Muay Thai Training in Chiang Mai

In short: I trained Muay Thai for a week at Santai Muay Thai, a camp in San Kamphaeng, about 13 km east of Chiang Mai’s Old City. You train twice a day, Monday to Saturday, and Sunday is your rest day. You need your own hand wraps; gloves you can borrow. Build up slowly, eat well and sleep between sessions. I also trained at Manasak Muay Thai, which moved in 2024 to Wat Ket, a short Grab ride from the Old City.

My training story below is from March 2015. The practical information (gyms, visa, fight nights) was checked in October 2026.

One of my dreams was to train hard as a Muay Thai boxer. I had seen the fights six years earlier on a trip to Thailand. In Krabi I met Matthew from England in my hostel. He was often lying on his bed, and I asked him why he didn’t go out much. He told me he was doing Muay Thai training: twice a day, and that costs loads of energy.

Muay Thai gyms in Chiang Mai I trained at

	Santai Muay Thai	Manasak Muay Thai
Where	San Kamphaeng, about 13 km east of the Old City; the gym arranges pick-up	Wat Ket (295 Charoen Muang Road), east bank of the Ping River, a short Grab ride from the Old City; moved there from San Patong in May 2024
Training	Two sessions a day, Monday to Saturday; Sunday off	Monday to Saturday, 08:00–10:00 and 16:00–18:00; Sunday off. All levels, walk-ins welcome
Price	The gym’s own site says training from under US$8 a day, and from under US$12 a day with a room	Drop-in about ฿500; a month about ฿10,000–15,000 (Top Muay Thai, 2026)
Where to sleep	Guesthouses and rooms near the gym, arranged by the gym	Air-conditioned rooms at the gym; guesthouses around Wat Ket and the Night Bazaar
My experience	One week in March 2015 (this article)	My Manasak page

Prices and locations checked 15 October 2026 on the gyms’ and reviewers’ websites (see sources). Prices change: confirm with the gym before you book.

Santai Muay Thai: why I chose it

Matthew had trained in several gyms in Thailand and preferred the Santai Muay Thai gym near Chiang Mai. On that visa I didn’t have enough time to go, but I was pretty sure I would come back to Thailand. In March 2015 I finally did the Muay Thai lessons.

How I got in touch with Santai

I arrived in Chiang Mai and spent one night there. The next morning I sent an email to the Santai Muay Thai school. I got an answer within an hour and could start the same afternoon. Whoops! Am I ready? Maybe, maybe not. 😀

Video of my Muay Thai training

My first day of Muay Thai training

Santai arranged my pick-up from the hostel and I checked in at my apartment, a 10-minute walk from the gym. In 2015 training started every day at 6:00 and at 16:00. My first training was the afternoon session. I bought my own orange (Holland, of course!) hand wraps. Gloves you can borrow, but for hygienic reasons everybody has their own hand wraps. My Muay Thai training camp in Thailand had officially started!

What a training session looks like

The diehards run before the training as a warm-up. It was hot, so I skipped rope and bounced on the tyres outside the gym. Then the lesson starts with a group warm-up and stretching. After the warm-up there is time for shadow boxing in front of the mirror. It looks boring, but it is so good for your Muay Thai technique! After that everybody gets 5 rounds of 5 minutes of sparring with one of the trainers. That is the hardest part of the training: you can give everything you’ve got! Then the kick bags come out for knees and kicks. When there is enough time, there is a clinching session in the ring.

How every training ends

Every Muay Thai training ends with a session in the ring. Everybody sits on the floor in a big circle. One person starts with an exercise like abs, push-ups or crunches, and everybody does it 10 or 20 times (depending on how big the group is). Then the next person makes up an exercise. The first round starts with a stretching position, everybody follows, and the next one creates the next exercise.

My week of Muay Thai training

I started on a Thursday afternoon. I started quite hard; you want to show you’re not a softie, right? My advice: build it up. That way you can focus on technique first, and once you’ve got that, put the power into the punches, elbows, knees and kicks. On Sunday there is no training. Thank God for that. I needed the rest.

Rest and eat well

When you train Muay Thai this hard, it is very important to eat, drink and rest well. There are several cheap restaurants in the village: in 2015 a meal cost about 35 baht ($1). The 7-Eleven is a 10-minute walk away for supermarket things (I bought water, nuts and soft drinks there). On the way to the gym is my favourite restaurant. They serve really good food, and almost all the fighters go there in the evening. The banana samosa with chocolate is amazing. For breakfast I had bananas and nuts. Between the morning and afternoon sessions I took a shower, went to the restaurant and slept or wrote an article for my blog. I can recommend the big fruit shake in town, 30 baht ($0.75) in 2015.

Location of Santai Muay Thai

Watching a real Muay Thai fight in Chiang Mai

On the Friday evening at 20:30 we went with a big group from the gym to the Kalare Night Bazaar boxing stadium. One of the trainers (King) was fighting that evening. We saw eight fights in total, including three women’s fights and two foreigners against Thai fighters. If you have never seen a Muay Thai fight, go with your gym! Then you really understand why they train that hard.

Fight nights in 2026: the best-known stadium today is Thapae Boxing Stadium near Tha Phae Gate. Guides from 2026 list fights Monday to Saturday, starting after 21:00, with standard tickets from about 430 baht on booking sites. Loi Kroh Boxing Stadium also holds regular fight nights. Days and prices change, so check with the stadium or ask your gym: gyms often go as a group when one of their fighters is on the card.

Which visa do you need for Muay Thai training?

For a training week or two you usually stay on your normal tourist entry. For longer training there are two options:

• Education (ED) visa for Muay Thai: some gyms help you apply. I wrote about it in Muay Thai educational visa in Chiang Mai.
• Destination Thailand Visa (DTV): Thai embassies list Muay Thai courses as one of the “soft power” activities. The visa is valid for 5 years with stays of up to 180 days per entry. You need an acceptance letter from a recognised gym and proof of funds; the exact documents differ per embassy, so check your embassy’s checklist.

Saturday night market

Saturday is the best day. I love food, and the night market in town is great! They offer a lot of local food, so you can try many small portions. My favourite was the sushi: several stands sold a piece for 5 or 10 baht ($0.13 to $0.25) in 2015.

Massage after Muay Thai training

Muay Thai is hard training, and a Thai massage between sessions is a nice treat. My favourite spot was the massage building next to Wat Rong Tham Samakkhi: 100 baht ($3) for one hour in 2015. More places in my guide to the best massage in Chiang Mai.

Tips for your first Muay Thai week

• Bring or buy your own hand wraps; gloves can be borrowed.
• Start at half power and build up: technique first, power later.
• Plan the Sunday as a real rest day.
• Eat, drink and sleep between the two sessions.
• Go with your gym to a fight night.
• Getting into Chiang Mai from a gym outside town? See how to use the red trucks (songthaews), and plan your stay with how many days in Chiang Mai.

Want a workout on a rest day? In 2019 I ran the first part of the Monk’s Trail in Chiang Mai, up to the jungle temple Wat Pha Lat, as extra training for Muay Thai: 2.4 km and about 260 m up.

Sources (checked 15 October 2026)

• Santai Muay Thai: training, prices and accommodation
• Chiang Mai CityLife: 7 Muay Thai gyms in Chiang Mai
• Muay Ying: Manasak Muay Thai gym review
• Chiang Mai CityLife: where to watch boxing in Chiang Mai
• Royal Thai Embassy: Destination Thailand Visa (DTV)
• Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs: DTV checklist (PDF)