Pai has been my favourite place I’ve visited in Thailand so far, you can never be bored here. That’s why many people get stuck in the inevitable ‘Pai hole’. We originally booked to stay for 3 days and stayed for a week, went to stay in a monastery for a few days and then came back to Pai again. No matter how long you stay, you can always find things to do. Before coming here, many of my friends said I would love it and they were right, constant live music, great atmosphere, tasty street food and mountainous greenery. This is known as a hippie town in Thailand, where doing yoga, breathwork, and ceremonies is an average day. Pai has become very busy over the last few years and hostels get booked up days in advance, on some occasions we had to go to private rooms in hotels because popular hostels sold out quickly.
Accommodation
Circus hostel is notably the most famous in Pai, along with Nola Hub and Revolution. We stayed in Circus for about 5 days, the accommodation and bathrooms were filthy, and I felt genuinely dirty the entire time I was there, however, it’s probably the most sociable hostel I’ve ever stayed in. The main area has a bar, pool table, swimming pool overlooking the vast jungle, firepits and hammocks, it’s a great place to chill out with activities every night. They organise tours and tipsy tubing which is a must-do activity here in Pai. I visited Darling View Point hostel, it was very much outdoors with mattresses and hammocks spread around to enjoy the view. After we realised we had no accommodation, we just looked on Booking.com for cheap private rooms and stayed in those. There are also many wooden bungalows within Pai, all a short distance from the main centre.
Walking Street
Many towns in Thailand have a Walking Street, which is closed off to traffic and instead placed stalls and street vendors and is often in the centre of the town. Pai has a great Walking Street, it runs for about half a mile and is full of bars and restaurants on one side and small vendors on the other. From falafel, famous Northern Thai sausages and mango sticky rice, to jewellery stands, funky clothing stalls and smiling people. I found myself eating in small restaurants dotted around Pai for breakfast and lunch, then going to the street market for cheap dinners. After partying in the town, there’s always a Pad Thai stand to take home (there’s a lack of kebab houses in Thailand). I also found Pai to sell cute and reasonable clothing, I bought a few things there to spice up my wardrobe. Although Pai is a fairly small town, you can find everything you need and if in doubt, go to 7/11. On our last night in Pai, as I was about to go solo for a while in the south, Braeden and Lewis were heading to Laos, Gabby to Vietnam and Joe back to England, we ate in a beautiful resort and tapas restaurant. Sometimes you have to splash out, especially as it was a send-off for the lovely group we made going our separate ways. This is what makes travelling so beautiful, you meet people that come and go but sometimes you meet a group you really connect with.
Bars
As a true music lover, Pai has a great vibe for music. In the main area, there are guitar players sitting down around the street and bars full of local musicians. The bars are intimate and each is different to cater to everyone’s ears, Pai is a good party in the night, but in the evenings my favourite places to visit were; Spirit Bar, a small and chilled vibe with cheap wine and backpackers from all over the world. The Jazz Club was similar but larger with hammocks making it even more relaxed. I also loved Paradise Bar, around a 20-minute walk from the main centre, but I had visited 3 times so was clearly worth it. In the daytime you have people taking special or fruit shakes, then in the evening, they have many people sitting around on beds on the floor listening to musicians taking part in the open mic nights. But I think my favourite bar was defiantly the Reggae Bar, its so small but you get a personal experience in there, when myself and 4 friends went in, we were given drums to play along to the beat and was even given a microphone after telling them I was a singer. We drank, played Jenga, tapped the drums and listened to chilled reggae. Overall, Pai has some of my favourite nightlife for a small town, from 8-11 you can listen to music and chill, then after 11, the streets are full of acid house and techno bars. There is also a jungle party twice a week which is a really cool experience, it’s big and all the tourists flock there with neon lights and paint.
Getting there
Pai is best to access by bus from Chiang Mai, where you can buy tickets online or in the small stores. The journey only takes 3 hours but is very bumpy and windy, so maybe take some medication before. You can also rent a bike from Chiang Mai and travel to Pai but you must be confident in riding a motorbike. Before coming to Pai, I was advised I must get a bike in order to travel and see everything as most of the natural beauty attractions were around an hour away. On my bucket list for this trip, one goal to tick off was to ride a mo-ped, but the guy renting them out did not agree. He told me to do a practice in his tiny car park, then said he didn’t trust me enough. oops. (Luckily enough, after 2 months in Thailand I am now confident on a bike) But if you can ride a bike and are trusted, you can rent one for 300 Bhat, which is about 8 pounds. It’s the best way to get around, if not you should go on a tour. I went on a half day tour that cost around £15 and we went to 8 of the main attractions in Pai, one’s that stood out were the Chinese Village, the canyon and a beautiful waterfall. If you go to Pai take a tour or explore for yourself by bike!
Yoga and Workshops
One of the best mindfulness classes I have taken was transformational breath work in Pai with Bodhi Tree Yoga. I went spontaneously after seeing a poster half an hour before the class and it was amazing. Me and a friend Martha commented that it’s the best we had ever breathed in our lives and it’s good for releasing what no longer serves you internally. Bodhi Tree also has frequent yoga classes and other spiritual practices throughout the week. All around the town is many different yoga schools hosting ceremonies and tarot, you just have to look for them. Many hostels also hold free yoga classes or you can rent out a mat to practice meditation or yoga yourself. Although I would say the best place in Thailand to practice spirituality is Koh Phangnan, there are a number of workshops and interesting people around. Going off of topic, visit Zen Beach for the sunset, to your right you have acro yoga and hula hoopers, then to the left are musicians playing traditional music on instruments I had never seen before, so if this paragraph sounds like your vibe, head south to Koh Phangnan.
Prices, tattoos and tipsy tubing
I found Pai overall quite cheap, the most expensive factor being accommodation. I got two small tattoos for 1000 Bhat which is about £25, I heard in the south they are almost triple the price, so myself and a few friends got some tattoos to remember the great times in Thailand. Another fun thing to do in Pai is tipsy tubing, we had a group of 200 drunk tourists sliding down a river in rubber rings, it was quite a sight and really fun so I would recommend doing that for a day. You bring your own drinks and the river runs quickly, you then stop off at a jungle bar and it’s great fun and a good way to meet people. After, the ‘bus’ takes you back to Circus Hostel where everyone jumps in the pool and parties some more.
Clearly, if you like hiking, yoga, mushrooms or techno, there’s something for you in Pai. if you are in Chiang Mai or want to experience the north of Thailand I 100% recommend coming here and staying a minimum of 3 days. Let me know of your Pai experiences or if you’ve ever been to a place quite like this!
Bevs Backpacking📍 
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