My wife and I (both in our early 30's) stayed at the Ping Nakara for a couple nights during the beginning of the Chiang Mai portion of our trip. At the outset, I will second the many other reviews on here and say that the hotel is quite beautiful as is the pool and outdoor space. Obviously, the colonial design does not embody Thai culture so keep that in mind if you're looking for an authentic Thai experience. The breakfast is also quite good and has very tasty ala carte options (although the buffet is rather limited). The rooms are generally nice but a bit more dated and run down than I expected from the website. I also agree with other reviewers regarding the fact that there is a lot more noise than I expected. The website makes it look like the hotel is isolated and away from traffic but in reality we could hear quite a bit of noise both from outside and inside the hotel while we were in our room. We were still able to sleep fine so I would say it was at most an annoyance and certainly not a deal killer. The hotel is also in a very good location within easy walking distance of the night markets. The night markets, in addition to selling some interesting items, also have quite a few restaurants and bars which is great to have nearby.

However, what really surprised us and kept this from being a four star or higher review was the "concierge." In reality, the hotel does not have a concierge but, rather, an in house travel agency. This wouldn't have necessarily been a problem had my wife and I arrived in Chiang Mai having already planned out our excursions and how we would get there etc... Unfortunately, we like to be more spur of the moment and were planning to heavily rely on the hotel to direct us towards the right areas to explore and reasonable ways to get there. This is where the lack of an independent concierge was truly a negative experience for us and left us with a bad general impression of the hotel.

Immediately upon arrival (we hadn't even checked in yet) the female travel agent began aggressively pushing horribly overpriced and uninteresting excursions on us. When we tried to explain to her that we were not interested in what she was pushing but, rather, wanted to have experiences like hiking in the national park and going to an elephant camp that treats its elephants well (rather than the one option she kept pushing that had elephant shows etc...) she was completely unhelpful, even rude. Basically, unless you are willing to do the few selected options her travel agency is pushing she is completely useless and, in fact, might even be worse than useless as she tells you certain trips are impossible or quotes astronomical prices for the same excursions you can easily find elsewhere for 1/3 the cost. Just as an example, we asked to go to Doi Inthanon (the nearby national park with Thailand's highest mountain) and were quoted a price of around $150 where elsewhere the same trip could be made for $50. Moreover, she failed to inform us that you have to have a local guide and pay a fee to do the most interesting hikes in the park (we only found that out after we got there). The driver she arranged also spoke almost no English although was a very sweet man. We also asked about going to see some of the more authentic hill tribe villages (understanding they were quite a distance and would likely require an overnight stay). She completely refused to assist and, instead, pushed her one option of a local tourist trap hilltribe "market." In the end, we were able to arrange better options through local tourist excursion options in the town itself but this took a significant amount of time and we ended up wasting about 1/2 a day of our limited time in Chiang Mai arranging decent excursions when we could have been enjoying ourselves if the hotel had a half-way competent and independent concierge. This was extremely frustrating to us and really left us with a bad taste in our mouth about the hotel in general.

One other note of caution is that the hotel tacks on a significant service charge that appears to be about twice what other similar hotels in Chiang Mai charge. It's unclear to me why that would be particularly since the service was actually what we found to be somewhat lacking in comparison.

We spent one night at the end of our trip at Rachamankha (see my review there) and wish we had spent our entire stay there. Rachamankha is simply in a different, higher, league from Ping Nakara including being far more beautiful (it is truly exquisite), having far superior service (including a very helpful concierge), and being far quieter (not to mention a bit cheaper).

Stayed here with my wife for four days in february. This may very well be the ultimate hotel for people with our taste and values.
We have both stayed in hundreds of hotels around the world, some far mor luxurious than this, but not really better, and certainly not giving more value for money.

First of all, it is beautiful! Every moment spent there is like an art experience. Secondly, you can not ask for better and more personal service than what we experienced during our stay. And not the kind of service with three people hanging over your shoulder all the time. No, discrete but always available, friendly and professional.

The rooms are big! A standard room will give you all you can ask for in terms om space, comfort and, again, beauty. Lovely bed and large as well as very practical bathroom.

Great food, breakfast included. Not the largest breakfast buffe you have seen, but very high quality and lots of cooked to order food that was wonderful, and at no extra cost. We had two dinners and two lunches there, and everything was really good and cheap!!

The pool is, yes, beautiful, and also cooling, ca 25 centigrades.

Their inhouse travel agency is super. We did four trips with their guide named Som. All tours were totally tailor made for us, interesting and fun. The guide, Som, is a gem. Knows everything, speaks good English and is ever so charming.

We are tempted to return to Chuang Mai for many reasons, one is the Ping Nakara!

Stayed for 3 nights and wanted longer. One of the nicest and friendliest hotels I have stayed at. Staff were superb and couldn't have been more helpful

this beautiful 'colonial home' has impeccably clean rooms with lovely furnishings, large bathrooms and even turn down service. the infiniti pool and its surroundings lends itself to a serene escape from the hustle bustle of the city. the staff here should also be noted as they are extremely helpful, friendly and accommodating. incidentally the morning breakfasts were plentiful and quite delicious and enjoyed our dinner there the first night so much we opted to again share in its fare our last night as well. you can not go wrong checking into this hidden treat of a hotel.