Pai Thailand Livability Factors, Cost of Living, Best Area to Stay, Cheapest Flights, Things to Do, Nightlife, Digital Nomads Life and Food, Facts and History
Best Retire Cheap in Paradise Locations in the World
This is Dan from Vagabond Buddha. This is my Pai Thailand Hippie Heaven guide.
We were only in Pai for 3 days. Qiang and I both really loved it. We knew it would be hippie, which is good, but we were surprised that it was cheap too.
We are going to stay for a month next time. Chiang Mai used to be my favorite spot in Thailand but now I think it might be Pai.
It is hippie-heaven. No kidding. You will love it if you love the hippie free spirit.
It also has a small-town feel to it. Country roads with people carrying fishing poles. Hiking with greenery all around you and amazing views.
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Today, we are talking about the mystic, vibrant, enchanted, rolling hills of Pai Thailand.
Pai Livability Factors
Here is why you should retire in Pai for Cheap.
Walkability: High. You can totally live in the central pie without needing a car. But you will need a scooter to get up into the surrounding mountains so you can hike to your heart’s content. I consider myself more of a city person, but the quaint village of Pai made me imagine myself hiding in a mountain cabin with a view, growing my own organic vegetables, and writing the great American novel. You will need a small car or truck if that is how you imagine enjoying Pai. So you can go to the “city” once a week and get supplies.
Internet: High. Again, I don’t really think that the Internet will be an issue for anyone in Thailand. I was able to upload a Youtube video from my hotel room without any issues.
Food: High. Pai has a surprising diversity in food choices for such a small town. Even more surprising is that the foods in foreign restaurants are not priced as high as they could be. There is a high concentration of foreigners here and yet the prices in foreign restaurants are easily 30% cheaper than foreign restaurants in other places in Thailand with high concentrations of foreigners. Pai also has a wet market (meats, fruits, and vegetables) on Wednesday mornings.
Weather:
Things to Do: Think small town surrounded by lush green mountains, hiking trails, and rivers. There is a burgeoning nightlife, but not much in the way of culture. You are going to have to be a nature lover, a gardener, a writer, a hiker, a fisherman, an ATV rider, or anything people do in small towns to stay out of trouble.
Social Considerations: Many of the locals speak only tourist services level English if that. If you are great at making friends and getting relationships started on your own, you should be golden. You will need to learn some Thai to integrate with the locals.
Expats: There is a fairly active Pai Facebook Page with 12,000 members discussing issues in English averaging 4 to 5 posts per day. This would be a great place to meet expats and ask silly questions, like “Where do I buy peanut butter?”
Real Estate: I didn’t have time to research prices since we were there only 3 days, but here are a few links for you to get started. Site 1, Site 2, site 3. I do not recommend buying anywhere unless you have lived and retired there for at least 2 to 3 years. It is way easier to get into a mess than to get out of one.
Medical: Thailand continually ranks in the top 5 countries in the world for medical tourism. Source. Medical insurance is available in Thailand for expats. Source. Here are some interesting ideas I read online about assisted care in Thailand. Source. One quote was 20,000 Baht ($660 USD) for 12 hours a day of in-home care.
Retirement Visa Thailand: Here is an explanation of Thai Retirement Visa Requirements. Source. At 30 Baht to $1 USD, you need about 800,000 Baht ($28,000 USD) in a Thai bank or proof of a monthly pension of about 65,000 Baht ($2200 USD) per month. Source.
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Pai Cost of Living
| Expense | Cost | Low | Medium | High |
| Airbnb/per month rate | $22.00 | 0 | 14 | 30 |
| 1 Br Apt w/lease | $15.00 | 0 | 12 | 0 |
| Hostel/per day | $8.00 | 30 | 3 | 0 |
| High-End Restaurant | $8.00 | 1 | 4 | 8 |
| Neighborhood Restaurant | $3.00 | 30 | 44 | 48 |
| Food Cart | $2.00 | 30 | 12 | 4 |
| Subway/Train/Metro | $.00 | 20 | 26 | 8 |
| Bus | $0.30 | 20 | 10 | 0 |
| Taxi/(Grab is 30% more) | $3.00 | 6 | 10 | 20 |
| Total | Per Month | $422.00 | $733.00 | $936.00 |
| Total | Per Day | $14.07 | $24.43 | $31.20 |
This estimated cost of living for one month, for one person as a temporary visitor. It only includes rent, 2 meals per day, and local transportation. I usually have oatmeal for breakfast in my room, so I don’t count that. For a full understanding of what it would cost you to live here, visit Numbeo.com Pai and add any items you spend money on.
If you retire in Pai for Cheap you will have an amazing life compared to the life you would have in the expensive world.
Never move anywhere until you have visited first personally to verify the living costs for your lifestyle and needs. I am not guaranteeing these prices. These are just my notes and estimates from the time of my visit and this post. Your costs will likely be drastically different depending on lifestyle and the time since this post.
The above numbers are for one person and do not include alcohol, tours, or extras. Here is a free report explaining, “How The Cost of Living Table Works.”
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Best Area to Stay in Pai
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Baan Kon Pai: Here is where we stayed. We loved it. But we stayed in a hotel since we were only here for 3 days.
Airbnb: We loved Pai so much, next time we will stay for a few weeks or a month, so we will need our own kitchen. If you are new to Airbnb use this code http://www.airbnb.com/c/dbell50 at checkout to get a big discount.
Cheapest Flights to Pai
You will need to fly into Chiang Mai and take a mini-bus to Pai. We almost always get our cheapest flights on this Skyscanner. They have a web crawler that is constantly looking for the cheapest prices all over the world. As usual, we found the cheapest flight to Pai on Skyscanner.
Pai Thailand Things to Do
We ended up doing two tours while we were in Pai. I have squished them together into the above video. But I separated below so you can pick and choose which tour stops to make. Any of the tour companies in Pai can sell you these two tours. Or, you can rent a motorcycle for $4 per day and drive yourself using the below map links.
Day 1 (300 Baht, $10 USD)
Chedi Phra That Mae Yen (Big White Buddha)
Santichon Village (Chinese Village)
Day 2 (500 Baht, $16 USD)
Pai Favorite Markets
Pai Nightlife Walking Tour
I filmed the above video taking this walk.
Click the Google Map or ==>this link<== to get this party started.
This walk is where you will hear many different kinds of music in Pai pretty much all week long. You will typically hear House, Funk, Hip-hop, Blues, and some Jazz, depending on location and time of evening. The later it gets the younger the sound gets. I am not promoting any location on this map. I am just using locations to make sure you know where to walk. The fun place changes night-by-night, but the walk should get you to all of them.
Digital Nomads in Pai: Life and Food
Chew Xin Jai Vegetarian: $ Best meal I had in Pai.
Om Garden Cafe: Vegetarian: $$ Best breakfast in Pai
Night Market: Qiang had a bunch of great snacks in the night market. See the life and food video.
Vagabond Buddha’s Kitchen: We were only in town for 3 days. Not enough to stock a refrigerator and cook. So we got a hotel room for $13 per night and ate every meal outside.
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Pai Facts and History
Here are some interesting facts about Pai Thailand according to Wikipedia.
Pai is a very small town about 91 miles (145km) from Chiang Mai Thailand.
The last census showed 2284 people living in Pai in 2006. I would guess that number has tripled at least since 2006.
Pai was once inhabited mostly by Shan people, ethnic Tai people who are mostly influenced by Burmese culture.
Now, Pai is most well known as a hippie culture with a relaxed atmosphere of mostly backpacker visitors.
There are waterfalls and hot springs in the surrounding areas. There are amazing green vistas and sweeping panoramic views.
The nightlife has been developing over the last decade but stay away from anything but alcohol. If you don’t believe me Google the Pai police and read about what some people have experienced.
In this Wikipedia post, the writer alleges, “In 2006, Pai Police purchased a new mobile drug testing vehicle, and there have been numerous reported instances of the police entering bars and other establishments and randomly urine-testing foreign tourists.”
Pai has music festivals, vegetarian and vegan restaurants, yoga and massage studios, and other hippie related cool things to do.
Pai can become very crowded in high season.
Pai has about 800 years of recorded history.
The nearby village of Ban Wiang Nuea was founded in 1251 AD by Shan immigrants from Burma. Shan immigrants fleeing from oppressive Burmese rule have periodically migrated to the area around Pai to find work in Thailand.
In 1990, the Thai government began developing the road between Chiang Mai and Pai. Since that road was completed in the late 1990s, Pai has slowly evolved into a tourist economy.
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This is Dan of Vagabond Buddha. Thank you for reading our Pai Thailand Hippie Heaven guide. The world is your home. What time will you be home for dinner?