The road to Pai is part of the experience: Route 1095 climbs and twists through 762 numbered curves before dropping into a valley of rice fields ringed by forested ridges. The town itself is a few streets of cafés, guesthouses and a nightly walking-street market. Its reputation as a backpacker hangout is deserved, but ten minutes out of town you are among farms, bamboo bridges and hot streams.
Days here are simple and outdoors. Walk the knife-edge ridges of Pai Canyon at sunset, soak in the forest pools of Sai Ngam, swim under waterfalls, float down the river on a tube, or travel an hour north to Pang Mapha, where bamboo rafts carry you through Tham Lod, a cavern with a river running through it.
Beyond Pai the road continues to Mae Hong Son, a quiet lakeside capital close to the Myanmar border with Shan-style temples, and to the tea village of Ban Rak Thai. Together with Chiang Mai they form the Mae Hong Son Loop, one of South-East Asia’s classic road journeys.
Highlights
- Walk the narrow ridges of Pai Canyon at sunset
- Raft through Tham Lod cave by lantern light
- Soak in the Sai Ngam hot spring in the forest
- Float down the Pai River on a tube
- Watch sunrise above the clouds at Ban Jabo
- Drink tea by the lake in Ban Rak Thai
Pai & Mae Hong Son in pictures
How long to stay and where to base yourself
Three nights in Pai allow a day around the valley, a day at Tham Lod and time to do very little, which is the point. Add two more nights to continue to Mae Hong Son and Ban Rak Thai.
Stay in town to walk to the market and restaurants, or in a bungalow across the river or out in the rice fields for quiet and views — you will need a bicycle, scooter or taxi. Cave Lodge-style stays near Soppong (Pang Mapha) put you next to Tham Lod and the trekking country.
