If you are a free diver and you are in Chiang Mai, then you might be looking for a free dive fix to tide you over until you can hit the sea again. Maybe you are just passing through and you want to keep up with your training. Either way, you can still get some DNY and a little bit of depth in this place
Chiang Mai isn’t famous for free diving (clearly no sea causes an issue there), but you do have some options – and some of them might be better than you expected for a city surrounded by hills and mountains.
Free Dive Practice in Quality Pool + hot and cold
Looper is one of Chiang Mai’s best swimming pools by far. It is only a 4 minute ride to this quiet spot in Jed Yod from the landmark Maya Mall in the centre of town, so pretty convenient for most people to get to.
The good news at Looper is that you get one of the best kept 25 metre pools in Chiang Mai, which is exactly what you need if you want to do some dynamic to keep your free diving practice level up. A lot of the hotel pools get left to rot in Chiang Mai, but this one is really well kept.
There are some nice touches here, like the talking parrots (far enough away from the pool so as not to disturb, don’t worry)
If you are interested in keeping up your DNY or practising some static training then this is a great spot. The pool is rarely very busy.
The early morning regulars are usually gone by 8:30 on a usual week day so if that fits, then you are in a good place.
Looper has:
A 25 metre pool
Onsen (hot pool)
Cold bath
Badminton (garden style)
ping pong
Cafe
Note: There is no pool attendant at Looper, so you need to make sure that you are free diving with a buddy and that your buddy is alert at all times. It is easy to get lazy on safety at recreational swimming pools like this.
The Digital Nomad / Laptop Lowdown At Looper
The whole area has solid WIFI, if you want to bring a laptop and knock out an hour’s work in between pool sessions, then this is definitely an option.
The cafe is above the changing rooms. I wouldn’t want to work from there everyday, or for too long. It is fine for a couple of hours, but it isn’t designed to be a comfy spot for working from a laptop.
If you wanted to come here and make the most of a full day of chilling with nice facilities and just knock out a few emails, then it would be fine. I wouldn’t want to come here with maximum productivity in mind.
The selection of drinks in the cafe was pretty amazing. I went for an Avocado smoothie which was really nice and a definite plus for the café as a workspace.
The coffee selection was pretty in-depth and they looked like they were taking it pretty seriously.
700 Hundred Years Swimming Pool – 5 metres of depth. Yes, you can actually free dive in Chiang Mai
If you want a little more depth for your practice, then the swimming pool at the 700 years stadium is the place for you.
The stadium complex is a 12 minute taxi ride from Maya Mall and you need to get to the swimming pool.
The entrance fee is 60 Baht. You get to use the diving pool (5 metres) as well as the training pool.
This place isn’t very well looked after, so you will more than likely just want to come here to take advantage of the depth and not too much else.
Generally the place isn’t busy. I visited on a couple of Sunday afternoons and there was plenty of space.
There is a local free diving club that practice there with a Thai teacher and Thai students.
There have been reports of this place closing sometimes on the weekend so you may want to check in advance if it is open or not. Usually it is open at 9am.