Alternatives To Pattaya?

[hendrix]

You've planned, scrimped, and saved to either live or visit Pattaya. I feel I would be just as happy in Hua Hin. I shall find my way there again one day. Which other cities made your almost list before settling on Pattaya?

[philliphn]

Changmai.

Subic.

[innovator]

You can place just about any city name on the list and you would be way ahead.

[samuibeachcomber]

i started out in pattaya(7 months)but found the place too dirty,polluted,no where nice to swim on beach,and oh so noisy.Once i'd got over "walking street,soi 6,7, and 8...........i got out,went to phuket(patong beach)also kata before heading off to look at Samui,have now been on Samui 16 months and love it.Has the beaches,quieter pace but good entertainment(bars,restaurants if you want it),only thing it does n't have that pattaya has is good live music.

[suiging]

Pattaya never has been about what it offers in isolation for me. If I want beaches, I head down the 36, south of Rayong. If I want better shopping head up the 7 to BK. If I want sport, well stay at home in Patters, golf, racing ( car ), bowls to bowling all here. If I get sick or want to buy a kitchen and need ten different choices, again stay at home. Pattaya is a base to do just about anything you want which is available in Thailand. I suppose if I wanted to improve my Greek I would have to move.

[sweetchariot]

Koh Chang is on my radar at the moment, especially now with the Trat airport link.

I would certainly miss the amenities that Pattaya has to offer, but would love to get back to nature a bit.

[britmaveric]

Chiang Mai is really lovely - thought I would be bored, but it was rather relaxing and nice.

[Crow Boy]

I spent the last 5 years in Chiang Mai and before that Samuii. I thoroughly enjoyed both, each had their advantages and disadvantages but like most places they are what you make of them.

Depending on what you want or need in a city, town or village you will find one to suit.

CB

[LennyW]

There are no "alternatives" to Pattaya, Pattaya is Pattaya and alwas will be, love it or hate it - there is nowhere else like it!

[hendrix]

There are no "alternatives" to Pattaya, Pattaya is Pattaya and alwas will be, love it or hate it - there is nowhere else like it!

That sums up how countless feel too. You can leave but you will almost surely come back!

[britmaveric]

Do agree if one wants to go elsewhere in thailand, better to not go to Pattaya first - surely won't leave if you do.

[hendrix]

Do agree if one wants to go elsewhere in thailand, better to not go to Pattaya first - surely won't leave if you do.

In coming to Pattaya first, you learn what some of these former village dwellers and farmers can evolve into once east meets west. After being in Pattaya, the upcountry visit is practically more of an eye opener than Pattaya! I then scratch my head in disbelief that the same rough people I sometimes meet in Pattaya originate from these humble roots. Probably better to see them in Pattaya first.

I think this thread will get a lot of votes with Chiang Mai and Hua Hin leading the short list.

[LennyW]

There are no "alternatives" to Pattaya, Pattaya is Pattaya and alwas will be, love it or hate it - there is nowhere else like it!

That sums up how countless feel too. You can leave but you will almost surely come back!

Aye!! as the song says..."you can checkout any time you want, but you can never leave" Not that you will ever hear this song in a Pattaya beer bar

[Bangyai]

There are no "alternatives" to Pattaya, Pattaya is Pattaya and alwas will be, love it or hate it - there is nowhere else like it!

Ever heard of Angeles City in the Philippines. Very similar minus the beach.

[poshthai]

Pattaya has its good and bad and very bad points.I have been to chiangmai.korat,khon kaen,udon thani,bk,(urghhhhhhhh),hua hin,cha am, and a few more isolate places but hua hin could be the best to live with my gf and stepson.Pattaya has the best amenities but maybe one day i will move and start to make friends elsewhere.

[pluto_manibo]

I started out in Samui in '95, stayed and worked there for 3 years....It was a very different Samui then the one today. Yeah, the beaches are nice but trust me after a while it wears thin....The people who judge Pattaya always do so from their crappy hotel room downtown on a hangover and think they have done it.....As someone else has mentioned you got everything you want here and no one needs to be stuck within the city limits....A short drive from Koh Samet, boat ride to Koh Larn, Bangkok, golf courses, great shopping, close to airport, cambodia for visa runs, restaurants, any sport under the sun.....Samui has absolutely nothing to offer anymore, Hua Hin is a boring Beach resort for retired scandinavians, Chiang Mai is alright for a week but after 11 pm you want to shoot yourself with boredom....

[gymshark]

It's always nice to visit the freak show that is Pattaya but live there? It would be way down the list but it does have a lot of ameneties which is important for a lot of expats. I live in BKK but only for convenience, Nowhere has it all, not just in Thailand but all over.

Pattaya Lots of facilities but a sleazy hole with loads of scumbags and a crap beach

BKK Lots of facilities but too busy and smoggy

Issan Not many facilities but very relaxing and clean air

Hua Hin Nice for a holiday (short one) too small

Chiang Mai Too bloody weird

[wileycoyote]

Pattaya is like an old lover,

once tried never forgotten,

even although you have a new love...your experience with her will colour your present and future

[LennyW]

Pattaya is like an old lover,

once tried never forgotten,

even although you have a new love...your experience with her will colour your present and future

Ha ha ...Spot on!!!

[eljeque]

Vientiane is lovely, but nothing like Pattaya.

If you in need of a visa run, and you are considering looking elsewhere, make the trip to Vientiane and spend several days there.

You will find many descriptions in the Visa-Vientiane section.

It is a wonderful little town.

[Naam]

Pattaya Lots of facilities but a sleazy hole with loads of scumbags and a crap beach

true! BKK has no scumbags, no sleazy holes and the most beautiful beaches of South-East Asia

[gymshark]

Pattaya Lots of facilities but a sleazy hole with loads of scumbags and a crap beach

true! BKK has no scumbags, no sleazy holes and the most beautiful beaches of South-East Asia

You can't compare the sleaziness of Pattaya with Bangkok, Pattaya wins hands down. What does anyone around the world think if you tell them you are from Pattaya? Whore chaser of course.

[poshthai]

WELL,

Most of the people i speak to when i visit home have never heard of Pattaya but all have heard of the smog and prostitution in bk so dont try to make bk sound good cos its a shithole.The rats are bigger than my cats.

NAAM,

Getting to like you more and more but not in a gay way lol.

Edited August 25, 2008 by poshthai

[chiang mai]

Probably not too bad living in Pattaya I suppose, as long as you live on the outskirts in places like Bangkok, Chiang Mai or Phuket.

[gymshark]

NAAM,

Getting to like you more and more but not in a gay way lol.

<deleted> ????????????

[poshthai]

bk no way

chianmai nice place

phuket never been as many people tell me its same same pattaya so i dont go.

Pattaya has sleeze but so does phuket and bk.korat and khon kaen have sleeze but hidden away,and i bet the thai lads know where it is.Horses for courses,but Pattaya is the centre for many places and being on the coast,the sea breeze takes away the smog,unlike bangkok.

[chiang mai]

bk no way

chianmai nice place

phuket never been as many people tell me its same same pattaya so i dont go.

Pattaya has sleeze but so does phuket and bk.korat and khon kaen have sleeze but hidden away,and i bet the thai lads know where it is.Horses for courses,but Pattaya is the centre for many places and being on the coast,the sea breeze takes away the smog,unlike bangkok.

Patong Beach does have some sleaze in the two block by ten block area that is the central tourist district but much much less than Pattaya. The rest of the island of Phuket has no more or less sleaze than any other town or city in Thailand but the attraction of the beaches, scenery and air quality far outweigh the negatives of that small area in Patong that is sleazy between the hours of 22:00 and 03:00.

[mikehunt]

Do agree if one wants to go elsewhere in thailand, better to not go to Pattaya first - surely won't leave if you do.

I went elsewhere first and on my 1st visit to Pattaya absolutely hated it, seeing all the old men with young girls, i was sure most were nonces.

However after going to Pattaya to see friends and spending an extended period of time there, i have now been fully coverted and realise many of these old boys are putting poor Thai kids through school.

The people in Pattaya are far less judgemental then the backpacker or family holiday crowd.

[poshthai]

mikehunt,

As someone who lives in Pattaya you must have seen the amount of 20-25 yo guys coming here for sex,getting stitched up and falling in love exactly the same as older guys.Age has got no boundries here in Pattaya and the girls say older farang much better,young guys butterflys,bleeding hel_l they still dont know nothing about farangs lol.

[CGW]

Over the past 30 years I have lived in Malaysia (East & West), Brunei, Phillipines, Singapore, Cairo, Cape town, Cairo, Samuie, Phucket, Bangkok and Pattaya for the past ten years, all have there good and bad points, Hua Hin, far to quite, comparing Angeles city to Pattaya? dream on, Angeles IS a shithouse, not that keen on the direction that Pattaya is heading now, so time for a move. Until the recent rapid changes there was no better place to live than Pattaya IMHO, but then it all depends what you want, and we are all different