First and foremost, my girlfriend and I had a wonderful time staying at Shewe Wana. This boutique hotel is prefect for individuals, couples, and families looking for a quiet and clean place to stay in Chiang Mai that doesn't look or feel like a hotel.

The hotel is situated across the Ping River to the east of the city center. Walking from the hotel to the Night Bazaar will take you around 15 minutes. A tuk tuk to the Night Bazaar will take you around 5 minutes. There are nice restaurants on Ping River, same side as the hotel, which will take you around 10 minutes. As with any city streets in Chiang Mai, the traffic and the commotion outside can be pretty loud. However, when you step into the entrance of the hotel and walk back through the beautiful garden, where your rooms will be, it is quite peaceful. The garden is pretty large, filled with local plants which keeps the rooms facing it cool and quiet.

The hotel room that we stayed in was quite large with a refrigerator, cable TV, and AC. When you walk into the room you feel as though you are in a large classic Thai residence from the wooden doors to the beautiful furniture in the room to the organic charcoal bamboo soaps and shampoos that were placed in the rooms every day.

The breakfast in the morning is great. There is both an American and a Thai breakfast which they serve in a buffet and sit down style. Do try the pancakes and french toasts; they are delicious. We also had lunch and dinner there too and they were also tasty, fresh, and clean.

The staff is very attentive from receptionists to the cooks. Since it is a boutique hotel many staff members perform many different roles which is a good thing because you can ask anyone questions about the hotel and Chiang Mai and they will most likely have an answer for you. Also when you there, P' Joy, the managing director of the hotel is always there to be help. She made our stay very comfortable and enjoyable with her knowledge of the area and her friendly nature.

Throughout our trip around Thailand we constantly told other travelers to stay at Shewe Wana if they were going to Chiang Mai. We will be back.

After passing through the unassuming entrance, we were greeted at reception by a friendly, attentive staff dressed in traditional northern Thai costume. Although located on the busy main road into the central city, once inside it was a picture of peace and serenity. The grounds are like a botanic garden beautfully designed and maintained. There are two swimming pools to choose from and offered us a refreshing dip after a day of sightseeing. Shewewana has a 6 passenger 'tuk-tuk' which we took to visit some of the sights in the older part of Chiang Mai, notably Wat Ket Karam. There is a traditional large open market a few minutes walk from the hotel.
For breakfast, we had a choice of resturant service or self-sevice buffet with a varied selection of Asian or Western food; we chose the buffet during our stay.
Being on a main road has its advantges in that just step outdide and we had a choice of red mini-bus, taxi or tuk-tuk to go to the center of Chiang Mai. We also had the pleasant surprise during our stay to see two parades pass right in front of the hotel: Chinese New Year Dragon and Chiang Mai Flower Show parades.
We both had the best massages ever in the spa; a quiet, serene environment with the best massuse to be found anywhere.
We will definately be back on our next visit to Chiang Mai.

After visiting and searching on the web, we really wanted to stay at this little paradise in Chiang Mai. Due to the price we were only able to stay at Shewe Wana Boutique Resort & Spa for two nights before staying at another hotel in Chiang Mai. However upon arrival (around 6 PM) we saw that the area was deserted and far away from the Night Bazaar. The staff welcomed us with open arms, though the room was situated somewhere, lost in a corner, very basic and small, concrete floor (read: no wooden floors, carpet or what so ever). But the biggest problem: the beds. They were so high that we had to climb onto the beds. Not very convenient at night when you have to go to the bathroom or for disabled people. We decided to stay the night and check the next day.
Breakfast was ok, small buffet, the rest could be ordered from a menu, free of charge but not very inviting.
After breakfast we went to the reception, they explained that all the beds are high (higher then normal standards). However they offered a suite, since we had paid our travel agent in advance (and it would be difficult to get a refund). We decided to check out, since all the beds had the same height and my mum would have a hard time with her disabled leg.
The reception was really helpful with the whole situation, helped us with getting a cab, apologized and even gave us a few bottles of organic shampoo and body lotion.
Conclusion: nice hotel if you are looking for green, simple and organic. Interior not really modern/updated (bit dark), but clean. Not close to the Taipei Gate and night bazaar, however there are some shops and there is a local market nearby. And remember the height of the beds. A big compliment for reception and reservation department for their help.

we have been positively suprised with our stay at Shewe Wana - this hotel indeed was excellent in most every aspect.
booked a Jacuzzi suite and liked it a lot - clean and spacious - seperate livingroom-area with a kitchenette - large windowfront; balcony outside, nice bathroom with whirlpool.
the hotel is stretched out alongside a narrow, long garden; very green, flowers abound and there is a nice small swimmingpool in the frontend of the garden.
our room was in the rearend of the garden, far from the street, so it was very quiet, in fact we didnot hear any "noise" during the time we stayed there at all.

the service-staff has been excellent - very helpful with arranging a (free of charge) airport-shuttle very early in the morning, and they arranged/opened the breakfast-buffet 1,5 hours before scheduled for us and another couple guests that had to go very early to the airport.

the only downside of this hotel: its a bit further out from the city center, and the neighborhood of the hotel is quite run down; that didnot bother us too much though, so we can definitely recommend Shewe Wana and will stay there again.