Weekend Getaway Near Chiang Mai: Two Nights at Skugga Estate

A weekend at Skugga Estate is two nights in the Mae On valley, 30 minutes from Chiang Mai city centre, in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The plan spends one night at Skugga Estate Farm and one at Skugga Estate Vineyard, two separate sites 1.5 kilometres apart, and fills the days with workshops, a barbecue lunch, a long dinner and Sunday brunch.

Friday afternoon, 30 minutes out of Chiang Mai, the car turns off the main road and the weekend changes shape. Nobody hands you a schedule. There is a working farm with a roastery, a chocolate lab and a row of cabins, and 1.5 kilometres away a vineyard whose vines went into the ground in 2025. Between them, two nights and a plan that mostly consists of choosing which table to sit at next.

This is the valley weekend. It runs from Friday afternoon to Sunday, uses both Skugga sites, and spends one night on each. It suits couples who want a weekend with a centre, families who want a base with space, and friends who want a house for the night.

Weekend at Skugga Estate at a glance

How the weekend works

Friday is the Farm. Arrive in the afternoon, join the coffee and tea workshop, check in to a suite or cabin, and drive the short distance to the Vineyard for dinner.

Saturday is the making day. A chocolate workshop fills the morning, a barbecue lunch follows, and the afternoon belongs to the pool, the pickleball court and the Classic Car Garage. In the late afternoon, move to the Vineyard for the second night. A spirit tasting, a long dinner and a walk to the villa close the day.

Sunday is brunch. Sit down among the vines, walk the young rows, and leave at the pace of the meal.

The order follows the estate's own rhythm. The Farm opens every day, and its workshops run on set days, with Friday carrying the most of them. The Vineyard opens Tuesday to Sunday and closes on Mondays, and its Sunday brunch is the natural last stop of a weekend.

Why two nights on two sites

Skugga is two physically separate sites, 1.5 kilometres apart, and they keep different characters. The Farm is a working estate where coffee, cacao and tea are grown, processed and sold, and its accommodation is built around a pool and a pickleball court. The Vineyard is the quieter half, with a restaurant, estate gin and rows of young vines. A weekend that uses only one site misses the other half of the argument.

One night at each means one packing change and one short drive. Nothing else in the plan needs a car. The Skugga Villas and Suites brand operates across both sites, so the team handles both bookings together.

Where to stay at Skugga Estate

The Farm offers two kinds of room. A Farm suite is a one-bedroom unit of 32 to 36 square metres, with a double or twin bed, and it suits couples. The Farm cabin has two bedrooms and two bathrooms across 65 square metres, with a kitchen and a balcony, and it suits a family or two couples travelling together. Both give access to the pool and the pickleball court.

The Vineyard offers villas. Each has four bedrooms and three bathrooms, a kitchen, a lounge, a dining room and a balcony over the rows. Some rooms have independent access, so a villa can be booked as one four-bedroom house or split into a two-bedroom villa with a lounge and two separate suites. That flexibility suits groups of friends and multigenerational families.

A couple takes a Farm suite for the first night and a Vineyard suite for the second. A family takes the cabin and then a villa. A group of friends takes the villa for the whole weekend and drives to the Farm for the day. All three shapes work, and the team confirms the layouts and the prices before you commit.

How to get to Skugga Estate from Chiang Mai

The estate is 30 minutes from Chiang Mai city centre. Arrange a car or a driver, or ask the team about transfers before you travel. Workshop guests can pre-book a van from the city at 200 baht per person for the round trip, booked 24 hours ahead and subject to availability.

For visitors from Singapore and Hong Kong, the weekend starts at the airport. Scoot flies non-stop from Singapore and HK Express flies non-stop from Hong Kong, and both routes run daily. A morning arrival on Friday reaches the Farm in time for the afternoon workshop.

Friday: the Farm

Arrive and make the afternoon

The coffee and tea workshop runs on Fridays, in the afternoon. It follows two crops from plant to cup. The coffee half covers cultivation, processing, roasting, grinding, dripping, sensory work and cupping. The tea half covers cultivation, processing, blending, infusing and brewing. The workshop costs 1,100 baht per adult and 950 baht for children under 15, and it includes a free drink and a gift set of teas and coffees.

Book it ahead. Reservations are required, and groups are typically capped at 12.

If you land in the morning, the full-day option runs on Fridays too. It combines the chocolate workshop in the morning, lunch, and the coffee and tea workshop in the afternoon, at 2,200 baht per adult and 1,900 baht for children under 15.

The Roastery and the lab

Whatever fills the afternoon, walk the working farm before dinner. The Roastery works with single-origin Thai arabica and runs an experimental series built on carbonic maceration, a sealed fermentation borrowed from winemaking. Strawberry Fields Forever carries pink guava and wild strawberry. Drunken Sailor carries rum-raisin and dark chocolate. The Fermentation Trail follows the same thread across coffee, cacao and tea.

Dinner at the Vineyard

Check in, then drive the 1.5 kilometres to the Vineyard for dinner. The restaurant serves across upstairs and downstairs dining zones. The upstairs room sits on the glazed upper floor of the main building, and the downstairs room is the more casual, walk-in-friendly space. The food and dining page lists the menus and the booking form. Reserve ahead, then drive back to the Farm for the night.

Saturday: the making day

Chocolate in the morning

The chocolate lab turns single-origin Thai cacao into bean-to-bar chocolate. The Saturday chocolate workshop runs in the morning or the afternoon and costs 1,100 baht per adult and 950 baht for children under 15. It covers a cacao farm tour and the stages from cultivation and fermentation through roasting, cracking, winnowing, grinding, tempering and moulding. Guests taste eight to eleven chocolate types, wrap their own bars, make pralines and drink cacao husk tea. The price includes a free drink and the Skugga Gift Set of an apron, teas and coffees.

Participants can add a barbecue lunch for 400 baht per person. The BBQ at Skugga serves grilled plates and sandwiches, and it keeps the afternoon on the Farm.

The slow middle

After lunch the weekend slows down. The pool is on site, and so is the pickleball court. The Tea Bar serves estate-grown teas from forest gardens, and the open lawn beside it is the quietest seat on the estate. The Chocolate Bar serves signature cacao cocktails and smoothies made from the farm's cacao.

The Classic Car Garage holds fifteen vehicles, predominantly British, from a 1951 MG TD to a pair of 1966 Land Rovers. Walk through it with a coffee in hand.

A ceremonial cacao gathering suits this part of the day. The ceremonial cacao experience is a guided gathering where cacao is prepared and shared in a calm space, with silence, reflection, music or shared intention depending on the group. Gatherings take place across the farm, the vineyard and the gardens. Ask the team to arrange one before you travel.

The move to the Vineyard

In the late afternoon, pack the car and drive the 1.5 kilometres to the Vineyard. Check in to the villa or suite, then take the first walk through the rows. The vines were planted in 2025 and no wine has been produced. The wine programme is developing, and the setting is the point at this stage.

The long dinner

The Vineyard also makes its own gin and small-batch spirits, and runs a 45-minute spirit tasting with a chocolate or cheese pairing at 400 baht. It suits the hour before dinner. Then sit down for the long meal that gives the second night its reason. No drive, no taxi queue, no late return to the city. The villa is a short walk away.

Sunday: brunch among the vines

Sunday brunch at the Vineyard runs with twenty selections at 1,200 baht per person. Children under 12 pay half, and a drinks package of wines and cocktails adds 795 baht per person. The team confirms brunch requests, so book it with the rest of the weekend.

Order slowly. Walk the young rows afterwards and leave at the pace of the meal. The slow Sunday piece describes the day in full.

How much does a weekend at Skugga cost?

The published prices make the activity side easy to add up. The coffee and tea workshop is 1,100 baht, the chocolate workshop 1,100 baht, the barbecue lunch 400 baht, brunch 1,200 baht and the spirit tasting 400 baht. Together that comes to 4,200 baht per adult. The figure excludes dinners, drinks, accommodation and transport, and it drops if you skip an activity. Children under 15 pay 950 baht at each workshop, and children under 12 pay half at brunch.

Who the Skugga weekend suits

A couple gets a weekend with a centre. The workshops give each day a shared task, and the two nights give two different settings.

A family gets space and a clear plan. Children under 15 join the workshops at the reduced price, accompanied by a parent. The cabin gives two bedrooms and a kitchen, the Farm has a playground and a pickleball court, and the downstairs dining room welcomes family tables. Groups made up only of young children can be arranged on request.

A group of friends gets a house. Take the Vineyard villa for the whole weekend and drive to the Farm for the workshops. Parties of ten or more should ask the team about private arrangements at the working farm.

Add a third night

The plan above runs two nights. Add a third and Monday becomes a slow morning at the Farm, since the Farm opens every day and the Vineyard closes on Mondays. Coffee at the Roastery, a pastry from the Roll Bar and a last walk before the road back make a better ending than a Sunday rush. For a longer plan that adds the city, the three-day itinerary builds this weekend into a full trip, and 24 hours at Skugga covers a single day in detail.

How to book the weekend

Book in this order. Start with the rooms, since both sites sit inside one booking conversation with the team. Add the workshops next, which run on set days and need reservations. Reserve the Vineyard dinners and the Sunday brunch after that. Settle transport last. Skugga's slow weekends article sets out the idea behind the pace.

Weekend at Skugga: quick answers

Which days do the Skugga workshops run?

The chocolate workshop runs on Tuesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, in the morning or afternoon. The coffee and tea workshop and the full-day combined workshop run on Fridays.

How much do the workshops cost?

The chocolate workshop and the coffee and tea workshop cost 1,100 baht per adult and 950 baht for children under 15. The full-day combined workshop costs 2,200 baht per adult and 1,900 baht for children under 15.

How far is Skugga from Chiang Mai city centre?

The estate is 30 minutes from Chiang Mai city centre. The Farm and the Vineyard are separate sites, 1.5 kilometres apart.

Where do you stay at Skugga?

Skugga Villas and Suites operates across both sites. The Farm has one-bedroom suites and a two-bedroom cabin, and the Vineyard has four-bedroom villas that can also be split into a two-bedroom villa and two suites.

Is the Vineyard open every day?

The Vineyard is open Tuesday to Sunday and closes on Mondays. The Farm is open every day.

Can you fly direct to Chiang Mai from Singapore and Hong Kong?

Yes. Scoot flies non-stop from Singapore and HK Express flies non-stop from Hong Kong, and both routes run daily.

What is there to do at Skugga Estate in a weekend?

A weekend at Skugga Estate covers a coffee and tea workshop, a chocolate workshop, a barbecue lunch, the Classic Car Garage, the pool and pickleball court at the Farm, a spirit tasting and a long dinner at the Vineyard, and Sunday brunch.

Does Skugga Estate have a pool?

Yes. The Farm suites and the Farm cabin give access to a pool and a pickleball court. The Vineyard villas sit among the vines.

How much does a weekend at Skugga Estate cost?

The published activity prices add up to 4,200 baht per adult for the coffee and tea workshop, the chocolate workshop, the barbecue lunch, the spirit tasting and Sunday brunch. Dinners, drinks, accommodation and transport are extra.

Has Skugga produced wine?

Not yet. The vines were planted in 2025 and the wine programme is developing.

Is the weekend suitable for children?

Yes. Children under 15 join the workshops at a reduced price with a parent, the Farm has a playground and a pickleball court, and the downstairs dining room welcomes family tables.