Visit Pai – what to do in this smiley little town

Visit Pai, the Wonderful fairy tail town of Thailand

Thailand the land of beauty, the land of islands, the land of water, the land of temples and the land of peace, prosperity, romance, and love. This is the place of tourism! People come here from all around the globe and make their vocations remarkable. Visit Pai!

In Thailand, there are many places to visit but in this article, we are going to discuss one of the most charming towns in Thailand. Yes, I am talking about the attractive and lighting town, Pai. If you want to go on the Pai tour, then you have to read this article till the end. As you are going to find each and everything about the Pai Tour and things you can do there.

Here we go:
What about Pai?

Do not miss any opportunity to stay at least 1 or 2 nights in Pai. if you really cannot fit is in your plan, consider a Private Pai full day Tour from Chiang Mai

If we talk about Pai, it is a small town which is located in Mae Hong Soon, province of Northern Thailand. It is situated in a valley on the banks of the Pai River. It is a famous town due to its charm, natural beauty, and different activities that anyone can do while the tour in this astounding place. It is known for its waterfalls, food stalls, shops line of different things and much more.
On the west of this town, there is a Chinese village where people follow full Chinese culture, live in clay houses and eat Chinese food.

For travelers, there is a big exposure to do many lively activities and discovering astonishing locations.

What to do in Pai?

Pai is a small town with a lot of natural beauties. It is a complete tourist’s site, where you can go and spend your leisure time after a hectic routine. Here are some details about the things which you can do during your Pai tour:

Ride a Scooter

You can ride a scooter in Pai. Wait! What are you thinking? Don’t you know how to ride a scooter? Okay. Then what is difficult in it, you can learn to ride a scooter there because it is very necessary to do it while your trip here. You can get help from the people around and they will teach you how to ride a scooter, then you easily can take a ride throughout a town.

Why is learning to ride a scooter essential?

• As we know that Pai is famous for tourists to get scooters on rent. Scooters are their main mode of transportation.
• Another plus point of the charm of this place is that there is not much traffic.
• You should wear a helmet during the bike ride and do not drive while you are drunk.
• You can get scooters from anywhere in the town on rent. There are a number of rental shops where you can leave your passport or some cash and get a scooter.

The Night Markets

There are a number of night markets in Pai along the walking streets. As I mentioned that this is a very small town and these markets are quite impressive in such a small town. You can find everything in these markets like clothes, shoes, food items, and furniture and art pieces of Pai culture. These food streets are very cheap and the foods are very tasty in this area.

You can find herbal remedies, souvenirs and more things related to remedies and health. In short, you will find everything whatever you want and whatever you need.

The Big White Buddha (Wat Phra That Mae Yen)

If you like to visit the Buddha’s statue then there is the best Buddha place in Pai. I am talking about The Big White Buddha. You will have to go to the top to visit this Big White Buddha. You may get a lot of sweat but behind it, that panoramic view to the Buddha is worth it. This view will be a pretty impressive view for you!

You can see this White Buddha from the town but the view of this statue from nearby is much phenomenal. Visiting this place is free of cost but you will have to walk for an hour to the top.

You should dress properly and bring water with you so that you can keep moving and can avoid dehydration.

From the top, if you will see downtown, it will give you a beautiful view. You can spend time there, take pictures and enjoy the charm of the place.

Sunset Bar

If you are in Pai and you did not visit the Sunset Bar then you must consider that your trip is not complete. Sunset Bar is equally a place where people go at sunset and this place is especially suggested by the people.

All travelers of Pai love to visit Sunset Bar which is situated just outside from the main town. You can reach there by walking for a while.

This bar is up in the trees and each night it presents an incredible view of the sunset. There are seated cushions on the floor and they have created a relaxing atmosphere for the visitors. While enjoying a drink, travelers love to share their traveling stories.

In this environment, you will feel relaxed, keep in your mind that you have to visit this place.

The Pai River

Another exciting thing to do in Pai is life on the Pai River. Tubing, swimming, and snorkeling are famous activities on this river. You can do all of these in an hour and the important thing is that this is available in most months of the year.

During heavy rainfall

You cannot do any activity in this river because the river has been flowing rapidly and doing tubing is unsafe at that time. You can book for tubing from any travel agency through your accommodation.

Whitewater Rafting

Whitewater rafting has become a very popular and loved activity of Pai along with hiking. You can get these kinds of trips from multiple trip organizers of Thailand.

Walk the WWII (Memorial) Bridge

The WWII Bridge is a very old bridge which was built by the Japanese back in 1942. This bridge has the most historical significance and it was used during World War II for transporting weapons and supplies to Myanmar. So that is why it got the name WWII (Memorial) Bridge.

If we just forget its history, it is a very nice place for walking and taking pictures. This bridge crosses on the phenomenal and gorgeous river. Walk on this bridge is a good thing to do in Pai but one thing to keep in your mind that it is a very popular spot for tourism so it will be very busy.

Healthy Food

Any trip cannot be completed without tasty food and without tasting regional foods. So you can get different places in Pai where you can get that healthy food fix.

Earth Tone

There are many places in Pai for food which have a great and unique taste with different recipes. Here I would like to share about just one place which is called Earth Tone. Earth Tone is a very popular restaurant which is serving high-quality vegetarian food.
You will find more food items there like salads, smoothies, sandwiches, fruit and much more. You will get their healthy food while your Pai tours.

You can find many other places for healthy and vegetarian foods.

Food Street

As I told earlier that there are many other places for food in Pai. You will catch the best quality food from the food street where you can eat the spicy ones. All food streets start food items when the sunset begins. You can get tasty and cheap food items from different streets.

In Pai, you can find the local food items which are a little tastier with their street food and you can find it with donuts and Indian food, as well. Western food options are also available there like pizza and hamburgers.

One of the best things to do during Pai tours is to eat Thai food!

Practice Yoga

Pai is also a famous and perfect town for yoga lovers. You can get services from different yoga retreats around the town. You can also get classes in training yoga.

There is a very famous Pai Circus Hostel which offers yoga classes mostly in the morning. Another place for yoga is The Swadasee Pai Resort.

All these activities are full of life and fun. Besides this, you can go to many other lively activities. Pai is the place where you can go alone, with family and friends. Most of the people spend their honeymoon time period there.

With these activities you can visit many other places and the small villages just outside of Pai, here are two of these villages:

Black Lahu Village

Just back in Pai, there is a hill tribe where people live in a traditional way. They wear traditional dresses and eat traditional dishes. It is too interesting to walk in the village, take pictures with people and their houses. Tourists discuss them about their lifestyles and spend time with them.

Karen Long Neck Village

In this village, you will see people with long necks. It is a strange village in northern Thailand. Some women of this village used to wear rings in their necks to show their long necks. They used to wear these rings from childhood. In old times they justified that rings protect people from the tiger and cat attacks. But now women use to wear these golden rings to look beautiful.

Among all these, there is another place you should have to add in your Pai tour, visit Pai Canyon.

Pai Canyon

Pai Canyon is the most popular and attractive place among the visitors. It is the place where you can hike, enjoy the waterfall and see magnetic views. It is just outside of Pai.

You should have to know some important things before visiting Pai Canyon:

• Free entrance
• Stalls of snacks and cold drinks are available at the trailhead.
• Pai Canyon’s trails are right down the sun, there is very less shade on the whole trail.
• You should use stairs for hiking to the first viewpoint.
• If you have acrophobia then maybe you get nervous after passing the first viewpoint.
• Narrow paths and lack of railing are not suitable for small children.

What can you do in Pai Canyon?

Pai Canyon is a well-known and attractive place where you can go hiking and enjoy the waterfall there.

Hiking in Pai Canyon

If you are a lover of hiking and scrambling then it is good for you to heat that you can hike and scramble in Pai Canyon. There is only one trail with some viewpoints. You will find dust and sun right on your head while hiking. Very fewer trees on the viewpoint. Height will never bother you but you will be exposed to the warm sun.

The first viewpoint is easy to access for hikers but for hiking up cemented stairs are required. You will find an additional set of stairs where people stay for photos.

You should wear hiking boats for safe scrambling because on some points you will face rocks.

The best time for hiking and scrambling is early in the morning. Evenings are also cool in Pai Canyon but warmed rocks maybe radiating the heat.

Sunset at Pai Canyon

Another exciting thing is catching the sunset at Pai Canyon. It is very popular among tourists to view the sunset and enjoy this phenomenal view.

Memorial Bridge. This old Memorial Bridge is situated just mile south of Canyon. There is free entry and you can read the history of war while crossing this bridge you can get trinkets, drinks, and snacks on the bridge from different stalls.

The Land Split. You can see land split which was caused by seismic activity. The people of this land are very friendly and provide some dried fruits and homegrown snack to the coming tourists with love and affection.

How amazing does that sound? And this is not all!

Pam Bok Waterfall

Pam Bok waterfall is located at the end of the gorge. This waterfall is very beautiful and scenic. If you want to get wet in this waterfall then you should dress up according to it.

The Bamboo Bridge

The Bamboo Bridge meanders through the rice paddies. It looks like a beautiful scene, especially in the wet season. For visiting this bridge there is not any fee. You can visit this place whenever you want.
These are some special places of Pai Canyon, you surely will enjoy, if you go there during your Pai tour.

Chiang Mai to Pai

As we know that Pai is a small and hippie town. Pai and Chiang Mai have 80km distance. If you are in Chiang Mai then you can easily go to Pai for tourism.

How can a person go Pai from Chiang Mai?

There are only two ways to go, Pai, by road or by air.

By air

If you want to go Pai by air, it surely will be a good and fastest option but as we know that it will be a costly one for you. You can go from Kan air, the online airline which flies between Chiang Mai and Pai. You can book tickets online or you can get tickets from the Chiang Mai airport.
This flight will be taking your 30 minutes only with the magnetic views of flying birds and mountains tips.

By road

If you want to go Pai by road from Chiang Mai then it is too good and cheap. You can enjoy many phenomenal views from the bus. Yeah, it is a common option and you can catch a bus every hour.
You can get the bus for Chiang Mai’s Arcade bus station. This bus takes 3 hours with the relaxing and air-conditioning environment.

If you want to go locally then you will reach at your Pai destination in 5 hours. There is no grantee that you can get a seat on the bus, maybe you will spend the whole journey by standing on the bus and not getting a chance to sit. The road between these two wonderful places will be your exciting adventure. Most of the people, love to travel on this road that is why they choose Pai, next to Chiang Mai.

EndNote

In this article, I tried to cover all beautiful tourists’ spots of the small town Pai. All the places are famous and attractive. People love to visit these places throughout the year. If you are considering this destination then do not waste your time and go for it. It surely will be your best visit ever and you will get more information from this tour. After your visit, you must share your experience with us and tell us more new things what you found there.

Also, if you already have visited there and had something exciting to share with the people like you, then you can do it in the comments sections below, and we will love to know about your experience in town. In addition to that, if you have any questions regarding the trip, then feel free to ask and you will be helped.

See also:

From Bangkok to Chiang Mai

Pattaya to Koh Chang

How to get from Krabi to Phuket

Chiang Rai weekend experience

Weekend in Khao Sok National Park