 5 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, go to Bangkok Hospital Chiang Rai: it has the 24-hour trauma centre, the interpreters and the insurance desk, and it is the one hospital in the province built for foreign patients. Staying in the old town and needing to be seen in English for something minor? Overbrook Hospital on Singhaklai Road is a few minutes’ walk from the clock tower; Kasemrad Sriburin Hospital on the highway south of town does the same job at a similar price. Without insurance and short of money, Chiang Rai Prachanukroh Hospital, the public regional hospital, is the place — and it takes the most serious cases in the province whoever is paying. Hurt at the border or around the Golden Triangle, Mae Sai Hospital is the nearest emergency room. In a genuine life-or-death emergency go to the nearest of the five, or call 1669 and let the crew decide.

What will it cost?

Three tiers, and they are wide apart. The public hospitals — Prachanukroh in the city and Mae Sai at the border — charge foreigners more than Thais but still very little by Western standards: a consultation, tests and medicine typically come to less than a mid-range hotel night, and even an admission is affordable. Overbrook and Kasemrad Sriburin are mid-market private hospitals and charge a few times that for the same outpatient visit; both expect a deposit if you are admitted. Bangkok Hospital Chiang Rai is priced like its Bangkok parent, which is to say like a Western private hospital: with insurance it is worth every baht, without it a serious admission can run into the hundreds of thousands of baht. Ask for a written estimate before any procedure at any of them, and keep every receipt.

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, any medication you are on and, after a road accident, the rental agreement and your licence — the compulsory motor insurance on a rented scooter covers some injury costs, but only for a licensed rider, and Chiang Rai’s mountain loops are where visitors most often come off. If you cross the bridge at Mae Sai, check first that your policy covers you on the far side. Always ask for an itemised receipt and an English-language medical certificate before you leave.

Getting there and ambulances

The city is compact: Prachanukroh and Overbrook are both within a fifteen-minute walk of the clock tower, and a Grab car, tuk-tuk or motorbike taxi reaches either in minutes. Kasemrad Sriburin is a ten-minute drive south on the highway, Bangkok Hospital Chiang Rai fifteen to twenty minutes north of the centre beyond the airport turning. 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 a public one. Bangkok Hospital Chiang Rai runs its own 24-hour ambulances (+66 52 051 913) and will send one when you call. A motorbike taxi is no place for an injury. Outside the city an ambulance can be a long time coming — in the hills, getting yourself to the nearest district hospital is often faster than waiting.

Beyond Chiang Rai

Chiang Mai is three hours south by road on Highway 118 and is where the most serious cases from the north are ultimately transferred; its two big private hospitals are Bangkok Hospital Chiang Mai (+66 52 089 888) and Chiang Mai Ram (+66 52 004 699). On the Golden Triangle day trip the nearest hospital is the small public district hospital in Chiang Saen town (+66 53 777 035), about ten kilometres from the viewpoint at Sop Ruak; at the Mae Sai border it is Mae Sai Hospital, listed above. The Mae Salong, Doi Tung and Phu Chi Fa motorbike loops pass through district towns that each have a small public hospital, but those are set up for stabilising and referring, not for surgery, and the run back to the city can take two hours. Bangkok Hospital Chiang Rai, on the highway north of the city, is the first big hospital you reach coming back from the border.

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 at Central Chiangrai, on the highway south of the centre, are the easy option; the independent pharmacies around the clock tower and the night bazaar stay open into the evening, and there is a cluster along Phahonyothin Road in Mae Sai. Check expiry dates, and see a doctor if a fever lasts more than a couple of days: dengue is present in Chiang Rai and needs a blood test, not a pharmacy. From late February to April smoke from field burning hangs over the north, and anyone with asthma should bring a spare inhaler rather than count on finding one.

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

Travel information, not medical advice.

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