Day 1 – Different Colors of Pattaya
I have been living in Thailand for almost 2 years now, but have always disliked the idea of visiting Pattaya, mostly because of the overhyped rant of sex tourism and not-so-beautiful beaches. But in real, Pattaya has a lot to offer to singles, couples, friends, and families too. As my parents were flying in from India this weekend, I decided to take them to Pattaya.
Hightlights of the Day
- Don Mueang International Airport to Pattaya Transfer
- Walking Street Guesthouse, Pattaya
- Sanctuary of Truth
- Walking Street
Bangkok to Pattaya
To my surprise, the domestic terminal washrooms are way better and cleaner than the international terminal washrooms of Don Mueang airport.
The flight arrived at 6.40 AM from Kolkata, India to Don Mueang International Airport, Bangkok, Thailand. It is always a great feeling to reunite with your family after a long time. They got fresh at airport washrooms – the best place to get ready if you have a continuing journey. We also had our breakfast at the airport.
Most of the buses and minivans go to the northern bus terminal of Pattaya, but if your hotel is close to Walking Street or south of Pattaya, then there are few minivans going there as well, so please ask them before you buy the ticket to Pattaya.
Pattaya is located in the Chonburi province of Thailand. Commuting to Pattaya was inexpensive and hassle-free. You would get both buses and minivans to Pattaya from the northern bus terminal at Mochit and the eastern bus terminal at Ekamai, Bangkok. You will also get minivans to Pattaya from Victory Monument. Mochit bus station is only 25 min away and there are airconditioned airport buses – bus no. A1 – every 5 min from Don Mueang International Airport to Mochit Bus Station. I got 3 tickets to Pattaya from the minivan stand in Mochit, which will drop us at Walking Street.
Many locals and foreigners head to Pattaya on weekends as it is a nearby and convenient day-trip destination from Bangkok. So expect a lot of traffic if you are traveling on a weekend.
There are many minivans to Pattaya leaving Mochit bus terminal every 30 min from 6 AM to 8 PM. Our minivan departed at 9.30 AM. It usually takes 2.5 h to reach Pattaya from Bangkok. But due to high traffic jam during weekend, the minivan reached Pattaya at around 12.30 PM, and it dropped us right in front of Walking Street Guesthouse at around 1 PM.
Walking Street Guesthouse
I had booked in advance a double room with balcony with an extra person sharing facility in this guesthouse for a night. The place prefers advanced booking as it is located on Pattaya’s famous Walking Street, right in the middle of the nightlife and entertainment. If you do not like to stay around partylife at night, this place ain’t for you; also if you do not like loud music all night, please ask for any other room but the one with balcony. I wanted to have the advantage of witnessing the crazy nightlife of Walking Street right from the balcony of my room if needed, and I got the best room as per my need. My parents are cool too, so they enjoyed as well.
There are no restaurant facility in the guesthouse, and downstairs, all the restaurants were busy cleaning and getting ready for the night, so most of the places seemed to be closed. There are plenty of restaurants nearby which were open too, but I was too lazy to check out. I resorted to the nearby 7/11 convenient store for some packaged food as lunch.
Sanctuary of Truth
The entrance fee is insane, i.e. 500 ฿ per person if you want to visit the building. But a small fee of 50 ฿ can get you the access up to a view point from where you can get pictures of the building.
Among many other places of Pattaya, Sanctuary of Truth is one of Pattaya’s architectural destinations. You need to dress politely to visit this interesting place. I and my mom decided to check out the place while my dad decided to rest in the guesthouse.
To maintain and reflect the styles of Thai culture and to preserve the peace between different religions, cultures, and styles of the world according to the ancient vision of the Earth, Khun Lek and Khun Prapai Viriyapanth created the Sanctuary of Truth. Earlier they had founded Ancient City (Muang Boran) in Samut Prakan, few kilometers away from Bangkok, where I had visited last year. They had also created the popular Erawan Museum in Bangkok to serve the same purpose before.
Getting around is pretty convenient inside Pattaya due to songthaews that charge only 10 ฿ per person wherever you go on its way. There are also motorbike-taxis which are a little more expensive. Of course, taxis are there and they are mostly a rip-off, especially if you are traveling alone.
We got dropped near the gate of the walking street from where we walked a few meters to our guesthouse. It was around 6.30 PM.
Delicious Vegan Dinner
For dinner, we got our food delivered from Five Star J Vegetarian Restaurant. The restaurant is located within 2 km from our hotel. It has sit and eat option, take away, and also delivery options. It has a wide range of vegan and vegetarian food in their online menu, and very easy to order. They send freshly cooked food by a motorbike taxi and you have to pay the motorbike taxi fare in addition to the amount of the food fare.
I highly recommend this restaurant – a heaven for vegans and vegetarians as well, if you like continental cuisine. There are many other options like pasta, burgers, soups, salads, rice varieties, desserts, drinks, and more.
Walking Street of Pattaya
Pattaya Walking Street is closed to vehicle from 6 PM to dawn.
Pattaya Walking Street is world famous street – the incomparable epicentre of nightlife, nightclubs, bars, strip clubs, go-go bars, and much more.
After it got dark, we witnessed the street got densely packed by wide-eyed lads irrespective of age, but of course above 18, vetaran expats, and Chinese tour groups with flags on their hands led by their guide. Having the hotel in the heart of all that is the best feeling of all. There was so much to see and do. If you have no intention to do anything naughty, just stroll by from one end of the walking street to the other end of it and enjoy the colorful notorious sights of nightlife in Pattaya. I did the same, while my parents decided to witness the fun from the balcony.
It was a great experience – you must visit Pattaya at least once in your lifetime, even if you have nothing to do, just witnessing the fun itself is an adrenaline rush. It was almost 3 am when I came back to the guesthouse. My parents already slept off not caring about the loud music coming from the bars nearby. I was tired and slept off in no time.
Day 2 – Explore Nearby Island of Pattaya
The beach at Pattaya is one of the worst beaches I have seen in Thailand. I have been to few of the best beaches of the country, which automatically raised my expectation. Sadly, Pattaya beach is way dirtier than the rest, maybe because of the overcrowding of people, speedboats, and too many water activities. There are cleaner beaches in a nearby island called Koh Larn – we decided to visit that today.
Highlights of the Day
- Boat to Koh Larn
- Back to Bangkok
Pattaya to Koh Larn Round-Trip
In the morning, the walking street looked exactly the opposite of how it was looking last night. It was so calm. Most of the place were closed. Few of them were open and the cleaners were busy cleaning the interior.
Tawaen beach is the most popular beach, sees more than 2500 visitors every day, and is popular for water activities, while Naban pier is a major port offering all facilities like hotels, convenient stores, restaurants, bank ATMs to the visitors.
Vehicles are allowed on the walking street during the day hours. We got into a songthaew heading toward Bali Hai pier and got down at the pier for only 10 ฿ per person. There are ferries constantly departing from Bali Hai Pier to two different beaches of Koh Larn – Tawaen Beach and Naban Beach – from morning until evening. There are also private and sharing speedboats but they are expensive.
We chilled for an hour at Tawaen Beach. It was sunny and the beach looked better than Pattaya beach. Honestly, it is not up to the standards of Thailand beaches.
Overall, my conclusion is that Pattaya is not about beaches, but it is only and only about the nightlife . One must witness it at least once in his/her lifetime.
Way Back to Bangkok
There are no shared songthaew to Northern Bus Terminal from Walking Street.
We came back to Bali Hai pier by noon, and got dropped to our guesthouse by a samlor. It is a seating arrangement attached to a motorcycle with total three wheels. We checked out from the guesthouse, and hired a private songthaew to Northern Bus Terminal of Pattaya.
Northern Bus Terminal is also known as Roong Ruang Bus Terminal. It is the only bus company operating there is Roong Ruang. Buses go to either Mochit or Ekamai or Victory Monument in Bangkok. There are buses to Hua Hin, south of Thailand, and also to few places in North-Eastern Thailand.
There are few food options in the bus station. So we finished our lunch there while waiting for the 3.15 PM bus. It reached Mochit bus terminal at around 6 PM.
NET EXPENSE FOR 1 PERSON (IN THB)
Let us have a look at the expenses of Days 1-2 in Thailand – Pattaya.
- Bangkok to Pattaya (round): 300
- Hotel in Pattaya for triple sharing (1 night): 500
- Getting around: 230
- Food: 250
- Miscellaneous: 200
Total expense (roughly): 1480 THB
For a more customized itinerary, whether for solo or couple or group of any number of people, feel free to contact me on Contact Us page.
If you are planning for a much-organized, tastefully-curated, stress-free yet exciting vacation, consider booking your holidays at Travel Love Repeat. It is going to be a treat for sure!
It looks like a really nice weekend getaway, if I ever visit it probably won’t be just for a weekend but for a longer period just to get my moneys worth, but this is good to get a feel for what to see, and where to go first, also where to get something yummy to eat, and how to get around.
Yes, you must come here with a few more days in hand.
I’m glad you decided to give Pattaya a shot! I have only been to Bangkok and Koi Samui in Thailand. I am looking forward to visiting Thailand again and hope to visit different places. Pattaya might be one of them!
Pattaya is not one of my favorites though.
I have never really hear about Pattaya before even though I’ve been to Thailand a couple of times. The walking zone looks like a lot of fun though. I could definitely see visiting there after a few quiet days at
The beach.
Yes it’s a lot of fun here.
Oh you stayed in a guest house on the walking street? That must’ve been once noisy, all night place and I certainly wouldn’t recommend that to someone who wants their fair share of sleep at night haha. But it does give you easy access to a very buzzing street no doubt. I visited Pattaya years back, for a couple of days. Sanctuary of Truth doesn’t sound familiar to me, I don’t think I went there. I do remember taking a boat trip to a nearby island, can’t remember the name but it wasn’t Koh Larn. Koh Larn looks pretty!
Oh I wanted to stay right on the walking street. Yes it was too noisy but that was my whole point.
I need to do a return trip back to Thailand. Although, I haven’t been to Pattaya, I’ll go for the beaches and follow your tips on how get there. The Pattaya nightlife sounds intense and would only walk through the Walking Street. You’re brave to stay at an hotel along the Walking Street. I like my beauty sleep!
I would recommend you islands of Gulf of Thailand instead.
Walking Street looks like a lot of fun – and kudos to your parents for being so cool about the noise! While 3am is way past my bedtime, there’s just so much nightlife to see! What a great weekend getaway from Bangkok.
Yess it was so fun with them.
I’d never heard of Pattaya but it looks both hectic and fascinating! Unfortunately dirty, polluted beaches are common to many areas in southeast Asia. I wish tourists would show more respect for the natural worlds they want to visit! How did the number of speedboats compare to some of the other beach resort towns around Thailand? Also, like your breakdown of the costs for the weekend at the end – very helpful for budgeting what you should be spending.
True Kelly, tourists should be aware and careful about how to keep a beach clean. However, Thailand has some pristine beaches like Koh Nang Yuan and Koh Lipe. They are gems.
I had never heard of Pattaya before. However, I love the look of the night scene. The lights and crazy activities and shows reminds of New York City or something so very unexpected for a city in Thailand. It is nice to see a side of Thailand is more for the locals or Thai people than for tourists.
Yes, I couldnt agree more to you.
Pattaya sounds like an expensive place, so it may be worth staying a little longer than just a weekend. The nightlife looks a little crazy, I’d rather skip it and go directly to Tawaen beach!
No it is not really expensive.
Thank you for such a great post. I’ hadn’t heard of Pattaya (I haven’t been to Thailand and have never researched cities there before), but I will keep it in mind if I ever go to Thailand. It looks beautiful- although there is no way I could stay out until 3am like you! Haha. I appreciate the inclusion of vegan food. That is always one of the first things I research once I’ve booked a trip and have made a note of Five Star J if I ever end up going to Pattaya.
Pattaya is actually very popular, here.
First time hearing about Pattaya. Walking Street guest house looks perfect for people looking for night life entertainment, lights and music. This reminded me of my visit to Time Square NY. Sad to see pollution from Ferries. Such a beautiful place, some eco friendly solution should be implemented to preserve and maintain the beauty of water life and surroundings. I would love to get on ferry to Taewan beach, Tong Lang beach and enjoy playing in water.
Pattaya is too popular!
wow how crazy are those trees I love travelling in Asia and seeing the strange trees that we dont seem to have in Europe. Its a shame the beach was so crowded but it still looks a nice place to chill
Yes, it is a great place to chill.
The nightlife here looks incredible! I’m into partying during my travels. I wish I would’ve gotten off the beaten path of Phuket when in Thailand. I’ve never even heard of this city! More reason to return one day. Great guide!
Sure Shane, come here soon.
It looks like the nightlife here is absolutely off the hook. I would love to go here and have a few nights out!
That would be a great idea!
We’ve not been to Thailand yet but it’s on our bucket list and so detailed travel guides and posts like yours are so helpful for trip planning. It was good to know that you were able to find family friendly activities during your visit to Pattaya. The architecture of Sanctuary of Truth and those twisted looking trees are amazing. I’d definitely love to add this to the itinerary and it’s good to know about the suggested dress code.The view of Walking Street from Bali Hai pier looks great – I’d probably prefer to stroll along the pier as it seems more peaceful than the hustle bustle of the walking on the street itself. Thanks for sharing all the information.
You must visit Thailand, soon.