Ban Tawai

Five hundred workshops and showrooms along a kilometre of covered street, fifteen kilometres south of Chiang Mai. Teak furniture, hand-carved Buddha images, Chinese altars, Burmese cabinets, lacquerware, ceramics and basketry.

The important part for anyone buying to resell: nearly every showroom here arranges export. Published rates run roughly US$1,800–2,400 for a 20 ft container to Europe or North America and US$2,800–3,500 for a 40 ft, door to door in four to eight weeks. That is the cheapest route to filling a container with hard goods anywhere in this guide.

One legal note: carved Buddha images over about 12 cm require an export licence from the Fine Arts Department regardless of age or purpose, and partial images cannot be exported at all. The showrooms know this; make them handle it in writing.

Most workshops close around 16:30 even though the street runs to five.