When we decided I would retire and we would move to Thailand, the first thing we did was spend several years traveling all over Thailand looking for the best place to live that had everything.
We traveled from north to south: Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Nan, Pathum Thani, Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket, Hua Hin, Koh Samui, Koh Phangan, Koh Tao,...
In the end, we came to the conclusion that the best place to live in Thailand is... Pattaya.
It's a city that has it all:
- By the sea
- Close to Bangkok
- Close to an international airport
- Many restaurants of all kinds
- Very good hospitals
- Good public transportation at affordable prices
- Shopping malls
- Everyone speaks English
- Quality housing at affordable prices
- Safe
- Lots of nightlife
- Inexpensive
- Top-notch activities every weekend (international fireworks competition, jet ski world championship, vegetarian festival, Songkran, Loi Kraton...)
It's true that it has an internationally famous red-light district (which also has its charm, like Las Vegas), but it's not even 1% of Pattaya's area, and those who talk so much about it are precisely the hypocrites who never leave it the entire time they're in Pattaya.