Pattaya Guide – Tourism And Brief Introductions

With its streets full of high-rise hotels and touts on every corner, Pattaya is the epitome of exploitative tourism gone mad, but most of Pattaya’s two million annual visitors don’t mind that the place looks like the Costa del Sol because what they are here for is sex. The city swarms with make and female prostitutes, spiced up by a sizeable population of transvestites (katoey), and plane-roads of Western men flock here to enjoy their services in the rash of hostess bar-beers, go-go clubs and massage parlors for which “Patpong-on-Sea” is notorious.  Pattaya also have the largest gay scene in Thailand, with several exclusively gay friendly hotels and a whole area given over to gay sex bars.

Pattaya’s evolution into sin city began with the Vietnam War, when it got fat on selling sex to American servicemen. When the soldiers and sailors left the mi-1970s, Western tourist were enticed to fill their places, and as the seaside Sodom and Gomorrah boomed, ex-servicemen returned to run the sort of joins they had once blown their dollars in. These days almost half the bars and restaurants in Pattaya are Western-run. More recently, there has been an influx of criminal gangs from Germany, Russia and Japan, who reportedly find Pattaya a convenient centre for running their rackets in passport and credit-card fraud, as well as child pornography and prostitution; expat murders are a regular news item in Pattaya televisions.

Meanwhile, local tourism authorities are trying hard to improve Pattaya’s image, and with surprising success have begun enticing families and older couples, shopping plazas and year-round diving, made even more palatable by plentiful supply of mid-market package-holiday accommodation. There’s not a great deal for committed beach bums however, so anyone looking for beach huts, hammock bars and squeaky white sands is better off pushing on to nearby Koh Samet, an altogether more attraction option.

Arrival and information

Most people arrive in Pattaya direct from Bangkok, either by public bus from the Eastern or Northern bus terminals, or by air-conditioned tour bus from a Bangkok hotel or the airport. Air-con buses to and from Bangkok bus terminals use the bus station on North Pattaya Road, from where share-taxis charge about B40 per person for hotel transfers. Coming from Si Racha, Rayong and Trat you will probably get dropped by the roadside just east of the resort on Thanon Sukhumvit, from where songthaews will ferry you into town; if heading on to these towns, you need to pick up your bus from one of the sala on Thanon Sukhumvit. Non-air-con local buses use the Baw Khaw Saw government bus station on Thanon Chaiyapruek in Jomtien.

Pattaya is on a branch line of the eastern rail line, and there’s one slow train a day in each direction between the resort and Bangkok. Pattaya’s station is on Thanon Sukhumvit, about 500m north of the Central Pattaya road intersection. Pattaya’s U-Tapao airport is located at the naval base near Sattahip, about 25km south of the resort, and runs Bangkok Airways flights to and from Koh Samui and Phuket. Bangkok’s new Suvarnabhumi Airport is less than 80km from Pattaya is served by public bus #389 (B120), as well as by metered taxis (approx B1100) and limousines (B1500-2500). When returning most hotels and tour agents sell seats in a shared minibus to Suvarnabhumi for B400.

A municipal tourist service centre (daily 8.30am-4.30pm) can be found on the beach at the mouth of Walking Street; the TAT office is inconveniently located at 609 Thanon Pratamnak (sometimes referred to as Cliff Road) between South Pattaya and Jomtien (daily 8.30am-4.30pm).

Orientation

Pattaya comprises three separate bays. At the centre is the four-kilometer Pattaya Beach, the noisiest, most unsightly zone of the resort, crowded with yachts and tour boats and fringed by a sliver of sand and a paved beachfront walkway. Signed as Pattaya Sainueng but known by its English name, Pattaya Beach road runs the length of the beach and is connected to the parallel Pattaya 2^nd Road (Pattaya Saisong) but a string of sois numbered from 1 in the north to 17 in the south. The core of this block, between sois 6 and 13, is referred to as Central Pattaya (Pattaya Klang) and is packed with hotels, restaurants, bars, fast-food joints, souvenir shops and tour operators. During the day this is the busiest part of the resort, but after dark the neon zone south of Soi 13/2 – South Pattaya – takes over. Known locally as “the strip”, this is what Pattaya is really about, with sex for sale in go-go bars, discos, massage parlors and open-sized beer-bars. The town’s enclave of gay sex bars is here too, focused mainly on the interlinked network of small lanes known as Pattayaland Sois 1, 2 and 3 (or Boyz Town), but actually signed as sois 13/3, 13/4 and 13/5, between the Royal Garden Plaza and Soi 14. Pattaya Beach Road (Thanon Hat Pattaya Neua), also has its beer-bars, but is slightly calmer district.

The southerly bay, Jomtien Beach (Sometimes spelt Chomtien), is also fronted by enormous high-rises, may of which are condominiums, though there are some low-rise, mid-priced hotels along the beachfront road, Jomtien Beach Road (Thanon Hat Jomtien), as well. Fourteen kilometers long, it’s considered Thailand’s premier windsurfing spot. Though the atmosphere is not as frantic as in Pattaya, Jomtien suffers from the same exceeds of beer-bars and shops peddling beachwear and tacky souvenirs and, like its neighbor, is also constantly under construction. The nicest stretch of sand is Dongtan Beach, beyond the northern end of the road: shady, and car-free between 10am and 5pm, it is Pattaya’s main gay beach, though used by all. The bulge of land behind Dongtan Beach, separating Jomtien from Pattaya, is Khao Phra Tamnak, variously translated as Pattaya Hill, Pratumnak Hill or Buddha Hill, site of several posh hotels and the Pattaya Water Park and fun fair.

Naklua Bay, around the northerly headland of Pattaya Beach, is the quietest of the three enclaves, and has managed to retain its finish harbor and indigenous popular despite the onslaught of condominiums, holiday apartments and expat homes. Most of accommodation here is in time-share condos.

Transport

The easiest way to get around Pattaya is by songthaew, known locally as the baht bus – though on all routes beware of being overcharged. Most follow a standard anticlockwise route up Pattaya 2^nd road as far as North Pattaya Road and back down Pattaya Beach Road, for a fixed fee of B20 per person (B10 for locals). Never jump in a parked songthaew, as you will be charged for chartering the while vehicle: just flag down one that’s passing. Songthaews to Jomtien start from the junction of Pattaya 2^nd Road and South Pattaya Road and cost B10 to KFC or up to B30 to Thanon Wat Boonkanjana. Songthaews to Naklua head north from the junction of Pattaya 2^nd Road to Central Pattaya Road and cost B20 to Naklua Soi 12.

The Alternative is to rent you own transport: Pattaya Beach Road is full of touts offering motorbikes and jeeps for rent. Motorbike rental cost from B140 to B700 per day depending on the bike’s size, beware of scams – some people have reported that rented bikes get stolen form tourists by touts keen to keep the customer’s deposit, another scam is scratches over motorbike, so always look before you lose your deposit. You may want to use your own lock for the bike.

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