Tha Pai Hot Springs

The Tha Pai springs sit inside Huai Nam Dang National Park a short ride from Pai, where geothermal water emerges at around eighty degrees and runs downhill as a stream through teak forest, cooling as it goes. That gradient is the arrangement: the uppermost pools are far too hot to enter, eggs are boiled in them, and a series of pools stepping down the stream reach temperatures people can sit in, with the coolest at the bottom mixing with cold water. There are changing facilities and a couple of resorts nearby pipe the water into their own pools. It is a straightforward hour or two and one of the standard Pai outings alongside the canyon and the waterfalls. The upper pools scald - this is not a caution about discomfort but about injury - and the rocks throughout are slippery. Modest swimwear is expected as at other Thai public springs.

What you actually see

• The thermal stream - water emerging near eighty degrees and cooling downhill.
• The stepped pools - too hot at the top, bearable further down.
• The teak forest - the stream running through it.
• The egg boiling - in the upper pools, as elsewhere in Thailand.

When to go

November to February, when cooler air makes hot water appealing. Mornings are quietest; Pai's visitors arrive through the middle of the day.

Honest expectations

The upper pools scald and cause real burns - check temperature before entering anything. Rocks are slippery. Modest swimwear expected. Foreign entry fees are higher than Thai.

Nearby

Pai town is north-west; Pai Canyon and Mo Paeng waterfall are close.