Backpacking Pai
Pai has a reputation and it is entirely deserved. It is a village in a valley in the northern mountains, three hours and 762 bends from Chiang Mai, and it is where backpacking trips go to lose a week.
There is not much to it: one main street, a river, rice fields and mountains on every side. But the whole valley is riddled with things to ride a scooter to. Canyons with no handrails, hot springs, a bamboo bridge through the paddies, caves you go through on a raft. And at five o’clock the Walking Street opens and the whole village eats outside.
The vibe is unapologetically hippie. Lots of solo travellers, lots of people on their third extension, and a general sense that nobody is in a hurry about anything. That is the entire appeal and also the warning.
Why Pai is popular with backpackers
- €4 dorm beds, the cheapest on the route
- Scooter roads through mountains and rice fields
- Viewpoints where the mist sits below you at sunrise
- The Walking Street, every single evening
- Easy to meet people even if you know nobody
- Nothing is more than twenty minutes away
Best time to visit Pai
Pai sits in a valley, which does two things: the mornings get properly cold, and during burning season the smoke sits in the bowl and stays there.
Bring a jumper. In December and January it drops to around ten degrees at sunrise down in the valley, and that is exactly when the famous mist layer forms under the viewpoints. Shivering is part of the photo.
Backpacker budget: around €16 a day
- €4hostel bed
- €1.20local meal
- €1.20beer
- €4scooter per day
Guide prices from our own days in Pai. Add a tour or a night out and it climbs fast.
Best hostels in Pai
Common Grounds Pai
The solo traveller’s hostel in Pai. Slow during the day, everyone in the same place by evening, and enough organised things that you never have to be the one who starts the conversation. If you turned up alone, this is the safe bet.
K-Bunk Hostel Pai (Walking Street)
Modern, clean, and right on the Walking Street, so the night market is literally outside. Sociable without being chaos, and the location means you can eat at eight different stalls and still be in bed in four minutes.
Revolution Hostel Pai
Pool parties and a crowd that is here for the social side of Pai. Explore the valley all day, come back, and there is already something happening. This is where the two-night plans go to die.
Best things to do in Pai
Jungle tubing down the river
You sit in a rubber ring and drift down the Pai river, stopping at bars built into the bank. It is exactly as silly as it sounds and it is how half the friendships in this town start.
Tipsy tubing
The same idea with more of a soundtrack and guides who keep an eye on everyone. Go with the group from your hostel and accept that the afternoon is gone.
The valley highlights in one day
The waterfalls, the hot springs and the Nam Lod cave are spread wide apart and part of the road is properly mountainous. If you would rather not ride it yourself, a tour does the lot in a day.
Pai Canyon at sunset
A network of narrow red sand ridges with drops on both sides and absolutely no railings. Go for sunset with everyone else, but take the walking seriously, because the edges crumble.
The hot springs
Natural hot pools outside the village, and the best thing you can do to a body that has been on a scooter all day.
The Bamboo Bridge
A bridge made entirely of bamboo running across the rice fields, built so monks could reach the temple without walking through the crop.
Best area for backpackers
Around Walking Street
Stay near Walking Street. Nearly every hostel, café, bar and restaurant in Pai is on it or one street off it, and the village is small enough that this is not a compromise.
By day it is quiet, a bit sleepy, and full of people drinking coffee. At five it turns into a night market that runs the whole length of the street, and by nine there is live music coming out of three places at once.
What you get in this area:
- Cheap hostels and guesthouses, most of them €4 to €6
- The easiest place in Pai to fall in with other travellers
- Street food, bars and cafés on the doorstep
- Everything walkable, which matters after a beer
- It is also where you rent the scooter and book the tours
How to plan your days in Pai
Pai is notorious: people come for two days and stay two weeks. Pick how long you intend to have.
The valley on a scooter. The classic loop: Pai Canyon, the Bamboo Bridge through the rice fields, the Land Split and Pembok waterfall. None of it is more than half an hour away.
Tonight: Walking Street, street food, live music.
Tubing and hot springs. Float down the Pai river in a rubber ring, or go to the Sai Ngam hot springs where the water sits at exactly the right temperature to do nothing in.
Tonight: sunset at Yun Lai Viewpoint or the White Buddha.
Sunrise and Lod Cave. Get up in the dark for the sea of mist over the valley with the sun coming through it. Then ride out to Tham Lod cave, which you go through on a bamboo raft with a lantern.
Tonight: minibus back to Chiang Mai, or onward to Mae Hong Son.
Food and drink in Pai
For a village this size the food is absurd. Thai market stalls, vegan cafés, Israeli restaurants, proper coffee, and a street full of grills.
The Walking Street opens around five. For two euros you can eat your way from one end to the other, and most people do exactly that every night they are here.
What to eat here:
Getting there and onward
There is one road into Pai from Chiang Mai, and it is famous: 762 bends in three hours.
Getting there. The minibus from Chiang Mai is about €5 and takes three hours. Take something for motion sickness even if you never normally need it, and do not sit in the back.
Around town. The village itself is a ten minute walk end to end. Everything else needs a scooter, at about €4 a day, which is effectively compulsory here.
Onward. Most people go back to Chiang Mai. If you keep riding, the Mae Hong Son loop is another 1,864 bends in a big circle through the mountains, and it is one of the great rides in Asia.
- MinibusChiang Mai 3 hrs, 762 bends
- ScooterFrom about €4 a day
- Mae Hong Son loopMulti-day ride through the mountains
- PlaneTiny airstrip with flights to Chiang Mai
- On footThe village takes ten minutes to cross
Staying safe in Pai
Pai is relaxed and safe, and it is also the place where you will see the most backpackers walking around with bandages on their legs. There is a nickname for it, and it exists for a reason.
- Film the scooter before you ride off, every scratch included
- Wear long trousers and actual shoes to ride, however hot it is
- Stick to the wide paths at Pai Canyon. The ridges are narrow and the sand is loose
- Wear the helmet, including on the two minute ride into the village
- Rent an automatic for the first time in your life and head straight up the mountain road
- Ride back after a few drinks on Walking Street
- Go into the canyon in flip-flops. The sand is loose and the drop is real
- Hand over your passport at the rental shop
The “Pai tattoo” is the strip of missing skin on your shin from a scooter that went over. It is completely avoidable: ride slowly, wear shoes, and only rent a bike once you are genuinely comfortable on one.
Rebels on the Road tip
Get the scooter and ride out towards Pai Canyon or one of the viewpoints before sunrise. There is usually mist filling the whole valley with the peaks poking out of it, and you will have it more or less to yourself. Stop at the little roadside coffee shacks on the way back. Those unplanned twenty-minute stops are the thing people actually remember about Pai.
Frequently asked questions
How many days do you need in Pai?
Three is the honest answer, and roughly nobody sticks to it. Build in room to stay longer, because most people do.
Is Pai cheap?
It is the cheapest stop on the Thai route. Around €16 a day, with €4 dorm beds and meals for just over a euro.
Is Pai good for solo travellers?
Extremely. Between the hostels and the tubing, staying a stranger here takes real effort.
Do you need a scooter in Pai?
Effectively yes. The canyon, the springs, the bridge and the viewpoints are all outside the village, and a scooter is €4 a day. If you cannot ride, the day tours cover the same ground.
Is the road to Pai dangerous?
It is fine in a minibus, just extremely twisty. 762 bends in three hours is hard on a delicate stomach, which is why most people take the van rather than ride it themselves.
