Cool Khon Kaen at the centre of Thailand’s northeastern Isaan region is a hip university city that’s more popular with Thais than travellers. Short on sights in comparison to other better-known tourist destinations in northern Thailand, such as Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, that’s the very appeal of Khon Kaen for us. We quickly fell for the lively atmosphere, laidback vibes, local culture, and fantastic food of the lovely little lakeside city.
A buzzy northeastern Thailand university city, Khon Kaen has a youthful energy, a serene lake skirted by leafy paths with pedal boats for hire, lively weekend evening markets, and skilful food vendors and market cooks serving up deliciously-spicy Isaan food whose stalls seem to dot every footpath, roadside and market space around the city.
Khon Kaen is a must-visit for Thai street food lovers! Khon Kaen is also the kind of city we love to settle into when given the chance and right after strolling Khon Kaen’s lakeside market, Bueng Kaen Nakhon night market, we were wishing we could have stayed longer. Sadly, we were on a tight magazine deadline.
The Isaan road trip story we’d been working on was due the day after we returned to Bangkok! That meant we had less than 24 hours in Khon Kaen. So right after leaving the market, we began planning a return trip to Khon Kaen. Fortunately, we did get to see more than Khon Kaen’s bustling night markets.
Exploring Local Isaan Life in Cool Khon Kaen
After checking in to our charming Isaan style villa at Supanniga Home Khon Kaen (read our review of our home away from home in Khon Kaen here), we got to get out to experience a couple of Khon Kaen sights before we had to return to our lovely lodgings to download images, recharge batteries and write up notes.
We took in the gigantic, gleaming, nine-tiered gold pagoda, Phra Mahathat Kaen Nakhon, at the temple complex of Wat Nongwang Muang, also known as Wat Nong Waeng.
There we watched Thai ladyboys flirting with eachother after making offerings and giggled at young novice monks, perhaps too young for monk-hood, taking photos of pretty girls with their mobile phones.
And we got to wander around the tranquil grounds of the temple with a friendly (more mature) monk who told us how much he loves to travel and meet people.
We also strolled around Beung Kaen Nakhon, the lake that is Khon Kaen’s centrepiece, where locals love to power-walk, jog, ride their bicycles, walk their dogs, feed the pigeons, rent pedalos, breakdance, fool around with hula hoops, and do laps of the evening markets, grazing on the fantastic fiery food.
At Khon Kaen’s lively lakeside evening market, Bueng Kaen Nakhon Night Market, young hipsters hung out and flirted, sold handmade jewellery and second-hand clothes for less than one dollar a piece, and traded in all kinds of creative services.
There was an elaborate nail stand set up where several young women were painting wild designs onto customers artificial nails. There was a pottery-making stand, where you could paint a ceramic at low tables by the lake then pop it in the kiln and pick it up your creation later on.
At another stand, a student sold all kinds of helpful IT services from two laptops he’d set up on a blanket on the ground – he could do anything from clean your hard-drive of viruses and download software to help you set up Twitter and Facebook accounts.
And then there were the food stalls… ah, the food stalls. I’m salivating just thinking about them, but I’m going to tell you about Khon Kaen’s fantastic Isaan food in the next post.
Visiting Cool Khon Kaen
Here’s a quick guide to visiting the cool little university city of Khon Kaen.
Who Should Visit Khon Kaen
If you’re a foodie and a lover of Thai food, especially Thai street food, and the Isaan food of northeastern Thailand, you’re going to love Khon Kaen. But Khon Kaen is also a great stop on an Isaan road trip if you’re primarily travelling Thailand’s northeast for the Khmer temples such as spectacular Prasat Phanom Rung and handsome Prasat Hin Phimai.
When to Visit Khon Kaen
As Khon Kaen is a lively university city, you can visit all year and find the markets lively and food stalls busy. Khon Kaen is bustling during the cooler ‘winter’ months of December, January and February when it gets Thai tourists from Bangkok and beyond. If you’re not a fan of the heat, you might want to avoid the hottest months of March and April, when we visited.
How to Get to Khon Kaen
If you’re not stopping off in Khon Kaen as part of an Isaan road trip and not doing our two-week Northeastern Thailand itinerary, but you’re travelling direct to Khon Kaen, then the best way to get to Khon Kaen is by plane from Bangkok, Phuket or Chiang Mai. Khon Kaen Airport is just a 10-minute drive from the city centre and is serviced by Thai Airways, Thai Air Asia and Lion Air.
You could book a rental car to pick up in Khon Kaen if you’re planning on kicking off an Isaan road trip from the city, or even if you’re just planning on driving the 65 kms south on Highway 2 to the silk-weaving village of Chonnabot, an easy drive. But if you prefer to look out the window at the scenery rather than road, you could hire a driver with vehicle on Get Your Guide, where you can also book tour guides.
From Bangkok it’s a 6 hour bus ride to Khon Kaen or a 7-8 hour train journey from Bangkok to Khon Kaen. You can book tickets on 12Go.
Where to Stay in Khon Kaen
Our home away from home in Khon Kaen was Supanniga Home Khon Kaen, also called Supanniga Home Villa Khon Kaen, which is just a 10-minute drive out of the centre of Khon Kaen and set in lovely, lush tropical gardens. We stayed in the charming Isaan style villa, which had traditional touches, although there are other options, including more contemporary styled lodgings.
The owners have the wonderful Supanniga Eating Room restaurants in Bangkok, which we’ve been dining at since they opened at the start of Bangkok’s restaurant revolution, which we covered from the start. So as you can expect, the food here at their restaurant, Krua Supanniga by Khunyai Somsie, is a real highlight of a stay here.
The Ad Lib Hotel Khon Kaen is the best hotel in Khon Kaen these days. The Ad Lib hotel is also the only true boutique hotel in Khon Kaen and part of a creativity and innovation hub. The brick tower has chic minimalist-style rooms with floor-to-ceiling windows with panoramic views and rattan walls inspired by Isaan crafts, an art gallery, a breathtaking infinity swimming pool, alfresco terrace lounges, and a buzzing bar and live music venue.
The Ad Lib Khon Kaen is also home to a Michelin-listed restaurant called Tiger Carpet, focused on cooking with fire, with a stunning piece of wall art of two tigers made from up-cycled plastic bottles collected from Thailand’s waterways. The initiative is part of Ad Lib’s sustainable strategy, which includes use of solar power, many renewable and recycled materials, and local organic produce, making it one of the most eco-friendly hotels in northeastern Thailand.
Just a 10-minute drive from the lakeside Bueng Kaen Nakhon Night Market, the 5-star AVANI Khon Kaen Hotel is elegant with a big gorgeous green swimming pool and comfortable, spacious rooms starting at US$52. It’s worth paying a little extra for a Skyline room on a higher floor with sweeping views of the city and surrounding countryside. If you’re too tired to head out, there’s a craft beer bar and Chinese restaurant.
Another excellent choice, with an even better location closer to the city centre, night markets, train station, and lake, is The Pullman Khon Kaen Raja Orchid. Formerly a Sofitel, the Pullman has two swimming pools, two restaurants, a cafe, lounge, and bars, although its plush rooms (from US$57) are rather old-fashioned in style.
More thought has gone into the design of the Terminal Hotel, a contemporary train-themed mid-range hotel with rooms starting at US$30 a night. The lobby features heritage train station-style seating and rooms have train windows and hat racks. There’s a wide range of rooms, from doubles to mini dorm-style rooms with bunks that are perfect for families or groups of friends travelling together.
Where to Eat and Drink in Khon Kaen
Aside from the fantastic food stalls at Bueng Kaen Nakhon Night Market and the many street food vendors dotted around Khon Kaen, there are a few Khon Kaen restaurants we recommend.
After you book a flight, book a table at Krua Supanniga by Khunyai Somsie at Supanniga Home Khon Kaen (130/9 Phothisan Rd, Tambon Phra Lap, Khon Kaen; +66 63 424 1665), the lovely restaurant and lodgings of the Laorauvirodge family, owners of Supanniga Eating Room, some of our favourite restaurants in Bangkok.
The wonderful food is based on grandma’s recipes, the grandmother being Khun Yai Somsie Chantra (‘khun yai’ is grandma in Thai), the beloved Trat-born mother of Phajongkitt Laorauvirodge, and grandmother to Thanaruek ‘Eh’ Laorauvirodge. The divine food is cooked by chef ‘Noi’ Samran Deesarapan, originally the family cook, who was taught the recipes by Khun Yai Somsie.
As a result, the menu features specialties from both Trat on Thailand’s eastern seaboard and Isaan dishes from Khon Kaen and Thailand’s northeast. Make sure to start with the crab cakes on crab shells and don’t miss the melt-in-the-mouth stewed pork with cha muang leaves.
university cities are cool.. i love the vibe there too.. and the street food is cheaper as it caters to students. So nice!
As someone from Khon Kaen, you’d appreciate there are many different locals from all sorts of backgrounds, classes, etc. Locals are not only poor if that’s what you’re suggesting. The charming owners of Supanniga are indeed local, from Khon Kaen, and they’ve lovingly decorated the property to their own taste.
We will do homestays at some stage, but they weren’t appropriate to the story we were hired to do on this occasion. We had a specific brief to cover the things we experienced during our road trip through the region – hence the short duration of this particular trip. We were working, we were not on holidays, so our time was dictated by magazine schedules.
As for the content covered above, these are blog posts, not comprehensive stories covering our every movement. We *did* visit the Isaan’s Khmer ruins in fact (click through and you’ll find posts on those). We did not visit and have no interest in visiting the Dinosaur Museum or King Cobra Village – we don’t write about typical tourist sights. We *will* be returning to Khon Kaen again, but next time to write about its food.
Let me clarify also the name you’re referring to is for the 9-storey pagoda or stupa, but the entire wat complex is called Wat Nongwang Muang or Wat Nongwaeng; Muang being the district of course. I’ve now clarified that in the post.
When referring to the region, it’s common to use ‘the’ as in ‘the Isaan’, in the same way we might say ‘the Northeast’. Both are correct, just as Isaan is spelt Isaan, Isan, Isarn,and even Esarn.
Agree! We just love the atmosphere of cities like these. Whenever we travel we’d much rather just hang out, walk, eat, and do some people-watching, than visit tourist sights, and we can do it in places like this guilt-free. And, yes, you’re right about the prices – very cheap! An added bonus. Thanks for dropping by!
Of course it would be silly of us not to give a plug to ‘khon kaen’s’ kindle book on Amazon: Thailand Land Of Scams – it’s worth a look just for the cover alone…
Excellent. This has become one of my favourite posts!
Hi Jenny – thanks! Much appreciated. Loved Khon Kaen and keen to return. Thanks for dropping by!
Thanks Brian.