Area Advice Guide For Pattaya Thailand

Pattaya was a sleepy fishing village until 1961 when US servicemen fighting the Vietnam War discovered it; since then it has become Thailand’s most popular single beach resort destination. Although Pattaya and neighboring Jomtien’s beaches are not the best in Thailand, the area does have a wealth of facilities and attractions, such as world class golf courses, scuba diving operators and sea-sports such as windsurfing; the legacy of relaxing American GI’s. Also perhaps thanks to the former US military presence exists a “wealth” of bars and sex shows. Many seasoned “partyers” comment that nowhere else in Thailand stays open so late and pushes the line like Pattaya. Certain forum messages even talk of specific nude shows where you can meet the chief of police. Pattaya’s proximity to one of Thailand’s poorest regions, Isaan ensures a steady supply of young girls and boys for one the sleaze world’s capitals.

If you wish to avoid the large number of go-go and transvestite / gay bars where inclined foreign tourists can rent a bed partner for the night, these are concentrated in the Downtown areas of soi 13 and sois 1 to 3; in between them is the main scuba diving operator area of sois 5 and 6. Downtown Pattaya is basically a revelers area, so families should perhaps avoid the area altogether. Although Pattaya Beach does have some upmarket hotels with children’s facilities, parents may want to note the proximity of these to the adult areas and Thai hotel flexibility regarding “extra guests” may result in the fruit of their loins sharing a breakfast hall with some colourful characters. To try and avoid such a start to day, the luxury hotels around Pattaya’s Viewpoint headland and a range of hotels in neighbouring Jomtien Beach is likely a better bet. There are a large number of tour group hotels in the Pattaya area which have a reputation for accommodating a large number of Russian tourists with the problems, such as the broad daylight shooting of two Russian women on the beach itself. You should also be aware of previous raw sewerage issues plus unlicensed and highly dangerous jet-skis and banana boat rides around the central area making sea bathing an often risky affair.

Pattaya does not have an airport, unless you believe Bangkok Airways who actually fly not to Pattaya but to U-Thaphao Airport in Rayong, 70 Km southwest of Pattaya, which makes Pattaya one of if not the most inaccessible mass tourism resort in the world. Just to compound matters, currently Bangkok Airways only fly to U-Thaphao Airport from Phuket or Koh Samui, not from Bangkok! Therefore if you are an overseas visitor going directly to Pattaya via Bangkok, you will have to endure a 2 to 3 hour drive by taxi or coach. However, this does provide another location option of Rayong / Koh Samet with an hour long drive to Pattaya when and if required.

Do not travel to Pattaya as a sex tourist; it is an illegal, very dangerous and ultimately abusing act any human being will surely come to regret in the fullness of time.

We donate all of our direct reservation earnings from the hotels and villas on our site to a charity in one of the most deprived areas of Thailand, which helps keep poor even homeless children off the streets and out of child labour and the sex industry. When you book with and then stay and pay a hotel or villa directly via our site you are basically making a donation to a very worthy cause at the same time, thank you (see our charity page).

If you would like to correct anything you believe is wrong or out-of-date here or provide extra text that could help others get the best out of Pattaya, please feel free to contact us. If you would like more tourism information on any aspect of travel to / holidays in Pattaya, please visit our associated Thailand Travel Forum.

If you have a favorite hotel or villa in Pattaya or Jomtien or nearby which does not have a direct reservations facility with us, please feel free to either contact us with a name and email address for that hotel / villa or ask them to visit our site and register. The more hotels and villas in the Pattaya area that join Travel Ethos, the more we can help needy children in Thailand.