Doi Tung Royal Villa

The Princess Mother, Srinagarindra, began the Doi Tung Development Project in 1988 on a 1,389-metre mountain that had been stripped by shifting cultivation and opium growing, home to Akha, Lahu and other communities. The project reforested the slopes, granted land use, and built an economy on coffee, macadamia, ceramics, weaving and paper - Doi Tung branded products are sold nationally and fund the work. She lived here in a villa built in 1988 in a style combining Swiss chalet and Lanna forms, with a carved zodiac ceiling; it is open, along with Mae Fah Luang Garden, a formal flower garden below it, and an exhibition hall on her life and the project. The reforestation is visible on the drive up. Wat Phra That Doi Tung, a hilltop temple with twin chedis that the chronicles date back to 911, is further along the ridge, and some 3.5 million coffee trees now grow on the mountain.

What you'll find

• The villa - the 1988 Swiss-Lanna house with its carved zodiac ceiling.
• Mae Fah Luang Garden - the formal flower garden on the slope below.
• The reforestation - the recovered mountain visible on the way up.
• The project economy - coffee, macadamia, ceramics and weaving funding the work.

When to go

November to February for the flowers and the clear air; avoid March and April, the burning season. Half a day for the villa, garden and hall. Combined tickets are better value.

Practical notes

Separate tickets for villa, garden and hall, which add up. Photography is restricted inside the villa. The mountain road is winding. It is busy on cool-season weekends.

Nearby

Wat Phra That Doi Tung is further along the ridge; Mae Sai and the Myanmar border are north.