Written by Nolo Hub Pai, Pai’s top social and experience-based hostel
Last checked September 2026
tl;dr
Two Huts is one of Pai’s favourite places to watch the sun go down. It is a hillside café and bar where you can find a seat, order a drink and look out across the fields of the Pai valley to the mountains on the far side. As the afternoon light changes, more people arrive for the view—and often stay well after the sun has disappeared.
Also known as: Two Huts · Two Huts Viewpoint
At a glance
- From Nolo Hub
- About 5.9 km, with paved road access
- Getting there
- Suitable for scooters; large gravel parking area at the entrance
- Admission
- No separate entrance ticket; food and drinks are sold on site, and outside food and drink are not permitted
- Facilities
- Bathrooms, covered seating and open-air areas
- Music
- Live acoustic performances on some evenings, but not every night
- For sunset
- Most people arrive about 5pm, when the tour trucks come up from town; come earlier to beat the queue for food and drink
- Map
- Google Maps · Apple Maps
It is popular for good reason, but it is not a quiet, undiscovered lookout. Sunset at Two Huts is a shared evening: people spread out across the huts, covered terraces and open-air seating, talking over food and drinks while the valley darkens below them.
What it is like up there
The two original huts are still part of Two Huts, but there is more space to sit now, including a larger covered, two-level bar and seating area. They have added seating over the years, but no more huts. You can tuck yourself under a roof or sit outside with the view directly in front of you.
This is a place to take your time. Arrive in the late afternoon, get something to eat or drink, and watch the light move across the valley. The kitchen cooks fresh meals, fried rice and pad thai among them. By sunset the atmosphere is usually lively; if there is music that evening, it adds to the occasion rather than turning the place into a concert.
There is plenty of seating, so coming early is less about finding a spot than about beating the queue for food and drink. Tour trucks leave town for sunset around 4:30–4:45, and most people arrive about 5. Coming early also means you see more than the final few minutes of sunset.
The view is not the same all year
From the hillside, you look across Pai’s flatter agricultural land towards a long line of mountains. The fields below change with the growing seasons. At times the valley is intensely green; after harvest, the same ground becomes a patchwork of browns. Cool-season crops, including garlic, bring their own colours and textures.
Roughly: green when the maize is up on the slopes, blue-green when the garlic is in, and brown in burning season.
That is part of Two Huts’ appeal beyond the sunset itself. You can come back at a different time of year and find the mountains exactly where you left them, but a different valley beneath them. Even on an evening when clouds hide the sun, there is plenty to look at.
It is open in the wet season too, when cloud sitting in the mountains is worth the ride on its own, and the huts and the bar are covered if it rains.
Two Huts or Pai Canyon?
Both are well-known sunset stops, but they make for different evenings. Pai Canyon is somewhere to walk among narrow, exposed ridges before watching the light change. Two Huts is where you sit down with food or a drink and take in a broad view of the valley. If you want sunset without picking your way along a ridge, Two Huts is the easier choice.
Before you go
The road is paved all the way from Pai, with gravel parking when you arrive. If you are going by scooter, remember that the ride back will likely be after dark.
Everyone tends to leave at once after sunset, and the road back is not lit. Flying insects are out at dusk, too, so on a scooter expect them in your eyes.
There is no admission ticket, but Two Huts is a working café and bar rather than a public viewpoint, so plan to order something while you are there. Outside food and drink are not permitted. Opening hours and music nights can change; check their latest listing if either matters to your plans.
For the best of the visit, do not aim to arrive at the exact moment of sunset. Get there while the fields and mountains are still visible, find a spot you like, and let the evening unfold.
Nolo Hub has no connection with Two Huts. It is on this site for the view.