About Pattaya

Pattaya beach resorts welcome 5 million visitors a year. It is a high rise beach resort destination.

Pattaya City Beach - Beach offers 1st class beach resort with more than 300 hotels, and thousands of shops, restaurants and bars. 35,000+ hotel rooms are available in Pattaya. Pattaya's sex industry is the city's raison d' etre . Many foreign men walk hand in hand with young Thai ladies here by the hundreds if not thousands. Pattaya is an especially popular vacation destination for families from Russia , Eastern Europe, Arabia, and Scandinavia . Pattaya also has a very large international expatriate population. In peak season the population of Pattaya swells from 100,000 to 500,000.

Pattaya Beach is situated along the central city in close proximity to shopping, hotels and bars. The over-abundance of jet-skis and speedboats has contributed to the pollution of the water along the beach, as has the practice of dumping sewage in the ocean. The section of beach from Central Road (Pattaya Klang) south to the harbor is adjacent to the core of Pattaya's abundant nightlife area, hence it is less family-oriented than the North Pattaya Beach, Na Klua Beach and Jomtien Beach.

Most sections of Pattaya Beach are covered by rented deckchairs run by local beverage vendors during daylight hours.

Beaches

Pattaya's main beaches are popular and busy places. For the thrill-seekers, activities include banana-boat rides, jet-skiing, water-skiing, parasailing, windsurfing, and the like; and anyone who just wants to enjoy a simple swim or a good splash around with a frisbee or rented inner tube will always find themselves with plenty of company.

For those more interested in inactivities there are acres of sand jam-packed with recliners and umbrellas, serviced by an army of tenacious hawkers offering anything and everything from food (especially seafood, fruit, ice cream) to massage, manicure/pedicure, tattoos, lottery tickets, newspapers, herbs, flowers, gems, perfumes, sunglasses, CDs, watches, lighters, clothes, toys, souvenirs, handycrafts.  As soon as you've declined one hawker offers, it's time to consider another and so on. Eventually you buy a very dark pair of sunglasses, and after that you just pretend to be asleep.

Pattaya Bay

Pattaya Beach (Hat Pattaya) is 2.9 km long and bordered by Beach Road. Due to its central location and extreme proximity to several hundred hotels, and because it's a relatively narrow strip of sand, it's crowded at the best of times (and even more so at high tide). Hefty fines for littering help keep the sand neat and tidy, however the sea is not so clean around here.

The northern end of Pattaya Bay (Ao Pattaya) is occupied by Wong Amat Beach, which is accessed from Naklua; and beyond the southern end, around the Buddha Hill headland that separates Pattaya Bay from Jomtien, are several more smaller beaches.

Jomtien Bay

Jomtien ("Chom Thian", etc) Beach is a 10-15 minute songthaew ride south from the centre of Pattaya. Some 6 km long, it is especially popular with Thai families enjoying day outings. Places to eat and sleep line the opposite side of Jomtien Beach Road and the many sois that lead from it.

Dongtan Beach, at the northern end of Jomtien Bay, has a traffic-free promenade, and the area in front of the Avalon Beach Resort is popular with gay visitors.

Naklua Bay

Naklua Beach is the most northern of the Pattaya bays and by far the quietest beach. Naklua Bay is immediately north of Pattaya Bay, with the rocky Rachvate Cape separating the two. Naklua Beach, to the far north, is the main strip, with the smaller Crescent Moon Beach and then Palm Beach further south. Beyond them is Wong Amat Beach which occupies the northern end of Pattaya Bay, but is accessed from Naklua. More clean and more quiet than Pattaya Beach.
Naklua is much smaller than its neighbours and it does not suffer from the mass development Pattaya Beach has experienced. Naklua Beach is family friendly. Nakula is also a center for windsurfing.

Pattaya Islands

• Ko Laan (or Lan or Larn, or Coral Island) is 7.5 km west of Pattaya. It covers an area of 5.6 sq.km and has six popular beaches with a decidedly "touristic day-trip" flavour, offering banana boat rides, jet-skiing, parasailing, and the like. Also available from and around Ko Laan are various underwater activities such as scuba diving, snorkeling, seabed walking and submarine rides; there are also numerous restaurants, some accommodation, and a shooting range.

• Ko Saak (or Sak), less than 1 km north of Ko Laan, is a small horseshoe-shaped island with two interconnected beaches. The northern beach is popular for swimming and snorkeling, and the southern beach is a good place to see coral.

• Ko Khrok (or Krok), 2 km east of Ko Laan, is an isolated rocky islet with a single 100 metre stretch of sandy beach to the east, where visitors can see coral reefs.

• Ko Phai (Bamboo Island) and other islands in the Ko Phai group - Ko Klung Badan (or Krung Badan), Ko Luam (or Leom), Ko Man Wichai and Ko Rin (or Lin) - are preferred destinations for scuba divers, and are also popular for general relaxation, fishing, swimming and snorkeling day trips. This area is controlled by the Royal Thai Navy, and overnight stays are not permitted.