Best Areas to Stay in Pai for Nightlife Nature and a Good Time
Pai is a small town in the middle of rural northern Thailand. It is easy to explore on foot, but there is not a huge amount to explore within the town itself. The beauty of Pai lies in its countryside, with waterfalls, Pai Canyon and hot springs all nearby.
Before choosing where to stay, there are a few things to note. Pai has long attracted backpackers and hippies, with hotels focused on yoga, meditation and simple living, but there are also increasingly more upscale places. It also has some of the cheapest accommodation in Thailand, so you can save money or spend a little more on somewhere memorable.
Where to Stay Near Pai Walking Street
The first area I want to look at is Pai Walking Street. This is definitely the most popular area to stay, probably because you can walk out of your hotel and have everything right on your doorstep. Walking Street is actually a combination of two streets filled with bars, restaurants and things to do.
At night, a night market comes out, and it is one of the better ones I have experienced in Thailand, with lots of good food and things to buy. The bus station is right there too, so when you arrive in Pai, your hotel will not be far away. You have pretty much whatever you want right on your doorstep.
Another benefit is that this area has the cheapest hotels in town, with the average price being about 650 Thai Baht. In my opinion, though, most of the hotels and hostels here are nothing special. Most do not even have pools, so you are probably missing out on some of the better hotels that Pai has to offer. Personally, I would not like to stay this close to Walking Street because I think you miss out on what makes Pai great by staying in the town.
The Riverside Area Offers Convenience and Nature
Luckily, the next location has the best of both convenience and nature. There is an area not too far from Walking Street, just by the river, that has all the benefits of staying nearby while also giving you a really nice view and amazing natural surroundings. In my opinion, it is the best place to stay within the town.
The Riverside area has much more interesting hotels. That does not mean they are necessarily fancy; some of them are just simple wooden huts. However, you can step outside your door and find a river, a beautiful wooden bridge, trees and, hopefully, a nice sunrise. There are lots of quaint little coffee shops where you can enjoy the natural surroundings too.
The best part about staying here is that you are only about a five- to ten-minute walk from Walking Street. You get the best of both worlds because you can wake up in nature and head to the bars in the evening. Hotels here are a little more expensive, with the average price being about 1,200 Thai Baht, although there are some nicer, more upscale places for around 3,000 Thai Baht per night.
Creative Hotels and Countryside Stays Outside Pai
Pai’s history is deeply rooted in its indigenous cultures, primarily the Lahu, Lisu and Karen communities who have inhabited the region for centuries. During the 1960s and 1970s, something changed. Pai began to attract backpackers from all over the world who were trying to find somewhere more off the beaten path and remote. The beautiful landscapes helped draw them in.
As time has gone on and the popularity of visiting Thailand has grown, tastes have changed and there is beginning to be a much more modern feel to the area. To take advantage of Pai’s backpacker roots or its more modern and glamorous locations, you have to venture outside the town a little bit. Because the town is so small and has grown so quickly, there simply was not enough space to build.
One of our stays in Pai was in a kind of hippie-ish wooden cabin just outside the town. It was a really cool place to stay and felt a little like camping because I could hear the sounds of nature when I woke up. There are lots of different accommodations styled like this, and some focus exclusively on yoga or meditation. If that is what you are into, it might be the perfect place for you.
More recently, modern and upscale hotels have been built outside town. I noticed some of the best hotels I have ever seen, with some looking as if they had been air-dropped in from the more glamorous Koh Phangan or Koh Samui. You can find beautiful pools hosting pool parties in the middle of a rice field with a mountain backdrop.
The drawback of staying on the outskirts is that you cannot access the town quite as easily. Some places are a 10- or 15-minute walk from Walking Street. That is not too far, but this is Thailand, so the roads are not built for pedestrians. At night, they may not be well lit, and walking back after a couple of drinks could get dangerous. You can rent a scooter, which makes it a two- or three-minute ride into town, or get a taxi. A taxi should not cost too much, although you know what it is like when you are trying to haggle in the middle of the night and the driver may try to overcharge you.
Pai Hot Springs Hotels for a Peaceful Escape
Looking at all the hotels in Pai is beyond the scope of this guide, but Pai is the kind of place where I would spend some time looking and researching because it has some of the nicest accommodation in Thailand. You might find something that is just perfect for you, even if it is a little outside town.
One of the best things to do in Pai is visit the hot springs. The area is renowned for natural hot springs with therapeutic properties, and they are simply a nice place to relax. Most people visit the public hot springs, a huge natural bath where you share the water with other people, and this costs a few hundred Thai Baht to enter.
There are also private hot-spring hotels in the surrounding area. In the hotel where we stayed, there was a private hot spring in each room. Not only that, it overlooked a river and rice fields, with mountains in the distance. It was one of the most beautiful hotels we had ever stayed at.
The hot springs are about 8 km outside the town, so this is the least convenient place to stay if you really want to be in town with its nightlife. It is about a 20-minute drive each way whenever you want to go into town. Like I said before, though, the beauty of Pai lies in its natural surroundings rather than its town, so this is not quite as big a disadvantage as you might think. Just stock up on supplies because you will not be able to get them in the middle of the night.
You will probably need to rent a scooter to stay here. A taxi is fine for getting to and from the hotel, but to explore the surrounding area you will want a scooter. Luckily, this area is near some of the main tourist spots in Pai, including Pai Canyon and some of the waterfalls.
My Recommended Pai Stay Strategy
If I were exploring Pai for the first time, I would consider spending a night or two within the town, perhaps in the Riverside area first, and then booking a night or two near the hot springs.
When I am doing longer trips around Thailand, especially in northern Thailand, sometimes I like to book a hotel out in the countryside, somewhere that feels like a million miles away from anything. This is the kind of place you might never be able to afford if you were travelling in Europe or America, so why not enjoy it here in Thailand where it is affordable?
