Watch umbrellas being made at the Umbrella Making Centre, look round the shops, and decide whether it is worth the trip.
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Bo Sang is a village in San Kamphaeng district, about 8 km east of Chiang Mai's city centre, known for its hand-painted umbrellas and parasols. You will also see it written Bor Sang; in Thai it is บ่อสร้าง.
We went on 23 October 2026, by scooter, and spent about an hour and a half there: at the Umbrella Making Centre, where artisans work in open-sided workshops, and in a few of the shops along the main road. This guide follows the craft through the photos we took, and gives the hours, closing days and prices exactly as the signs showed them that day.
Bo Sang at a glance
Time to allow
About one to two hours, our suggestion. We spent about an hour and a half.
Entry
Free at the centre, according to its sign. On our visit, on 23 October 2026, we paid nothing to look round.
Visit or class
Watching the artisans needs no booking. A hands-on class, where you paint or make something yourself, is a separate service.
Tuesday closures
Closed on Tuesdays from 1 February to 31 October, according to a notice photographed at the centre on 23 October 2026, which gives no year. Details under Planning the visit.
Centre hours
8.30 am to 5 pm, as posted at the centre.
Having a design painted
Coupons labelled S, M and L, at 100, 200 and 300 baht.
Getting there
About 8 km east of the city centre, on San Kamphaeng Road: scooter or car, a ride-hailing app, or a white songthaew (a pickup with bench seats, used as a shared taxi).
Last checked
23 October 2026, on site.
What you actually see at Bo Sang
A visit has two parts. The first is the Umbrella Making Centre, a single compound on the main road, behind a gold signboard in Thai and English. The second is the main road itself, where independent shops sell umbrellas and lamps.
The gold signboard and front garden of the Umbrella Making Centre, seen from the road.
At the centre, the showroom is at the front and the workshops are behind it, as a painted sign at the centre says: "Factory behind showroom". The workshops are open-sided, roofed halls. Artisans work on woven mats at floor level or on low stools, and you walk past them at your own pace, close enough to follow their hands. Freshly made paper dries on its frames in the garden, and there is a painting area where designs are painted to order.
Much of the work is done at floor level: a frame being assembled on an enamel tray, with a fan and a spool of thread within reach.
On our visit, the artisans carried on with their work while visitors watched. They were welcoming and smiling, nobody pushed us to buy anything, and a painter who offered to decorate phones and phone cases did not insist. That was our experience on one October day, not a promise for every visit.
The showroom holds a very wide choice of umbrellas and souvenirs, in many colours and sizes. In one corner, a very small museum-like space shows a few photographs and umbrellas: worth a glance, but not a museum in its own right.
On its signs the centre describes itself as a community enterprise. It was founded in 1977 by Dr Thavil Buacheen and started with twelve craftspeople, according to a 2018 feature in Chiang Mai Citylife. The Tourism Authority of Thailand dates a village umbrella cooperative to 1941; how the two relate is not clear from our sources.
We also looked into a few of the shops on the main road. The street is where to compare designs and prices; the centre is where to watch the work.
Shops along Bo Sang's main road, umbrellas hung along the eaves, on an ordinary October day.
How a Bo Sang umbrella is made, step by step
The stages below follow the order the Tourism Authority describes, with the photos we took at the centre. Those we did not see are listed at the end.
Paper. The traditional covering is sa paper, made by hand from mulberry bark. At the centre, pulp is beaten with a wooden mallet on a block of wood, and sheets of dyed paper dry on their frames on the lawn. We also watched a man demonstrate how the paper is coloured.
Pulp for handmade paper, beaten with a wooden mallet.Sheets of dyed paper drying on their frames in the centre's garden.
Bamboo. Bamboo gives the handle and the thin ribs that hold the cover. In one workshop, an artisan sitting low on a board was cutting lengths of bamboo with a hacksaw, with a pile of cut sections alongside.
Cutting bamboo to length with a hacksaw, one foot holding the piece steady.
The frame. The ribs are fanned out around a turned wooden hub at the top and tied in place one by one with thread. Spools of dyed thread wait on a rack in the workshop.
The ribs fanned out around the wooden hub, before they are tied in with thread.Dyed thread on bamboo spools, in the workshop.
The cover. Paper or cloth is stretched over the frame and fixed to it. According to the Tourism Authority, a paper cover is then strengthened and waterproofed with layers of lacquer. On our visit we saw umbrellas in both paper and cloth. In the photo at the top of this page, an artisan works on the inside of the frame of a covered red umbrella.
A purple cloth cover being fitted to its frame.
Painting. The decoration is painted on the finished cover. We watched a painter working freehand on a blue mandala on a yellow umbrella.
A blue mandala taking shape on a yellow umbrella.
Finished umbrellas. In the showroom, the finished umbrellas hang open, painted with orchids, cranes, flowering branches and butterflies.
Finished umbrellas hanging open in the showroom.
We did not see every stage. Splitting and shaping the ribs with a knife, shaping the hub, lacquering and the final drying are all part of the work, as the Tourism Authority describes, but we have no photos of them.
Having something painted: what the coupons buy
A board at the painting area sets out the deal. There is no entrance fee, but you can buy a painting coupon labelled S, M or L, at 100, 200 and 300 baht, illustrated in turn with a spray of flowers and a butterfly, a tiger and a dragon. According to the board, half the price goes to the artist, 35% to the community's stakeholders, and the rest to local taxes and the centre's running costs.
The painting coupon board, as it was on 23 October 2026.
What you buy is a design painted for you by one of the centre's artists. The board does not list the objects that can be painted. On our visit, a painter offered to decorate phones and phone cases with a design of the customer's choice, and one design took about five minutes: an indication, not a promise. The Tourism Authority's 2014 feature mentions bags, shoes and clothes painted to order. We did not have anything painted ourselves.
White highlights piped from a paper cone onto flowers painted on a phone case.
The coupon does not buy a class where you paint something yourself: that is a separate service. Hands-on classes have been offered: during the January 2026 festival, for example, the centre ran free umbrella-making and painting sessions, by booking only, and one of the tours below offers an optional class. If that is what you want, ask at the centre what is on that day.
A legend, and a few dates
A plaque in the centre's grounds, dated 15 October 2002, tells how umbrella-making came to the village. More than a hundred years ago, it says, a monk called Phra In Tha, from the temple of Borsang, as the plaque spells it, was given a paper umbrella near the Burmese border, saw umbrellas being made in a Burmese village, wrote down the method and brought it home. Read it as the craft's origin legend rather than as dated history. The Tourism Authority tells the same story.
The legend of the monk Phra In Tha, in Thai and English, on a plaque dated 2002.
The documented dates are more recent: a cooperative in 1941, according to the Tourism Authority, then the Umbrella Making Centre in 1977 and the umbrella festival from 1982, according to Citylife. The same Citylife feature describes how falling profits and changing tastes have put the craft at risk.
Opening hours. A painted sign at the centre gives 8.30 am to 5 pm.
Tuesday closures. A notice at the centre, photographed on 23 October 2026, says that its workshop and shop close every Tuesday from 1 February to 31 October, and from 13 to 16 April for Thai New Year. It gives no year and says nothing about November to January. The word February is a sticker stuck over another month, so the rule has changed before. Older guides say open every day, and a tour listing warns of the Tuesday closure.
The Tuesday closures, as posted on 23 October 2026. The word February is a sticker stuck over another month.
The centre only. All of this concerns the centre only: the village shops keep their own hours. If you are going on a Tuesday, check the centre's Facebook page, Umbrella Making Centre Chiang Mai, or phone it on 053 338 195.
No booking needed. You can walk in. Entry is free, according to the centre's sign, and we paid nothing to look round. Booking only comes into it for a hands-on class.
How long to allow. About one to two hours, which is our suggestion, not an official figure. We spent about an hour and a half at the centre and in a few shops, taking our time to watch and to photograph.
By scooter or car. We came by scooter. The centre stands on San Kamphaeng Road, about 8 km east of the city centre.
By ride-hailing app. We did not try it. Cars may be harder to find for the return, so check the app before you leave Bo Sang.
By songthaew. White songthaews for San Kamphaeng leave from around Warorot Market, according to a 2024 guide. The road to San Kamphaeng runs through Bo Sang, so tell the driver where you want to get off. The fares we found in other guides do not agree, so ask the fare before you get in.
Cash. Bring some for a coupon or a purchase. Our only spending that day was a Thai milk tea on the way out, 55 baht.
Yes, especially if you like crafts. For us, the reason to come is the artisans at work: you see the stages of a traditional craft one after another, close enough to follow their hands, without a ticket or a guide.
It suits travellers who like crafts and photography, families who want to show their children how something is made, and anyone heading east anyway, towards Mae Kampong or the San Kamphaeng hot springs.
But an ordinary visit is short. We spent about an hour and a half, shops included, and it does not fill a day on its own. If you have a whole day, pair it with another visit in the area: a few ideas follow.
During the January festival, the village is worth the trip on its own; more on that at the end of this page.
The visit is less worth the ride if all you want is a souvenir. Painted umbrellas and parasols turn up on the Saturday and Sunday walking streets, and you can buy one without leaving town.
Keep in mind that the centre is also a shop, and the main road is a row of shops. Some tours turn Bo Sang into one shopping stop among several, which is not the same visit. Go on your own, or with a tour that says clearly what it includes.
MAIIAM, for a short cultural outing. The MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum is on the same road, about 1.5 km past the Bo Sang intersection, according to its website. The museum says it is closed on Tuesdays, and its own pages do not agree on every opening day, so check before you go.
East to San Kamphaeng and Mae Kampong, for a full day. The San Kamphaeng hot springs and the hill village of Mae Kampong lie further east, in the same direction. With your own transport, a driver or a tour, Bo Sang fits at the start or the end of that day.
The Bua Thong waterfalls, as an organised day. They are north of the city, in a different direction altogether. One of the tours below pairs them with Bo Sang, but they are not a detour on the same road.
We did not do these combinations on our October visit; they are suggestions, built from where each place lies.
Going on your own is the simplest way to see Bo Sang, and the one we recommend. A tour can make sense in two cases: you want the class one listing offers and accept what it leaves unsaid, or you want Bo Sang at the end of a day further east. Neither of the tours below is an entry ticket (the centre is free), and we have taken neither.
We have no connection with the Umbrella Making Centre or with these operators. The details come from the two GetYourGuide listings as we read them on 23 October 2026, and they change: read the listing before you book.
Umbrella class and the Bua Thong waterfalls
Small group, about 7 hours, hotel pickup
A new listing, with no reviews when we checked. About an hour in Bo Sang, for a class the listing marks as optional, where you paint and create an umbrella to take home, materials included. Then two and a half hours at the Bua Thong "sticky" waterfalls, where the limestone is grippy enough to walk up, north of the city and in the opposite direction from Bo Sang. The listing does not say where the class takes place or what happens on a Tuesday. Lunch is not included.
A day built around Mae Kampong, with lunch and the San Kamphaeng hot springs, then a last stop at what the listing calls the Bo-Sang Handicrafts Centre, where it describes artisans at work; it gives no time for the stop. The listing says the umbrella-making centre is closed on Tuesdays and that it visits a silk village instead.
Links to GetYourGuide on this page are affiliate links. Booking through them costs you nothing extra and funds this site.
The umbrella festival in January
Once a year, usually in mid-January, Bo Sang holds a three-day umbrella festival; in 2026 it ran from 16 to 18 January. That edition had parades, a procession of women cycling under umbrellas, craft demonstrations and classes, and a market, according to the Thai press.
We went once, about ten years ago, and would go back for it. The photos on this page were taken on an ordinary day in October 2026: none of them shows the festival.
Hours, closing days, entry and painting prices come from the signs at the Umbrella Making Centre, photographed on 23 October 2026 and shown on this page. The references below support the history, the description of the craft and the festival details. The tour details come from the two GetYourGuide listings, read the same day.
The Umbrella Making Centre posted a closure every Tuesday from 1 February to 31 October, and from 13 to 16 April, on the notice we saw on 23 October 2026. The notice gives no year and says nothing about November to January, and it has been changed before. The village shops keep their own hours. If you are going on a Tuesday, check the centre's Facebook page or phone it first.
Do you pay to visit the Umbrella Making Centre?
No. The centre's sign says there is no entrance fee, and we paid nothing to look round. You pay only if you buy something or have a design painted.
Can you have something painted?
The centre sells painting coupons labelled S, M and L, at 100, 200 and 300 baht, for a design painted by one of its artists. On our visit, decorating a phone case took about five minutes. A class where you paint yourself is a different service: ask at the centre what is on offer.
How long should you spend at Bo Sang?
About one to two hours is our suggestion. We spent about an hour and a half at the centre and in a few shops on the main road.
