Specialist removals to Chiang Mai handled end-to-end from our Lower Dicker depot — full and shared-container sea freight, air freight, export-grade tropical packing and full Thai customs clearance. BAR member, fully insured, with careful planning for the inland road leg north.
Removals to Chiang Mai from the UK take a UK household to the cooler, greener north — the moated Old City, the cafes and co-working of Nimman, and the leafy estates around Hang Dong, San Sai and Mae Rim. Chiang Mai draws a distinctive crowd: remote workers and digital nomads, retirees who prefer mountains and temples to beaches, and families after a calmer, cheaper life. It is the longest inland leg of our Thai routes — the shipment clears at the port and then travels north — so we plan timing carefully and pack for the extra road miles. We are a BAR Overseas Group member, fully insured for the voyage. Our removals to Thailand from the UK guide covers the shipping methods and customs in full.
Your move is priced mainly on volume, where you are in the UK and where in Chiang Mai you are going. We publish our full rate card for the Bangkok route, and it is the honest starting point for a Chiang Mai quote too: from £290 for a small groupage shipment of two tea cartons, up to £3,790 for a sole-use 20ft container delivered to a Bangkok residence, standard customs clearance included. You can see the full price table on our Thailand page.
There is no UK VAT to add. International removals are zero-rated for UK VAT, so unlike a domestic house move there is no 20% on top — the figure we quote is the figure you pay. Thai import duty and 7% Thai VAT are separate, assessed by Thai customs on arrival if you do not qualify for residence-transfer relief.
For Chiang Mai itself the price is quoted on application, and we would rather say that than publish a number we would have to walk back. Chiang Mai is around 700km north of the capital, so we plan the inland leg carefully and pack for a longer road journey at the far end. That leg is real work with a real cost, and it varies with your exact address and access — so we price it properly rather than guessing. Ask us and you will get the figure the same way our Bangkok customers do: itemised, with the freight, the packing, the customs work and the Chiang Mai delivery each shown separately.
You do not have to live in Sussex, and you do not have to get your goods to us. Our published rates run from our Lower Dicker depot (BN27 4EL), and we quote collection from anywhere in the UK as a separate line so you can see exactly what the UK leg costs against the shipping. We have vans around the country most weeks, which usually makes that leg cheaper than people expect — and on a sole-use container we can collect from your home well ahead of the booking date and hold everything at the depot, with the first month of storage free.
Services are quoted the same way, so you take as much or as little as you want: export packing and crating, a custom ISPM-15 crate for anything wooden, antique or high-value, fragile-only packing if you will do the rest yourself, or a full packing service covering the whole house. Packing it yourself? We deliver export-grade packing materials to any UK address for a nominal charge.
Chiang Mai trades the heat and hustle of the coast for cooler air, mountains, hundreds of temples and a famously low cost of living. The Old City and Nimman pull in remote workers; the estates around Hang Dong and Mae Rim suit retirees and families who want a garden and space. The catch for movers is geography — Chiang Mai is hundreds of kilometres inland from the ports, so the shipment spends longer on the road at the Thai end. That makes packing quality matter even more, and it is why we plan the delivery date around the road leg rather than promising the impossible.
Chiang Mai’s cooler northern climate changes the calculation a little — the punishing coastal humidity is milder here, which is gentler on wooden furniture and soft furnishings once they arrive. Movers heading north tend to want a settled, homely set-up: real furniture, books, kitchenware, rugs and the comforts that make a longer stay feel permanent. British appliances run on the local supply with the right plug, though large white goods can be cheaper to buy in the city than to ship inland. At the survey we go room by room and advise honestly on what is worth the longer haul north and what is better replaced locally, crating anything fragile or valuable and flagging restricted items first.
The northern road leg is the defining feature of a Chiang Mai delivery. Once our Bangkok depot clears the shipment, it travels north by road — a long haul that we build into the schedule and that the export packing is designed to survive. Delivery in the Old City can mean narrow lanes inside the moat where a full lorry won’t fit, so we transfer to a smaller vehicle for the last stretch; the newer estates in Hang Dong and San Sai are more open. Our crew places furniture, removes the wrapping, reassembles the large pieces and clears the cardboard, the same as on any of our Thai deliveries.
The map below shows Chiang Mai, Thailand — one of the destinations we deliver UK household shipments to from our Lower Dicker depot in East Sussex.
Honest transit times matter on this route, because the sea leg alone is several weeks and people time visas, tenancies and flights around them. These are the windows we actually work to — the same ones in our brochure, not a best case:
| Stage of your move | Typical time |
|---|---|
| Export packing and UK collection | 1–2 days on site |
| Ocean voyage to Thailand | 5–6 weeks |
| Collection through to arrival at Laem Chabang or the Lat Krabang inland depot | Allow 8–12 weeks |
| Thai customs clearance through to release | Add a further 2 weeks |
| Inland road leg north to Chiang Mai | Add 3–7 days |
| Door to door by sea freight | 11–15 weeks |
| Air freight, door to door | 1–2 weeks |
Chiang Mai is around 700km north of the capital, so we plan the inland leg carefully and pack for a longer road journey at the far end. A sole-use container sails as soon as it is loaded and booked, so it sits at the shorter end of that window; a shared groupage container waits until it is full before it sails, which is exactly what buys you the lower price.
Once your goods are on the water we email you a tracking link with a live ETA, then update you at each milestone — sailing date, arrival, customs cleared, out for delivery. For the full picture on full versus shared containers, air freight, Thai customs and duty, read our removals to Thailand from the UK guide.
We are a small, owner-managed Sussex firm that has shipped households to Thailand since 2017, not a national franchise selling Thai moves as a sideline. The experienced staff who pad-wrap your furniture in Sussex have done it on dozens of Thai shipments, and our own partner depot clears and delivers in-country — so a question at customs is answered the same day, not across time zones. Every shipment is fully insured for the voyage and held to the same BS 8564 quality standard as a local house removal.
Read what customers say on our reviews page, browse the gallery, or call Mark directly on 01323 848 008 for straight answers about your Chiang Mai move — what is worth shipping, what Thai customs allow, and a realistic timeline.
Door to door by sea, allow 11–15 weeks. That breaks down as 5–6 weeks for the ocean voyage itself, 8–12 weeks from collection to arrival at Laem Chabang or the Lat Krabang inland depot once consolidation and sailing schedules are counted, then a further two weeks for Thai customs clearance through to release. Chiang Mai is around 700km north of the capital, so we plan the inland leg carefully and pack for a longer road journey at the far end. A sole-use container sits at the shorter end because it sails as soon as it is loaded and booked; a shared groupage container waits until it is full, which is what buys you the lower price. Air freight is 1–2 weeks door to door.
Chiang Mai is hundreds of kilometres inland from the ports, so after customs clearance the shipment travels north by road. We plan the delivery date around that leg and pack to survive the extra miles.
Yes. The lanes inside the moat are often too narrow for a full lorry, so we transfer the load to a smaller vehicle for the final stretch, included in the quote. Newer estates around Hang Dong are more open.
For a box or two of essentials, often yes — air freight can fly straight into Chiang Mai’s airport in 1–2 weeks while the bulk follows by sea. We frequently quote a sea-plus-air blend for the north.
Export double-wall cartons, moisture-barrier pad-wrap, vacuum-bagging and desiccant inside the container guard against tropical condensation, and the same packing carries the goods through the inland road leg.
No. International removals are zero-rated for UK VAT, so unlike a domestic house move there is no 20% added to your shipping price — the figure we quote is the figure you pay. That is separate from Thai import duty and the 7% Thai VAT, which Thai customs may assess on arrival if you do not qualify for residence-transfer relief. Those are payable to Thai customs, not to us.
Our published rates run from our Lower Dicker depot in East Sussex (BN27 4EL) through to delivery in Thailand. We quote collection separately — and we collect from anywhere in the UK, not just Sussex. We have vans around the country most weeks, so a collection is often cheaper than people expect. On a sole-use container we can collect from your home ahead of the booking date and hold it at the depot, with the first month of storage free.
Our published rate card runs from £290 for two tea cartons (8 cu ft) up to £3,790 for a sole-use 20ft container delivered to a Bangkok residence, standard customs clearance included and no UK VAT on top. Chiang Mai itself is quoted on application, because the leg on from the port varies with your exact address and access. Tell us what you are shipping and where to, and we will come back with an itemised figure.
From the blog
Planning an overseas move from Sussex? Our guide covers customs, shipping, insurance, and everything involved in international removals.
Read article →
Pad wrap removals step by step: our blanket stock, how a piece is wrapped, how the load is built, and why it is included, not an extra.
Read article →
Moving house in 2026? Follow our complete step-by-step preparation guide with an 8-week checklist to make your move as smooth and stress-free …
Read article →Call us today for a free, no-obligation quote — or use our online form. Whether it’s a shared-container part-load or a full home shipped to Chiang Mai, we’ve handled it before and we’ll handle yours with care.