Central Festival Mall Chiang Mai – arguably the best mall in Chiang Mai
Besides Maya Lifestyle Shopping Centre, Central Festival is the most modern mall in Chiang Mai. Since opening in 2013, it has provided a great selection of stores for all budgets and price points. The mall offers a gym, entertainment, an education zone and so much more!
What’s included in this guide to shopping at Central Festival Chiang Mai?
How to get to Central Festival Chiang Mai
Guide to each floor of Central department store
How to get to Central Festival Mall Chiang Mai
Well if you are a tourist, you should ask your hotel about the free shuttle bus! Central Festival offers a free ride to and from your hotel for your shopping or movie viewing needs. It services nearly all of the well-known hotel chains. You can find a listing of all the hotels the free shuttle bus to Central Festival Chiang Mai services here. It operates daily from 11 am until about 9 pm.
You could also Grab it, take a songtaew, a taxi, or possibly rent a car to drive there.
Central Festival mall is located very near to the old city and is typically a 10-15 minute drive or ride.
If driving yourself, you can expect plenty of parking. Parking is free and if you are a woman driving alone or with family or female friends, there’s even special designated Ladies Parking for you on the second level of the parking garage.
Central department store
This mall has its own department store. It’s essentially a mall within a mall. It has 5 floors! So which floor should you go to if you are shopping for a specific item? Find out below.
5th floor Central
Where can you buy bedding, luggage, coffee presses and even fake flowers in Chiang Mai? This floor is where you will find all your household needs from basic necessities such as cutlery and dishes, to fans, vacuums and all other household appliances, except for air conditioners. On the fifth floor is also where you can find beds, mattresses and sheets.
4th floor Central
This is technically the floor for all things baby, but it cracks me up that they’ve decided to put ladies swim wear and lingerie on the same floor. I suppose looking sexy and babies go together somehow – one leads to the other?!
On this level you will find toys for children and babies, pajamas for children, shoes for babies and shoes for kids. There’s a special swim wear and accessories section for infants and kids where you can purchase swim suits, goggles and more.
You’ll even be able to find all your infant or toddler needs with all the usual toiletries for sale such as diapers, bottles, lotions and more. Also available for sale are car seats, baby walkers, strollers, and cribs. It’s really an all in one baby stop.
In addition to that there the Central Kid’s Club which provides a babysitting service for you while you shop!
Near the toys section where Central meets the rest of the mall, you will find the free baby and infant indoor soft play area. It is completely free to access, but parents must watch their children.
3rd floor Central
We’ll call this floor from boys to men. The third floor is home to a youth clothing section which has clothing and accessories aimed at older teenagers or young adults. Here there is also a men’s section with clothing, shoes, underwear, and the usual men’s gear.
There’s also a store operating with Central called Muji, which is a popular Chinese clothing and household accessory store with locations around the world. It offers affordable one of a kind looking items.
2nd floor Central
On the second floor is a hog podge of items aimed at pretty well anyone. It’s got multiple sections with a women’s zone, a girl’s zone, and a special teenager zone aimed at both males and females. There is also a sporting goods section for all ages and sexes too.
This level also has sunglasses and jewelry available for sale.
In addition to all that, at either end of this floor are two different “dollar stores” or “baht stores”. One is called ZeenZone and the other Mini Mono. ZeenZone is a great place to get affordable and fun birthday party supplies!
1st floor Central
This would be the accessorize it floor. Just in case you didn’t see or own enough here you can purchase more watches, more jewelry and more sunglasses! Except most items seem to be discounted and on sale, so that’s nice.
Purses, bags and women’s shoes are also to be found on the first level.
Looking for other activities in Chiang Mai? Check out our Activities Page with fun ways to spend your days.
The main mall
What you would consider to be the mall of the mall, is full of familiar and new stores. Each level seems to get more affordable the higher you go. So what kinds of stores and items can you expect to find at Central Festival Chiang Mai?
Ground floor of Central Festival Mall Chiang Mai
The ground floor is packed full of so many random stores and experiences. Here you will find, in my opinion, the most expensive supermarket in Chiang, but it also happens to have the best quality meats, cheeses, and seafood around. It’s called Central Food Hall and is accessible directly from the first parking garage.
On the ground floor you can also find Dairy Queen, Saint Etoile (one of the best bakeries in Chiang Mai), and a cute little snack shop called Taokaenoi LAND that sells snacks that mostly look like someone might need to you dare to try!
Also on the bottom floor is where you’ll find one of the food courts , the other being on the top floor. This one is set up more in food stall style and with little shops along the side. There is no coupon system (that I could see), so cash is the best option to purchase food at this food court. Many local snacks are sold here that make perfect souvenirs to take back home fro friends and family to try.
As for beauty and pharmacy needs, you’ll also find Watson’s, Boots, Beauty Cottage and Beauty Buffet.
There’s even an Office Mate just in case you really need to grab pens, or paper, or a printer.
The absolute best store on the ground floor of Central Festival Chiang Mai has to be Teddy House. Here you can purchase a bear and dress it to the nines! People are often asking where can I get doll clothes in Chiang Mai? Or where can I get Build-a-Bear outfits in Chiang Mai? This is the place! They don’t build bears, but they sell all the dressings that go with it.
First floor of Central Festival Mall Chiang Mai
Let’s just go ahead and just call this the fancy floor. Alternatively we could say this is the floor where all your favourite western stores are!
The first indicator that you’ll probably need a glorious western salary to shop on this level is of course, Starbucks.
Right nearby is Wine Connection for a bite to eat or if you have time, browse their extensive wine collection.
There’s also a really nice ice cream parlour that sells real ice cream – did you know fake ice cream is a thing?! Well, this is the real deal with ice cream made with real cream. It blows Dairy Queen out of the water.
The one affordable place to grab a bite on this floor is good old KFC. Grab yourself a bucket of chicken and feed the whole family for a relatively good deal.
On the first floor of Central Festival Chiang Mai is where you will find the answer to the often asked questions; where can I get western clothes in Chiang Mai? Is there an H&M in Chiang Mai? The answers are here, and yes! You’ll also find Zara, Marks & Spencer, Jaspal, Mango, and Uniqlo. Keep an eye out for sales here as you can get some amazing deals starting at 100 baht per item sometimes.
For those with a much larger budget and more expensive taste than most, on this level you’ll also be able to shop at Rolex and Swarovski among other well-known accessory and jewelry stores.
Second floor of Central Festival Mall Chiang Mai
Heading up to the second floor, your wallet can breathe a sigh of relief, unless you have a thing for shoes! This level seems to be full of shoe stores – sports shoes, everyday wear shoes, fancy shoes, Crocs, and more!
Here you’ll find Payless, Bata, Adidas, North Face, Hush Puppies and Super Sports for all your shoe needs. Payless is a great place to go for kids shoes that won’t break the bank.
Also on this floor are very teenager or young adult friendly stores such as AIIZ (pronounced A to Z by the way, just in case you thought it was something like ae-eez like I did!). There’s also a lovely jewelry stall that sells hand made necklaces and earrings that look like they’d make nice gifts or accessories.
The Body Shop is also on the second floor which is nice place to buy higher quality bath related gifts or to treat yourself.
If you’re in the market for stationary supplies or looking for the answer to; where can I get art supplies in Chiang Mai? Then head over to B2S by escalators on the opposite side of the mall to Central department store.
Also near B2S is PowerBuy. This is a one stop shop electronics store with everything from household fans, to laptops, cameras, TV’s to air conditioners. It’s also a good place to purchase air purifiers in Chiang Mai.
Third floor of Central Festival Mall Chiang Mai
It’s safe to say this is the tech floor. There are electronics and computer shops seemingly everywhere. Come to the third floor to get new phone, get phone accessories, pay your cell phone bills or get a new contract. The Apple Store is on the third floor as is IT City.
For more serious computer or gaming people, JIB and Speed Gaming are definitely where you want to be shopping.
If you’re a camera lover, on the third floor of Central Festival you’ll find quite a few camera shops selling all the latest and greatest gear. I’m not sure if they fix cameras here as well, but it’s worth an ask!
For instrument lovers looking to buy a guitar in Chiang Mai or other handheld instruments, then check out Music Collection and the other music store for accessories and high quality instruments.
The third floor of Central Festival is also known for its Education Zone. Tucked in the corner behind the free soft play area playground – that’s right! a free toddler playground – are numerous art, sport, music and tutoring classes.
Art classes are offered at Clay Works and Bubble Bear Brain Studio. Music classes can be taken at Kawai Music School Thailand. For sport, there’s The Champion Taekwondo. Finally for tutoring from young ages there’s Dr. Math, Heguru, i-Genius, Brain School, Kumon, Babies Genius, and my DNA.
Also in this area is Sub Zero Ice Skating Rink. You can skate here for an hourly or daily fee that includes skate rentals. For beginners they have helpful seals and penguins to help you stay upright and even offer hockey lesson here too!
Off to the side of the ice rink near the washrooms and elevators, is Virgin Gym. So while you won’t be able to get an ice skating workout any longer, you can get going on the treadmill or join in some classes instead.
Right near here is also the PEA Authority. Have you ever wondered where can I pay my electric bill in Chiang Mai? Well besides going to your local PEA office, you can come to the third floor of Central Festival. And if you need money to pay, no worries! All most all of the banks can also be located on the third floor to pull out cash.
You’ll need cash if you plan on going to everyone’s favourite ‘baht’ store – MR DIY. This store seems to have it all and for amazing prices. You can find it at the other end of this floor near the escalators. It’s a great place to buy birthday gifts and birthday party supplies too.
Fourth floor of Central Festival Mall Chiang Mai
The fourth floor is full of a mix of activities and stores. Here, is where you will find the second food court. This food court has more options than the one on the ground floor, but it does operate on a coupon system, so purchase your coupon cash car first before ordering meals.
The food court is located right next to the arcade and what was once a pretty great indoor playground! It’s been under redevelopment for a while now but is promised to open in a whole new glory soon.
From here you’ll see Daiso, a famous Japanese 60 baht store where you can find some pretty useful and also random household items and makeup goodies.
Also on this floor is Moshi Moshi, another Japanese ‘dollar store’ with much higher quality goods. It’s a great place for birthday gifts!
If you’re interested in learning or teaching English, Wall Street English centre is next to Diaso.
The fourth floor is also the place to get all your pharmaceutical needs shopped for at Watsons, or Boots. Alternatively you could get botox or facial treatments at one of the numerous face and body clinics on this level.
Fifth floor of Central Festival Mall Chiang Mai
Five stands for food, and lots of it! This is the land of restaurants. Here you can order Japanese, Ramen, get a steak at Sizzler, or eat at Sante Fe.
Many people probably grab a bite to eat before or after a movie. The movie theatre is also on the fifth floor and this Major Cineplex theatre is a great place to watch a movie in Chiang Mai. It’s the newest and has an IMAX theatre!
Another great reason to head straight to the top of Central Festival Mall if you’ve got young children, is the train ride! Hop aboard Thomas the Tank Engine for a free ride around the mall! The train operates throughout most of the day and the ride lasts around 5 minutes. Kids love it!
Special events at Central Festival Mall
Check their facebook page for event updates and promotions throughout the mall. If you have children, you may wish to join the Family Club @Central Festival for exclusives and child friendly and family friendly notifications.
We hope you enjoyed reading this guide and have a better idea of where to find certain stores or items in this mall.
Be sure to check back with Chiang Mai Family Guide often for more guides, activities and ideas for things to do in Chiang Mai.
Hours: Open Monday – Friday 11 am – 9:30 pm. Open Saturday – Sunday 10 am – 10 pm
Good for ages: all ages
Phone: 052 001 826
Playground: Yes
Wheelchair or stroller accessible: Yes
Location: Google Maps