In 2002, Martin Woodtli decided to move his mother, who had Alzheimer's, from Switzerland to Thailand.

He had spent years watching the disease slowly change his family. When his mother was first diagnosed, his father stepped in to care for her.

Woodtli had already quit his job in social services to help as her condition worsened, but the emotional and physical strain became too much for his father to handle. His father eventually fell into depression and later died by suicide, leaving Woodtli — an only child — to shoulder the responsibility alone.

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"I had to decide what I was going to do now," Woodtli, now 65, told Business Insider.

He began looking into care facilities across Switzerland, but many of them felt institutional, with a hospital-like atmosphere. They were also expensive.

Woodtli then considered another option: returning to Chiang Mai, a city in northern Thailand, where he had lived and worked with Doctors Without Borders for four years in the '90s.

During his time in Thailand, he had noticed that respect for older adults is deeply ingrained in the culture. Over time, Woodtli began to see Chiang Mai as a place that could offer his mother a better quality of life.

In 2003, he made the leap.

A risk that changed their lives

Woodtli planned to live in a house in Chiang Mai with his mother, with support from a team of three caregivers — recruited through local hospitals — on rotating shifts.

Woodtli kept an open mind. "If it works, wonderful. If it doesn't work, we'll go back after a two-week holiday," he said.

The change in environment made a noticeable difference for his mother.

"My mother used to be very isolated because she was afraid to say something, especially in a group, because she noticed that she could not express herself that well anymore," said Woodtli, who has a background in social work and psychotherapy.

In a more comfortable setting with familiar faces from her care team, she developed her own communication style.

"She was not shy anymore," he said.

Increasing interest

As he watched his mother, then in her 70s, settle into her new life, Woodtli realized he wanted to help others facing similar challenges.

Within a year, Woodtli started Baan Kamlangchay, a dementia care home in a neighborhood just outside the city center, using money inherited from his late father.

In 2003, a Swiss filmmaker made a documentary about him and his mother's journey. After that, more families from Switzerland and Germany began reaching out.

Chiang Mai was already popular with overseas visitors and retirees, thanks in part to its low cost of living and relative accessibility — its international airport is about an hour's flight from Bangkok.

Thailand's long-stay visa options have also helped the city attract a sizable foreign community. Thai civil registration data recorded 160,958 foreign residents in Chiang Mai in 2025, or about 9% of its roughly 1.8 million people.

Today, Woodtli and his Thai wife continue to run the facility, which now cares for around 10 residents, whom he refers to as guests. All are living with Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia.

Unlike many Western care facilities, Baan Kamlangchay residents don't live in a single building. Instead, they are spread across eight houses in a residential neighborhood shared with local Thai people. Woodtli, too, lives in a house in the village with his family.

The idea was to make daily life feel normal, Woodtli said, allowing guests to see different people and interact with others outside the care home.

"It is a very natural way of living," he said.

Elderly care facilities in Thailand are generally classified based on the services they provide, Kom Vachiravarakarn, a partner at the Bangkok-based law firm Kudun and Partners, told Business Insider.

Facilities providing regulated healthcare services require a medical facility license, he said.

Non-medical elderly or dependent care businesses usually fall under a different license that covers services such as daily living assistance, accommodation, and supportive care, he said.

Baan Kamlangchay operates as a registered company in Thailand and has caregivers but no on-site medical staff. Instead, residents rely on local healthcare providers when needed, Woodtli said.

The cost of care

For many families, the challenge isn't just how to care for a loved one, but how to afford it.

The average cost of nursing home care in the US is around $112,420 a year, or about $9,368 a month, per data from the Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program Cost of Care Survey in 2024.

Costs are similarly high in Switzerland, where dementia care in a nursing home costs around 89,756 Swiss Francs a year, or roughly $9,400 a month, based on 2019 estimates — the most recent available — from nonprofit Alzheimer Switzerland.

Costs at Baan Kamlangchay start from around $2,900 a month. This includes lodging, around-the-clock care, and meals, Woodtli said.

Caleb Johnston, an associate professor of human geography at the UK's Newcastle University, told Business Insider that he views the migration of people to Thailand for care and palliative support as a "small but meaningfully growing phenomenon."

They're driven by Thailand's lower costs, large caregiver workforce, and growing private care sector serving international clients, he said.

At another facility at the top end of this market in Chiang Mai, comprehensive care costs around $3,500 a month, including accommodation, meals, excursions, therapy, and a one-to-one care worker-to-resident ratio.

"You simply won't find that level or quality of care in any Western country today unless you're prepared to pay a king's ransom," Johnston said.

But cheaper care comes with other costs.

"There are also harder questions about social networks, access to long-standing friendships, and the symbolic weight of dying far from where one has lived," he said.

These aren't trivial trade-offs, but for many, the alternative at home has become so untenable that Thailand feels like the only viable alternative, he added.

A trio of caregivers

At Baan Kamlangchay, each guest has a consistent team of three caregivers who rotate shifts and stay with them throughout the day. At night, one sleeps in the same room, Woodtli said.

"The relationship is so important because it's much more than in a care center, where you just do your duty and move from one person to another," Woodtli said. "Here, the caregivers are very close to each guest."

Woodtli estimates he manages about 50 team members, including caretakers, cooks, and other support staff.

Throughout the day, residents escorted by their caregivers can move between their homes and shared spaces, including a communal dining area and an activity hub with a pool.

Meals are typically European, with dishes like pumpkin soup prepared by a cook who previously worked in a hotel.

Woodtli also runs a small convenience store, open to everyone, where residents can pick up everyday items and interact with local villagers. It helps them maintain a sense of independence, he said.

Anke Blomberg, whose mother Gerda has lived at Baan Kamlangchay for eight years, told Business Insider she appreciated that it doesn't feel like a facility.

When her mother developed dementia, Blomberg first hired a live-in caregiver in Germany, but her mother wasn't comfortable sharing the home she had lived in with her late husband. She then looked into local care facilities, but found them impersonal.

Eventually, she came across Baan Kamlangchay online and, with her husband and mother, traveled to Chiang Mai for a month to see it firsthand.

Over that time, her mother got used to the environment and grew comfortable with the close, hands-on care, Blomberg said, adding that she now visits her about twice a year.

"After so many years now, I'm really convinced I did the right thing for her," Blomberg said.

Woodtli said many guests stay for years, and most remain there until the end of their lives. Woodtli's mother was one of them — she lived there until she died in 2006.

"I think of it, really, as their last holiday," Woodtli said.