Pattaya Beaches And Weather

[Han07]

After spending time in the North of Thailand my partner and I would like a week by a beach to get some sunbathing in before returning home to UK.

We cant afford to go all the way down South again and the travel is too long so we were thinking about Pattaya as it is only 2hours from Bangkok.

What is the best way to get there and how easy is it?

Are the beaches good?

Any good hotels for travelers?

Any idea of what the weather is like there at the end of Sep begining of Oct?

Thank you

[kurgen]

Are the beaches good?

The "beaches" are filthy, you are constantly harrassed by people selling all sorts of crap. If you go in the water as the tide comes in you can swim in the shit you flushed that morning, as well as everyone elses

About 20k's down the coast is Bang Sarae, much better all round

[wilko]

After spending time in the North of Thailand my partner and I would like a week by a beach to get some sunbathing in before returning home to UK.

We cant afford to go all the way down South again and the travel is too long so we were thinking about Pattaya as it is only 2hours from Bangkok.

What is the best way to get there and how easy is it?

Are the beaches good?

Any good hotels for travelers?

Any idea of what the weather is like there at the end of Sep begining of Oct?

Thank you

Try the beach on the headland between Jomtien and Pattaya......Cosy beach and Sugar beach offer less urban alternatives.

Plenty of good value hotels....what's your budget?

Here are a few thoughts on Pattaya for those who can’t make up their mind, or are worried about the sex industry and what it’s like for single women, couples, children etc,

Pattaya is a cheap and in general cheerful town, there are many middle-aged men who have found they can afford to retire here often with a wife half their age, the climate is great, the cost of living cheap.....

There is also a lot to do if you are a family on holiday.

The beaches in Pattaya are not up to much, the sea is rather polluted…how much is unclear….they claim to have cleaned up the water a lot in the last few years…. (Benedorm the old style comes to mind). Neighbouring Jomtien beach about a 15 min “bus” ride away looks to be more swimmer-friendly but there is the occasional bout of untreated sewerage there from time to time. (This IS Thailand!)

All the same many people enjoy the beaches...At both beaches you can hire all sorts of water sports stuff, and it’s all relatively cheap. All beaches have plenty of people selling drinks and snacks etc....have a fresh coconut and drink the liquid inside through a straw....very refreshing!

Off shore there are one or two islands with much nicer beaches, they are easily accessible for a day trip. If you go to Koh Laan, the main beach is really just a row of restaurants etc., but, it’s well worth hiring a moped and driving over to the other side of the island.....views from the top are great and there are some very quiet beaches there. Or simply walk along the coast for a bit to get away from the crowds.

On the mainland, Pattaya offers a range of amusement parks, gardens, and theme parks. Nong Nooch Tropical Gardens although recently scandalised by the Beeb for their treatment of Elephants is worth a visit, just don’t support the Elephant rides. Elephant village is similarly not to be supported. Water worlds amusement park offers all the usual water rides plus a revolving restaurant and some hair-rising ways of getting up there and back down. Mini Siam is a miniature tour of Thailand - full of bus-loads of tourists with a MacDonald’s’ at the entrance. Million year old stone park has beautiful gardens - feed the 5ft long catfish! And cringe at the abysmal treatment of tigers and crocodiles. Further a field is Sri Racha tiger Zoo...to be avoided at all costs, and Kao Keow Open Zoo, a refreshing change from the usual callous way animals are treated in Thailand.

Pattaya offers some of the best shopping outside Bangkok, and it is actually more accessible being sited in a much smaller area. Along the beach stalls shops and arcades offer all the usual souvenir stuff and some things that might cause a few raised eyebrows.... (A Samurai Sword or replica gun?!?!). Lots of ersatz stuff and big brand copies, CDs and DVDs for 150 baht, computer programs.....

The malls (Check out “MIKE’S” & “ROYAL GARDEN PLAZA”) offer more quality goods still at great prices. Royal garden has a good eatery on the top floor and Mikes has a public swimming pool on the roof!

Other Malls around town include “Big C” on 2nd road, Tesco’s on Pattaya North (Nua), and Carrefour on Pattaya Central (Klang). All these have a range of other shops and restaurants all under one air-conditioned roof. Tesco and Big C also have stores on Sukumvit Rd - the main road from Bangkok.

Eating out in Pattaya & Jomtien is a treat! There’s everything form every country and it’s all cheap! Even the up=market stuff is half what you’d pay in Europe. You can eat US, French, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Full English Breakfast, Italian, Belgian, Dutch, German.......what am I doing? The list is endless.

BUT

There’s one I’ve missed out....THAI food! Thai food is wonderful.....everything from mild Chinese based noodles to hot and spicy Issan food....seafood, barbeque, Tom Yam soups...try it...you’ll love it.....if you want to spend a bit of Money try Ruen Thai on 2nd road or Sugar Hut on Thap Phraya Rd, the hill between Jomtien and Pattaya. Ruen Thai has great food from the all regions of Thailand and puts on an ethnic floor show music, dance or even demonstration Thai boxing! Sugar Hut is in fact a very beautiful resort, the restaurant is in a traditional Thai style wooden house. The atmosphere is amazing.... you remove your shoes on entering the dining area and the seating is either traditional low or for those of us who are less flexible there are “normal” height chairs and tables. Everything is teak and silk....just a pity the menu is so badly written and the food is a little on the bland side, but for a one off evening out it’s a must.

At the other end of the price range there are the small Thai restaurants and street stalls dotted all over town....many won’t have a menu in English so just walk in, sit down and look hungry.....let them bring you something and try and guess what it is you’re eating....for (a lot) less than $5 for 2 you can’t go wrong. A bowl of street noodles can be as little as 15 baht.

Just one phrase you might find useful....”Mai Pet” (one for the Geordies!) - this means “not hot”...it won’t mean no chillies but it might bring it down to a level where you can just about eat it! - “Mai Prik” is NO chillies at all.

And for the mindless, bootless and unhorsed, the culturally stagnant and the grossly obese, there is the usual plethora of fast food outlets....McD’s, KFC, and Burger King....how can people eat that stuff!?!?!? And WHY when you are in a land of gastronomic delights, would you?

The night life in Pattaya is legendary....although now the bars officially close at 1.00pm; this does not stop some places from turning music down and carrying on till the early hours of daylight.

There are discos, clubs bars of sorts including the girlie places....

The sxe trade ripples through the town like veins through a stilton, and in a similar way gives the place its distinctive character. Unlike the red-light areas of Europe and America, they aren’t really sleazy; mainly it consists of small open bars where (middle-aged) men sit drinking beer and talking to the “bar-girls”. If a tryst is arranged it will take place I one of the hundreds of hotels. There is very little open display of lewdness as this is not approved of in Thailand. The “Go-go Bars” are behind closed doors and have naked or semi naked girls pole dancing or rather holding a pole and swaying to music. You and your family would not be admitted to a Go-go bar. If you went to an open beer bar you would be treated as a perfectly ordinary customer and the girls would dote on your children. (They are mostly mothers themselves). ..............and as for the “seediness” how many men do you know go to Hamburg or Amsterdam and find a wife?

For something a little more “wholesome” - on 2nd road spend an hour or so at the Malibu Bar....it’s a girl and lady-man show....a low budget affair, they make their own elaborate costumes and mime to well-known western songs. Every night they tread the boards from 8 till about 12.00 midnight...sometimes poor and amateurish but always entertaining...DO NOT miss Tina Turner! This guy is actually quite professional and very good indeed. He does a couple of performances every night and the place fills just to what his act. Unfortunately sometimes he has to take time off (twice a night, 7 days a week, year in year out?!?) and the act is performed by a less talented stand-in. All -in- all a great friendly atmosphere, lots of couples and even kids - and no smut!!!!....no admission charge, and they do food.

If you are finding the heat a bit too much there are plenty of enclosed air-conditioned bars with a western theme, be they Irish, English, Belgian or whatever. Here you can eat “comfort food” and watch replays of your favourite old TV shows and the football.

Edited August 30, 2006 by wilko

[CGW]

Weather = Rainy season, September is statisticly the wettest month! October the second, should clean the beaches?

Cheers

[Jack Jones]

Weather = Rainy season, September is statisticly the wettest month! October the second, should clean the beaches?

Cheers

I was there for a month from September to October last year. Weather was good. Sunny most days in the afternoon with the occaisional downpour. Yes it's a bit hit and miss but worth taking the chance.

[chatters]

Are the beaches good?

The "beaches" are filthy, you are constantly harrassed by people selling all sorts of crap. If you go in the water as the tide comes in you can swim in the shit you flushed that morning, as well as everyone elses

bout 20k's down the coast is Bang Sarae, much better all round ;

the beaches in this area are the worst in the world...crap etc plus don,t forgwt the scum

as the last person said go further down the coast it aint bondi beach though

[fourbaht]

Here Ya Go

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=81149

[chatters]

Are the beaches good?

The "beaches" are filthy, you are constantly harrassed by people selling all sorts of crap. If you go in the water as the tide comes in you can swim in the shit you flushed that morning, as well as everyone elses

About 20k's down the coast is Bang Sarae, much better all round

its called swimming with the terds

[Phil Conners]

Don't bother with the Pattaya bashers.

The beaches are not top class but they're ok and thousinds of people enjoy using them every day. There are better beaches going down around Sattahip but you'd need a car for that, or you could go to the islands (remember sun block!)

The weather in Pattaya is ALWAYS good. It's not like the south where the monsoon brings storms and rain all the time. There is the occational shower but it is often days without any rain. Day temps are 32-35 C year around. Night temps vary from high twenties in the summer (now) to high teens in the winter (around Xmas).

PS. Wilco's description above is spot on!

Edited September 4, 2006 by Phil Conners

[Ulysses G.]

The hotels in Pattaya are REALLY reasonable, so I just make sure to get one with a swimming pool and that solves the swimming problem. If you don't go in the water, the beach at Pattaya looks just fine and it's a cheap, fun place to hang out and relax.

[h5n1]

we have had scant rain so my prediction it will be VERY wet during sept/oct but till now bone dry save for two massive storms that hav evirtually torn the beach apart. there are massive holes 5 meters from the walkway to waterfront.

the govt is doing a renovation project and the brought a bunch of sand on the beach BUT they drove heavy equipment on the beach and at points where the flashfloods collect = ive never seen the beach in such a sorry state. the authorities are utterly incompetent. the entire bay needs to be dredged and beaches recalimed. next, kick out all the asxhoxle fisherman than seem to think the bay is their trashbin - which is TOTALLY against international law (tossing plastic in water).

for all intents and purposes pattaya beach will no longer exist after this next rainy season. mark these words - and govt could care less.

th ebeach is in fact filthy. absolutely a health hazard. i have pulled more dangerous objects out of the water on pattaya beach than sum total of all flotsam in my life (and i have lived near the water for 90% of it).

oh...did i mention the floatting plastic an dtrash from fishing boats and the raw sewage STILL being pumped into the bay?

Edited September 5, 2006 by h5n1

[wilko]

oh...did i mention the floatting plastic an dtrash from fishing boats and the raw sewage STILL being pumped into the bay?

Where is the raw sewerage entering the bay?

[kurgen]

oh...did i mention the floatting plastic an dtrash from fishing boats and the raw sewage STILL being pumped into the bay?

Where is the raw sewerage entering the bay?

prolly from the pumping station at the junction of Beach Rd and Walking St

[lopburi3]

Please keep it civil. Forum rules do not allow aggressive posting and a few have been removed (along with those quoting them).

[Pattaya_Fox]

Don't bother with the Pattaya bashers.

The beaches are not top class but they're ok and thousinds of people enjoy using them every day. There are better beaches going down around Sattahip but you'd need a car for that, or you could go to the islands (remember sun block!)

The weather in Pattaya is ALWAYS good. It's not like the south where the monsoon brings storms and rain all the time. There is the occational shower but it is often days without any rain. Day temps are 32-35 C year around. Night temps vary from high twenties in the summer (now) to high teens in the winter (around Xmas).

PS. Wilco's description above is spot on!

I agree.

[britmaveric]

Rain isnt bad in October - normally a heavy down pour and then its finished. Hot year round, so that is the norm.

Beaches - not the best, and I certainly go elsewhere - take a speedboat to Koh Larn for the day.

[wilko]

Don't bother with the Pattaya bashers.

The beaches are not top class but they're ok and thousinds of people enjoy using them every day. There are better beaches going down around Sattahip but you'd need a car for that, or you could go to the islands (remember sun block!)

The weather in Pattaya is ALWAYS good. It's not like the south where the monsoon brings storms and rain all the time. There is the occational shower but it is often days without any rain. Day temps are 32-35 C year around. Night temps vary from high twenties in the summer (now) to high teens in the winter (around Xmas).

PS. Wilco's description above is spot on!

I agree.

thanks...there's a lot of very anal comments on Pattaya...I believe it's a place that is really quite misrepresented by sensationalist media an screwed up people! - I don't even live there now!

Edited September 6, 2006 by wilko

[lopburi3]

From today's Bangkok Post we have this:

The old farang male is the resort's icon. You can replace the shop names, shop in the latest fashion and ice cream fads, but that old face is as eternal in Pattaya as the construction at the door of the beach road mall. They are an inseparable pair.

[britmaveric]

From today's Bangkok Post we have this:

The old farang male is the resort's icon. You can replace the shop names, shop in the latest fashion and ice cream fads, but that old face is as eternal in Pattaya as the construction at the door of the beach road mall. They are an inseparable pair.

Rubbish!!!

[ThaiBob]

Historically September and October are by far the wettest months although as we know the last few years have been relatively dry. My friends tell me the number of beach days is reduced in September/October (Also Pattaya doesn't get the amount of rain as Phuket or the south). Extended forecast also calls for T-showers for next 10 days.

http://weather.yahoo.com/climo/THXX0015_f.html