Pai is a small town located a 3 hour van ride North of Chiang Mai and is an absolute backpacker hub. There are a number of nice hostels which host lots of activities, however I chose to stay in a bungalow as we were able to get it discounted to £5 for 2 people (£2.50 each). The centre of Pai has a street of market stalls which are open every night with a variety of different cuisines and for so cheap!

Here are my top recommendations for Pai:

1. Tipsy Tubing

Pai is famous for Tipsy Tubing. This activity involves getting drunk while you cruise down a river on an inflatable rubber ring and as you can imagine, the health and safety standards are minimal which makes it much more fun than you’d ever get to have in europe.

You will be sent down the river in a group of minimum 20 and 1 guide to push you along. Other than that you’re pretty much left to your own devices. You can expect buffalo in the water, some rapid currents which throw you out of your hoop, massive rocks in your path to bump into and to lose your friends, but as long as you have a beer in hand you’ll have a great time. You will be stopped about 40 minutes down the river for a “party” equipped with some fresh fruit, a speaker, a cooler of beer and a couple of volleyballs. After a few hours playing cards and drinking more you’ll be back on the water for the last 50 mins of your journey. By this point everyone is wet and drunk so drag themselves out of the water and into a tuktuk back to Pai centre.

2. Pai Canyon

We visited Pai Canyon as part of a tour which also included the other main sights around Pai. We went there at about 6:00pm in time for sunset and it was honestly beautiful. There was a guy playing his guitar by the benches so the atmosphere was amazing.

You are able to climb quite a long way across the canyon but be wary as its slippy and a long way down! It is in the middle of nowhere and there is no public transport so you either have to go by scooter or tour. I think ours was about 600/700 baht for the whole day including lunch which is not bad but scooters are 100 baht a day in Pai so it would be cheaper to do it yourself. To see more videos of the other places we went on the tour, look on my TikTok @emilyparnell01

3. The Caves

This was another stop on the tour, the caves. We were dropped off and led into the caves in groups of 3, by ladies with lanterns. We walked up steep steps to see inside all of the amazing parts of the cave as well as looking for bats (there’s thousands of them)!

We then took a bamboo raft down the river (watch out for falling bat poo!) before heading back out of the cave. There are also loads of fish in the river which jump so fiercely out of the water that they could get onto the raft!

4. Sunset Bar

This is one of the most popular bars in Pai. Pai is known for being a bit of a “party” town with psychedelics being a very common evening activity. The sunset bar is about a 15 minute walk from the walking street and is quite hard to find, probably on purpose, and you can buy everything you could possibly want there.

It is also a great place for meeting other backpackers and has a really relaxed vibe. Everyone is very friendly and willing to chat so even if you just fancy a couple beers you can go and hang out there. They also have a swimming pool and host some day time parties too. The place is covered in colourful lights and paint so its a cool place to go and visit!

5. Hot Springs

This was another destination from the tour! There is an entrance fee for the national park where the springs are located which I believe is 200-300 baht, however this was included in our tour.

The Hot Springs are naturally occurring, mineral water pools and depending on the time of year you visit and which pool you go in, the temperatures range from a warm bath temperature up to 80’C! There is also mud on the edges of some of the springs which is meant to be really good for your skin so feel free to get dirty!

As always, I am happy to help with any questions or recommendations so feel free to comment or send me a message on instagram @emilyparnell2

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