what's all the fuss about hua hin

[Crazy chef 1]

whenever i read a recommendation about where to live here in TH almost everybody mentioned Hua Hin. i have to admit it is stil! a considerable place compared to pattaya,phuket or samui,but what is the atraction?the beach- nope, full of horse poo or stray dogs; the water- nope,dirty and full of jelly fish; restaurants- maybe there are a few good ones; cost of living- still ok; shopping- we all love market vilage,villa market and the occasional night market; traffic- insane due of just one main road; immigration- fast,efficiant and friendly;wheater- one of the dryest areas in TH;night life-OMG... but has anybody else noticed what is going on here?no construction stop,they build and build and build just busy with the latest project called the " energy" 6000 new units ,for whom? venecia condos,santorini condos and so on.where is the waste water going,the trash,the ppl,the infra structure?

c'mon

the same s$$ thole like pat's or the other above mentioned places,they just don't get it to keep a place enjoyable- pure greed.

if you really want some nice places just go around HH about 40 km and you still can find a "paradise" depence what you like.but be aware of the future it will might be the next concrete jungle!

F$$ng greed

[mogandave]

Don't go there.

[Crazy chef 1]

Don't go there.

just if my better half is convincing me two or three times a year.but what do you thinking about the development there?

[Skint]

Everyone is enjoying the profits come and join the fun!

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

[asdecas]

It's always been touted as a liveable place, but personally on the few times I've been there I've never seen the attraction.

[frimu]

There are large communities of several nations there.

So for the retired it is attractive, because they can have their coffee break with their own countrymen and enjoy life.

For the non retired it is one of the many options for beach holidays if you also want huge choice regarding food and entertainment.

[juehoe]

Hua Hin is not the location for you, when you are searching fun, nightlife and beautiful beaches. But Hua Hin is a good place to stay - for retirement or with families, like me. There is a good and even more growing infrastructure - even water and electricity supply is a little bit behind the developments. But the new major seems to be quite active for improving the things.

Hua Hin is also not too far from Bangkok. This is also a little bit the problem at the weekends, when the Bangkok middle and upper class arrives for vacation. But this - together with the presence of the Royal Couple - has also a good influence on the city.

The consequences are quite high costs for real estate - especially in several location.

I am now living for more than 2 years here (Khao Tao) and don't want to move to another place.

[stopthegreed]

I have lived in Hua Hin for 9 years, on and off. I had spells in Pattaya, Phuket, Chiang Mai and Bangkok, mainly because I was fed up with Hua Hin.

I kept coming back because it was where I had most friends. The golf is excellent, there are some cheap places to eat and drink, Falang style, but you have to know Hua Hin well to find these places.

But to answer your question, what is it about Hua Hin ? I can answer it in one word. NOTHING !!!

It is now considered the third most expensive place in Thailand after Phuket and Samui. There is building of resorts, condo's and everything else you can mention, mainly in Koa Ta Kiab. But if Hua Hin has nothing then Koa Ta Kiab is even worse, and it seems that these places are expecting a boom of people from Bangkok, but its not happening. As a result most of the places built for sale are now up for rent.

Most of the people I know have set regimes, and stick to them rigidly, this, in my opinion, is stop them being bored to tears and at least have thier golf on saturdays to look forward to, etc etc.

The night life is pathetic. There is an area commonly named the Bintabaht, it is outragously expensive, and there is nothing going on, no Live music, of any quality apart from heavy metal bands. To cater for the 60 and 70 year olds dressed as hells angels, which, quite frankly, looks pathetic.

If you play golf, dont drink, eat Thai food and hate the beach, its perfect for you. After that forget it.

I have been considering going to live in the Philippines or Vietnam, or even Cambodia, and as soon as I make my mind up, I am off, never to return.

[feest monty]

i cant walk down the street or to the beach without seeing wall to wall thugs consequently i never stay more than a day or two. other non tourist thai places i can stay for months without feeling appalled

Edited November 25, 2013 by feest monty

[jimth123]

I enjoyed most of the comments and points of view concerning Hua Hin. But I believe many comments are based on the age of the commenter. For example, when I was in my 40's I spend lots of time in Pattaya, early 50's found me in Kho Samui and some time in Phuket, but now in my 60's I find that Hua Hin is perfect for the aging expat; close to BKK, slower pace, good restaurants and conveniences, easy to travel via Baht Buse and tuc tuc. In other words, it's based on your age.

Jim

[PaulHamon]

Hua Hin is an amphoe not just a mueang.

[homeownership]

I have been to Hua Hin twice. I find the weather very pleasant. Breakfast cafes offer a wide selection of English Breakfasts.

To answer the OPs question, Hua Hin is probably the most family friend seaside destination in Thai on a par with Krabi.

Going back in July 2014 for a few weeks.

[NCFC]

It's not the best of anything, but the least worse of anywhere else.

[jackflash]

Hua Hin Is small enought to walk most everywhere.

It still has a few quiet little bars (although these are disappearing fast) and the girls are more friendly and less mercinary,

I like the beach, there's a quiet little nook I sit at most evenings and watch the boats.

I think however H.H. will soon go the way of Pattaya. I hate the big glittery bars which blast out Rap and Techno.

Most have zero customers and spoil the ambience for half a block either side.

Crass commercialism ruins everything.

Edited November 25, 2013 by jackflash

[David48]

Drove though it once on the way to the Thaao Ko Sa Forest Park.

Actually ... drove through it twice ... again on the way back.

Has a pretty Train Station though ...

Enjoyed this place, not that far from Hua Hin

.

[Hugh Jarse]

There are large communities of several nations there.

So for the retired it is attractive, because they can have their coffee break with their own countrymen and enjoy life.

For the non retired it is one of the many options for beach holidays if you also want huge choice regarding food and entertainment.

I have always found it an OK place to stay for a few days until recently when I found that it had lost its charm was overbuilt and gridlocked. How about Cha Am as a place to retire to/bring up a family?

[thelongshoot]

I just turned 40, and have lived here for 3 years. I realy dont know why I am still here to be honest, it is to me an incredibly boring place. When I say 'boring', by the way, I mean boring in a broad sense.... There isnt very much to do, the local ex-pats all seem a little bored and fed up and the nightlife is shocking.

In my opinion, HH breaks down as follows:

Infrastructure. Not too bad, realy. The roads are ok for the most part but it does suffer from patchy flooding in some areas when it rains. The traffic is quite bad though and a weekend drive through the town center can take 45 minutes, end to end

Shopping. Average. There is of course Market Village but I genuinley dont see the attraction with the place, unless you like Clarks shoes, Thai style clothing brands that have no hope of fitting the average Ferang, a multitude of boring-as-he11 coffee shops, dougnut shops and T-shirt stalls selling naff shirts with "we love Hua Hin". There are a few outdoor style malls around the outskirts such as Santorini with its big wheel and reverse bungee - surrounded by truly crap shops and the new Venetia, which laughably tries to replicate Venice Italy. The shops there are dead and have no hope of surviving as again, they largely sell souveniers targeting the Bangkok Thais, who are renound for spending no money down here. Both mals are basicly full of Rich weekend Thais walking around taking photos of everything and anything whilst spending no money at all.

Lots of supermarkets around town and of course Villa Supermarket.

The nightlife is painfull. I have mentioned this before in another HH thread. Its basicly two areas: Bintabhat and Soi 80. Bint is full of crappy beer bars with the exeption of a couple of bars that have made a real efort to impress - but failed misserably as the target market of older ferags are not interested in anything other than low priced beer and cheap brass, which only the crappy beer bars are able to deliver by cutting costs. Soi 80 is laughably poor, an entire street on the edge of town consisting of truly low class beer bars with no decor. There is (in my opinion) one good pub in the whole town: El Murphys. Its a real pub with draught beer and reasonable food. Usualy an ok crowd and the owner is a nice bloke.

Kao Takiab is a nice little 'village' type area 10 minutes from town. Some ok local type bars there but can be a bit clicky.

Ex-pats are mainly scandinavian who in my opinion like to keep amongst themselves.

Im bored out of my mind here. The only reason I havent moved is because I just cant think of amnywhere else to live. Phuket - too many issues these days, ruined. Pattaya - I dont trust myself to live there, as I work from home and would probably end up in the pub every night which isnt great for me. I love Chiang mai but its miles from anywhere and I lived in Samui 10 years ago, when it was nice. Now, its ruined.

Im 40, so no way in he11 am I going to move to Nakhon Knowehere with the Mrs and live in the middle of an isarn village. maybe when im older, not at 40.

Just my 2 cents. Im pretty certain I will get kicked around for this post so again please let me stress, just my opinion.

[ajarnmarc]

Lived there for six loooong years.

Boring, boring, boring...

There's just nothing to do there,

and now it's even worse.

All you can do now is eat & shop,

or chase a ball around on the slopes.

I used to enjoy playing tennis out at Springfield,

and hanging out by the pool.

The beaches are saturated with Jelly Fish each morning,

and of course the water isn't desirable.

Just a boring place to live,

that's now filled with shopping centers and resturants looking for customers.

[ajarnmarc]

I just turned 40, and have lived here for 3 years. I realy dont know why I am still here to be honest, it is to me an incredibly boring place. When I say 'boring', by the way, I mean boring in a broad sense.... There isnt very much to do, the local ex-pats all seem a little bored and fed up and the nightlife is shocking.

In my opinion, HH breaks down as follows:

Infrastructure. Not too bad, realy. The roads are ok for the most part but it does suffer from patchy flooding in some areas when it rains. The traffic is quite bad though and a weekend drive through the town center can take 45 minutes, end to end

Shopping. Average. There is of course Market Village but I genuinley dont see the attraction with the place, unless you like Clarks shoes, Thai style clothing brands that have no hope of fitting the average Ferang, a multitude of boring-as-he11 coffee shops, dougnut shops and T-shirt stalls selling naff shirts with "we love Hua Hin". There are a few outdoor style malls around the outskirts such as Santorini with its big wheel and reverse bungee - surrounded by truly crap shops and the new Venetia, which laughably tries to replicate Venice Italy. The shops there are dead and have no hope of surviving as again, they largely sell souveniers targeting the Bangkok Thais, who are renound for spending no money down here. Both mals are basicly full of Rich weekend Thais walking around taking photos of everything and anything whilst spending no money at all.

Lots of supermarkets around town and of course Villa Supermarket.

The nightlife is painfull. I have mentioned this before in another HH thread. Its basicly two areas: Bintabhat and Soi 80. Bint is full of crappy beer bars with the exeption of a couple of bars that have made a real efort to impress - but failed misserably as the target market of older ferags are not interested in anything other than low priced beer and cheap brass, which only the crappy beer bars are able to deliver by cutting costs. Soi 80 is laughably poor, an entire street on the edge of town consisting of truly low class beer bars with no decor. There is (in my opinion) one good pub in the whole town: El Murphys. Its a real pub with draught beer and reasonable food. Usualy an ok crowd and the owner is a nice bloke.

Kao Takiab is a nice little 'village' type area 10 minutes from town. Some ok local type bars there but can be a bit clicky.

Ex-pats are mainly scandinavian who in my opinion like to keep amongst themselves.

Im bored out of my mind here. The only reason I havent moved is because I just cant think of amnywhere else to live. Phuket - too many issues these days, ruined. Pattaya - I dont trust myself to live there, as I work from home and would probably end up in the pub every night which isnt great for me. I love Chiang mai but its miles from anywhere and I lived in Samui 10 years ago, when it was nice. Now, its ruined.

Im 40, so no way in he11 am I going to move to Nakhon Knowehere with the Mrs and live in the middle of an isarn village. maybe when im older, not at 40.

Just my 2 cents. Im pretty certain I will get kicked around for this post so again please let me stress, just my opinion.

I actually thought that was a great description of the place,

and you've only been there 3 years...wow well done.

[LivinLOS]

I like to visit.. I have mates there and a week is enough to catch up, see all the bars I like, and then start to twiddle my thumbs..

Living there wouldnt suit me, as others have said its not great at anything, its just not awful at anything either. If older and more content to sit around a pool then fine, I fear I would be boozing too much if it was home.

[HUAHIN62]

Most of the developments you are talking about is not in HH but in Chaam. Not only different towns but also provinces. Most of these condos are bought by Thai Bangkokers. Last year HH got 3 mil tourist of which 2 mil were Thai. Where we stay in the northern suburbs we dont have traffic, crowds nor tourist. We buy most of our food at Macro but now have the option of Villa market in Venezia mall. We have Palm hill golf club within 5 minutes from the house.

For the expensive part, it depends what you are talking about. The properties are not more expensive than other tourist towns or Bkk. If you want to eat foreign food and you make it yourself you can get away with B 200 a head, if you eat out it will be B 800 plus. If you eat Thai you can make a dish for B 30 or can buy it for B 45. If you buy cake slices at Market village it will cost B 125 or you can buy at the guy in Tallad Grand for B 39 a slice (very good cake).

If you want a slow pace life with less crime HH beats the over cities like Phuket.

[qdinthailand]

It's always been touted as a liveable place, but personally on the few times I've been there I've never seen the attraction.

Who's doing the touting - same one's doing the developments? The expat's trying to make a living in "real estate" here in Thailand? Or expat's getting ready to sell their property in HH in order to get the hell out?

Just wondering...

[thelongshoot]

Lived there for six loooong years.

Boring, boring, boring...

There's just nothing to do there,

and now it's even worse.

All you can do now is eat & shop,

or chase a ball around on the slopes.

I used to enjoy playing tennis out at Springfield,

and hanging out by the pool.

The beaches are saturated with Jelly Fish each morning,

and of course the water isn't desirable.

Just a boring place to live,

that's now filled with shopping centers and resturants looking for customers.

I forgot to mention the beaches. I agree, pretty crap really.. Far better than my beaches back home in England lol, but definatley not anything close to the tropical heaven Thailand is famous for. Not in HH, at least. I cant walk my dog on the beach anymore because its an issue every single time with the rancid beach dogs who live there and the waters are full of jellyfish.

It is actualy realy crap in HH to be honest!

Dont tell me to go back home. Infuriating. I love Thailand, im just bored of HH.

[Nobbie49]

I just turned 40, and have lived here for 3 years. I realy dont know why I am still here to be honest, it is to me an incredibly boring place. When I say 'boring', by the way, I mean boring in a broad sense.... There isnt very much to do, the local ex-pats all seem a little bored and fed up and the nightlife is shocking.

In my opinion, HH breaks down as follows:

Infrastructure. Not too bad, realy. The roads are ok for the most part but it does suffer from patchy flooding in some areas when it rains. The traffic is quite bad though and a weekend drive through the town center can take 45 minutes, end to end

Shopping. Average. There is of course Market Village but I genuinley dont see the attraction with the place, unless you like Clarks shoes, Thai style clothing brands that have no hope of fitting the average Ferang, a multitude of boring-as-he11 coffee shops, dougnut shops and T-shirt stalls selling naff shirts with "we love Hua Hin". There are a few outdoor style malls around the outskirts such as Santorini with its big wheel and reverse bungee - surrounded by truly crap shops and the new Venetia, which laughably tries to replicate Venice Italy. The shops there are dead and have no hope of surviving as again, they largely sell souveniers targeting the Bangkok Thais, who are renound for spending no money down here. Both mals are basicly full of Rich weekend Thais walking around taking photos of everything and anything whilst spending no money at all.

Lots of supermarkets around town and of course Villa Supermarket.

The nightlife is painfull. I have mentioned this before in another HH thread. Its basicly two areas: Bintabhat and Soi 80. Bint is full of crappy beer bars with the exeption of a couple of bars that have made a real efort to impress - but failed misserably as the target market of older ferags are not interested in anything other than low priced beer and cheap brass, which only the crappy beer bars are able to deliver by cutting costs. Soi 80 is laughably poor, an entire street on the edge of town consisting of truly low class beer bars with no decor. There is (in my opinion) one good pub in the whole town: El Murphys. Its a real pub with draught beer and reasonable food. Usualy an ok crowd and the owner is a nice bloke.

Kao Takiab is a nice little 'village' type area 10 minutes from town. Some ok local type bars there but can be a bit clicky.

Ex-pats are mainly scandinavian who in my opinion like to keep amongst themselves.

Im bored out of my mind here. The only reason I havent moved is because I just cant think of amnywhere else to live. Phuket - too many issues these days, ruined. Pattaya - I dont trust myself to live there, as I work from home and would probably end up in the pub every night which isnt great for me. I love Chiang mai but its miles from anywhere and I lived in Samui 10 years ago, when it was nice. Now, its ruined.

Im 40, so no way in he11 am I going to move to Nakhon Knowehere with the Mrs and live in the middle of an isarn village. maybe when im older, not at 40.

Just my 2 cents. Im pretty certain I will get kicked around for this post so again please let me stress, just my opinion.

Not so sure bout El Murphy's, ended up with the mother of all food poisonings after eating fish n chips there.

[cheshiremusicman]

Hua Hin is not the location for you, when you are searching fun, nightlife and beautiful beaches. But Hua Hin is a good place to stay - for retirement or with families, like me. There is a good and even more growing infrastructure - even water and electricity supply is a little bit behind the developments. But the new major seems to be quite active for improving the things.

Hua Hin is also not too far from Bangkok. This is also a little bit the problem at the weekends, when the Bangkok middle and upper class arrives for vacation. But this - together with the presence of the Royal Couple - has also a good influence on the city.

The consequences are quite high costs for real estate - especially in several location.

I am now living for more than 2 years here (Khao Tao) and don't want to move to another place.

I have been here in the Khao Tao/Takiab, some 10 minutes drive south of Hua-Hin for nearly 7 years and am very happy living here. Ok I'm 70 now and love to play golf and I'm not a 'bar' person; so that doesn't bother me! One bar is very much like another in my opinion and I just can't see the appeal of sitting at a bar drinking and listening to a load of crap loud music that stops conversation. I would much rather have friends round for a drink / meal and enjoy there company that way; and thus avoid the bar bore's.

I agree that HH centre is a nightmare traffic wise at the weekend and should be avoided if possible; but you can always park up and walk around. Beach wise, the best beach in the whole of the area is the long pine backed beach at Khoa Toa/Takiab where you can picnic under the trees in peace and quiet if you take the trouble to walk down the beach, away from the lazy lot who flop down as close to their vehicles as possible. I rarely swim in the sea; preferring my own pool and have to admit, that I have heard of the problems with the jelly fish particularly after it has rained. The water does not look as clear and blue as you find down in the south (sometimes) but the coastal terrain dictates this because of the muddy bed in the Gulf of Thailand, so what you see is what you get!

The climate here is probably one of the best in Thailand and so is the air quality. We had some flooding recently when a big tropical cyclone sat over us for two days and this produced the heaviest rainfall that I have ever experienced in the area since I arrived some 7 years ago; but compared to the almost regular yearly flooding in other parts of Thailand it is inconsequential and caused a few days of localised flooding.

Restaurant wise, there are plenty of them to cater for all tastes and price ranges - your choice entirely and if you can't find something that you like to eat in this area you must be very hard to please.

I live on a gated estate, which has a very mixed populous as are lots of the other 'estates' have; so it's not always a case of one nation thronging together as has previously been proposed as the situation. There are these kinds of estates and that is your choice to make.

Property prices are not cheap here, but neither are they in Phuket, Bangkok, Krabi, Kho Samui, Chang Mia etc and prices cater for most price brackets. Development is rife in the area, but so is the case if you go north of HH towards Cha Am; with some huge condo developments taking place along the sea shore and inland.

From what I've seen of Thailand in my travels up to now, I can honestly say, that I would not wish to move and live anywhere else and will be happy to end my days here. Everyone to their own! Life would be a bore if we all liked the same things.

[kentfx]

I have been considering going to live in the Philippines or Vietnam, or even Cambodia, and as soon as I make my mind up, I am off, never to return.

You left out the best, most civilized city in SE Asia, Vientiane.

[thepanom]

I think after reading all this about Hua Hin, that most of this people would be much happyer in Cha-am!!!

[PETERTHEEATER]

........the latest project called the " energy" 6000 new units ,for whom? venecia condos,santorini condos and so on.

Thankfully, these are not in Hua Hin but in Cha Am although the occupants will head this way!

[robertson468]

Don't go there.

Been to Hua Hin a couple of times and it doesn't hold a candle to Samui, but of course that is a matter of personal opinion.

[tezzainthailand]

As a regular visitor to H H I love the place and can't work out the negative comments, but if a full on night life is what you want then Pattaya, Phuket, and Samui will give you more that's for sure. Samui has cleaner beaches, Pattaya appaling beaches, but there are excellent beaches within a short motorbike ride from Hua Hin, Sai Noi to name one. The pace of life is more attractive than the manic pace in Pattaya. I have found the choice of eating in Hua Hin excellent, for example Moo Seafood set up in the middle of the night market is highly recommended and packed most nights, and you can't tell me H H's eating out prices are as expensive as say Phuket. Quite the

opposite.