Chill Lom Hostel Review – Pai, Thailand
Lounging out in the common area of Chill Lom Hostel
Nestled up in the foothills of some mountains in Northern Thailand. Seemingly a stone’s throw from Myanmar (Burma) and Laos, the Chill Lom Hostel sits square in ‘downtown’ Pai, Thailand. Even though I stayed here for one night, the experience was awesome, so I figured that I should write a glowing ‘Chill Lom Hostel Review’ post for you readers.
Pai is definitely the hippiest town I’ve ever had a chance to visit in my life. Tourists and locals walking around with long dreadlocks, plenty of tie-dye, and a super laid-back, no worries attitude. The population is reported only at ~2,200 – however, there are tons of tourists that make the 3-hour bus or motorbike ride and ~800 turn trek from Chiang Mai to Pai.
We were located so close to the Pai Walking Street which had the BEST Pad Thai I’ve had in my life.
After spending a night in a rather lackluster AirBnB on the outskirts of town, we moved into the city proper of Pai. If you have a chance to visit Pai, I recommend that you just show up, walk around, and find a place to crash. As opposed to booking online – for Chill Lom Hostel, the rates were cheaper in person than they were thru Booking.com.
The in-person room rate for a private room that slept 3 people was 500 baht – or roughly $14 USD. The room had an ensuite toilet, shower, & bathtub (first & only one I saw in SE Asia). No breakfast was included, but there was a small cafe in the main gathering space that served breakfast, espresso/coffee, and other drinks & food. Aside from our three-person private room, Chill Lom Hostel also offers 4, 5, 6, and 7-bed mixed dormitories. Each of the dormitories has lockers so you can secure your valuables while you’re out and about.
The View from Chill Lom Hostel
The view from the room’s walkway/balcony was awesome (photographed above) which looked out towards the northeast and the rolling mountains in the distance.
One of the best features of Chill Lom Hostel and a big impetus to write this review was the common area that they provided. It is situated outdoors and flows into the open layout of the cafe/reception area. There are a couple hammocks and then some cushions that you can lay on while hanging out. If you are traveling with or meet anyone that is musically inclined, they also have an acoustic guitar or two. Another perk they have, which has grown in popularity over the years, is a book exchange program. Take a book, leave a book sort of system. All of these little amenities in the common space made Chill Lom Hostel a great place to take a quick afternoon nap or catch up on email.
The cafe and reception of Chill Lom Hostel
Speaking of email, their wifi here is quite good and there are a couple smaller tables where you can post up and get some work done if need be. The Internet speeds ranged from 2 Mbps to 30 Mbps – which was plenty enough to handle a voice call over Google Hangouts back to the USA.
Unfortunately, I didn’t interact much with the staff since there were zero issues with our rooms and our breakfast was good.
