Carving Village in Mae Tha District

The woodcarving villages of Mae Tha cluster around Ban Nong Yang Khlai in Tha Thung Luang subdistrict, a short drive from Lamphun town. Carving here is a household trade rather than a staged tourist show — families have worked teak and other hardwoods into figures, furniture, and décor for generations, and workshops are open daily, roughly 08:00-17:00, free to walk through and watch.

What sets Mae Tha apart from a typical craft-centre stop is where the finished pieces end up. Much of what’s carved here leaves the district rough and unfinished, trucked to Ban Tawai near Hang Dong outside Chiang Mai, where it’s given detailed finishing work and sold in that town’s much larger handicraft market. That means a visit to Mae Tha itself is closer to watching a production line than browsing a retail showroom — you’ll see carvers roughing out animal and human figures, household items, and children’s toys, with chisels and rasps rather than power tools doing most of the shaping.

Watch out: If you’re picturing rows of finished, ready-to-buy carvings, temper expectations. Much of the retail-ready inventory sits in Ban Tawai’s shops near Chiang Mai, not here — Mae Tha is where the raw work happens, and what’s for sale locally tends to be smaller, simpler pieces rather than large finished showpieces.

Insider Tip: Time a visit for late February or early March, when the annual Wood Carving and Best of Mae Tha Fair runs at the OTOP centre in Tha Thung Luang. Carvers from across the district set up demonstrations and sell finished work directly, which is the closest thing Mae Tha has to a concentrated shopping stop.

The lanes between workshops carry the tapping of chisels and the smell of fresh-cut teak most of the day, and carvers are generally happy for visitors to stop, watch, and ask questions — a smile and a gesture cover most of the language gap. Getting there means a rental car, motorbike, or songthaew from Lamphun town; there’s no direct public bus route into the villages. Bring cash, since most small workshops don’t take cards, and comfortable shoes for uneven ground between workshops.