Lod Cave is a bit of a drive from Pai (only 50 kilometers, but at least one hour because of the many curves), but is well worth the trip! They present the cave as three separate caves (Big Column, Doll, and Coffin), but in reality, they are all just sections of the same cave. Visitors pay 600 baht for a group (up to three people) to have a guide with a lantern and visit to all three sections of the cave, including a wonderful bamboo raft ride inside the cave. The local community benefits significantly by providing guides and raft operators in the cave, which is a nice positive aspect; there is a sharing of the revenue among the guides, rafts operators and administration. We were quite disappointed, however, in the guide assigned to us as she seemed totally uninterested in our questions, failed to spend any time in highlighting attractions with her flashlight, refused to speak English (even though she clearly knew some English), and generally seemed eager to just get the tour over with and get rid of us. Despite this, we found the cave itself to be beautiful and impressive. The most enjoyable part was riding the rafts through the large chambers with bats squeaking above us in the dark and then approaching the large cave opening. The ancient coffin was also interesting (although in poor condition), as these pre-historic coffins are found in various places throughout Southeast Asia. We very much enjoyed the visit to the cave and highly recommend it, especially to nature lovers. We only wished they would improve the standards and performance of their guides.

It is quite a distance from Pai towards the cave, but the drive is adventurous and quite a lot of fun with your own bike. There are also some view points on your way to the cave and you are most likely to drive around 1 hour. There is also an entrance fee (August 2023: 1 cave = 300 Baht, 2 caves = 500 and 3 caves = 600 for a group of three people). Unfortunately, we arrived during a time only cave #1 had opened. However, that cave was huge with a lot of bats and was a unique experience for those, who have not been in a cave just yet. Yes, it kind of smelled and a lot of poo from the bats laid on the ground / way. That’s nature, though. Guides are friendly and wait for you in-case you want to make some pictures. It has been a fun day for us and I would recommend driving to the cafes few miles further at “Ban Jabo”, I guess - for a nice view and soup / coffee.

To visit the 3 caves including bamboo rafting, you would need to hire a local community guide. This would cost B600 as of writing this review. Cave 1 is known as Column Cave, Cave 2 is Doll Cave and Cave 3 is Coffin Cave. The guide would point out the various shapes of the stalactites and stalagmites as we trekked inside the caves. Cave 3 is a steep upclimb to see a pre historic coffin. Thereafter, we board a bamboo raft to sail down the caves. We saw big fishes and bats along the way. Our guide suggested we hiked back to the visitors centre. It was a easy walk of 15 minutes.