Harris Fitness Center, Chiang Mai

21 Huaykaew Rd. Located Inside Lotus Pang Suan Kaew Hotel, Level 6 Suthep, Chiang Mai 50200
(See location description below for directions)

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Opening Hours: 8:00 – 22:00, 7 days a week

Cost: 100 baht per day, including a free towel. (Signs at reception say a higher price, but I was told 100)

Location

Harris Fitness Center is located inside the Lotus Pang Suan Kaew Hotel, very close to the old town, around 500m from the square that defines it. From the old town, take the main road out from the northwest (Hua Lin) corner. Then take the first left after Kad Suan Kaew (shopping mall). Don’t be put by the security guards there – you are in the right place. And hey, they let me in so there’s a good chance you’ll get through too!

Turn left straight after the security guards and follow the building around the to right. Google Maps is accurate so head for where it is located on there. You’ll see a building with “Take It Club” on it. Next to that, on the right is a big posh hotel – that’s your gym!

Take the lift up to the sixth floor, admiring the view of the inside of the building as you do – it’s very pretty! Turn right out of the lift and follow the sign around to the left. Don’t be tempted to go up the stairs to seventh floor like I did (the sign is a little confusing), although there is a very attractive pool up there. The gym entrance is obvious when you get there – welcome to Harris Fitness Center Chiang Mai!

Facilities

This medium sized gym is very attractive, modern and well-equipped. There are several aircon units around it and ample overhead fans and upright ones to keep the temperature at a comfortable level. Reception hosts a few cardio machines, before leading out in to the main gym area, where you’ll find everything else.

Beyond the gym is a small room with a boxing bag, gloves, pads and a mat, and beyond that there is another room where old machinery is stored. There’s even a table tennis table! There is also plenty of floor-space here, which may come in useful during peak periods as there is no dedicated area in the gym.

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What struck me about this gym was how clean and tidy everything is. As someone who regularly uses different gyms, it can be time consuming to find everything you need. Not here! All the weights were nearly stacked in their correct places and all the adjustable barbells were in a tidy pile together – with the clips to secure free weights on the end. A rare and welcome find!

There are separate changing cubicles which are great for those who like privacy, and although I didn’t shower there, the changing rooms looked extremely clean and attractive, containing soap and toilet paper – not always a given at gyms in Thailand.

Weights

There is a wide range of dumbbells up 120lbs including some duplicates, which would come in handy during peak periods. There are also a lot of lightweight dumbbells. Although I didn’t find any fixed weight barbells, there were several adjustable ones as mentioned earlier.

The club has adjustable benches and barbells for bench-pressing and a couple of adjustable abs benches to match.

You’ll also find a squat rack, Smith machine, pull up bars with cable crossovers, and an assisted pull ups machine. There’s an additional set of pull up bars elsewhere, suitable for shorter people! Gym toys include a couple of abs rollers, a small Swiss ball, a couple of lightweight medicine balls and some stepboards. For further equipment, see “Studio” below.

Cardio

There are a large number of treadmills, several crosstrainers, a couple of steppers, and several bikes of different types. All the equipment looked fairly modern, although not top of the range. The crosstrainer I used was excellent.

Studio

The club has a large attractive studio, in which there are currently 18 classes per week. These take place from 10:00-11:00 and 18:00-20:00 most days. Classes include Dance Workout, Zumba Dance, Hip Hop and various types of Yoga. The studio also contains several Swiss balls, lots of good quality thick mats as well as yoga mats. You’ll also find lightweight dumbbells and disc free weights for barbells.

Summary

Harris Fitness Center is an excellent modern gym, of the same calibre as any major Western chain. It is extremely reasonably priced given the high quality facilities and its convenient location close to the old town.

Take your own drinking water – I couldn’t see it freely available, though you could certainly purchase it.

The protein shakes aren’t bad either – 55 baht will get you a freshly made shake with 25g of protein,  made with fresh banana – yum! Given that they cost around 40 – 50 baht for a premade bottle in shops, this was a bargain and a good end to my workout.

In my opinion, there is little to separate Harris from Gold Hillside Gym and Fitness which is northwest of the old town, close to Maya Shopping Mall in Nimmanhaemin. Although Gold Hillside is slightly cheaper, the weights section is certainly not as attractive as Harris. However if your main focus is cardio or floorwork, I would say Gold Hillside has the edge. Harris is the slightly classier of the two with nicer changing facilities too, but I expect most people would be happy at either. Whichever you choose, have a great workout!

Want an Overview of Gyms in Chiang Mai?

I went to several different gyms here and I’ve summarised, compared and recommended my favourites for each budget level. Check out Gyms in Chiang Mai.

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