Picking Strawberries Mon Cham Chiang Mai

Looking for something different to do in Chiang Mai I thought I'd take a trip to pick strawberries at Mon Cham in Chiang Mai. Only a 40 minute drive from the center of Chiang Mai to pick strawberries.

During the colder months of Thailand is perfect weather for growing strawberries. The strawberry picking season is from November till January. The best place to do this and the most accessible is a little known place called Mon Cham pronounced Mon Jam.

I say little known it's not actually Thai people around Chiang Mai know this place well but when I went there I didn't see one Farang only Thai tourists seeing Strawberries are very expensive it's something they like to do I guess.

We got up about 4 am in the morning and left our place at 5:30. We got to the top of the mountain about 6:30 but it hadn't opened yet and waited around till 7am till the place opened. We thought the strawberries were on top of the mountain too but they weren't it was just for the view and to sit down and drink wine. There are lots of grapes up there too. Actually it would be a good place to sit down and try their wine but at 7 in the morning not really. There were about 80 odd people waiting around for the place to open.

After checking out the view and the flower garden we went back down the hill a little bit to pick strawberries and grapes. The grapes weren't ready yet so we took a bucket to the strawberries. It's kind of muddy there so make sure you were shoes when you do this.

Billy Karts anyone?

Yup, if you want to try a billy kart down the mountain you can do this here, I didn't try it because it looked a little dangerous to me though at least it had a brake (probably doesn't do much though), 50 baht you can go down the mountain it's only about 200 meters try at your own peril!

I hadn't eaten a strawberry off the vine for years but I tell you what unreal, they are so fresh and not like strawberries you find at the store, these are kind of crunchy you know they have that snap to them when you bite into them.

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Directions to Mon Jam

Take the highway 107 towards Mae Rim then take a left on the 1096 highway which is the same road that goes to the Tiger Kingdom. Follow the road down about 15 kilometers and take the turn off to Mon Cham there is a big sign in English too so it's not hard to miss, the turn off is exactly 3 kilometers pass the Queens Botanical Gardens. This road is very popular for tourists because it has all the ATV tiger kingdom elephant rides monkey and snake shows, you could make a whole day out of it if you wanted. Check the map below for more details. Once you have taken the exit follow the road all the way to the top of the mountain. Picking strawberries isn't on the top of the mountain though it's just before the school. You'll see a sign, just ask the farmers if you can pick strawberries they will give you a bucket.

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