Travel Guide North West Thailand

Pai is usually the first stop for people doing the Mae Hong Son loop and sadly only a small percentage actually make it beyond Pai.  In all honesty Pai doe's not have anything more to offer than any other town on the loop yet Pai is the top destination for visitors to North Thailand outside of Chiang Mai bringing in a whopping BT1 Billion in tourist revenue in 2008 -09 season.

Pai has the strongest tourism infrastructure out of all the regions listed on our website getting a trek is easy, getting there and out again is easy much nightlife to choose from and so many hotels and guest houses that we honestly believe we would never be able to keep with the constant changes in the accommodation list with new ones being built every month old ones being renovated and less popular ones being closed down and regular management take overs.

Loved by many but also a total let down by others Pai is an evolving destination and brings reviews from both end of the spectrum.  For those of you looking for a true taste of rural Thai life although this is strong in Pai it is masked by the many trendy bars, restaurants, coffee houses and live music bars that would seem more at home in Kho Samui, Bangkok or even London.  Pai has carved itself it's own culture as a place of art and it does it does it very well indeed but on the negative side it seems to have lost it's original backpacker, modern hippy roots in favour of mass tourism and we feel it is still trying to find what it really wants to be.  "I just don't understand Pai" is becoming a very common phrase.

Love ot or loathe it one thing is form sure any other destination that tries to compete for toursim against Pai will have a tough job on their hands.