Pattaya, a vibrant coastal city in Thailand, offers an unforgettable blend of sun, sea, and culture.
From its lively beaches to iconic attractions like the Sanctuary of Truth and the Nong Nooch Tropical Garden, Pattaya is a paradise for explorers.
By day, immerse yourself in floating markets, temples, and tropical beauty; by night, experience the electrifying energy of Walking Street’s nightlife.
Whether you seek adventure, relaxation, or a culinary journey through Thai flavors, Pattaya has something for everyone.
This guide will take you through the best places to visit, must-try foods, and tips for exploring this dynamic destination.
Things to do in Pattaya:
1. Pattaya Floating Market:
They also call this market the “Four Regions Floating Market” because its 100,000 sqm subsections represent the four major areas of Thailand: the north, northeast, central, and south.
This market is a house of 114 shops where you can shop for souvenirs, fruits, vegetables, art, handicrafts, postcards, and clothing.
You can also enjoy cultural shows and demonstrations every afternoon. To get around the market you can hire a man-powered boat and discover the richness of Thai architecture and riverside life.
Apart from shopping, you can also enjoy authentic Thai dishes that include pad thai, kanom jean, ka Nam Krok, foi thing, and thong yop.
This market opens at 10 in the morning and closes at 11 at night.
2. Sanctuary of truth:
This spot is located in the north of Wongamat Beach. This iconic structure, intricately carved entirely from teak wood, stands 105 meters tall.
Neither a temple nor a palace, it was commissioned by a business tycoon as a palace to honor philosophy, art, culture, and faith, free from religious discrimination.
The site features carvings of elephants, people, creatures, and deities from mythology. Construction began in 1981 and continues to this day.
According to locals, it pays tribute to the seven creators without whom life cannot exist Heaven, Earth, Father, Mother, Moon, Sun, and stars.
To enter this spot you have to pay an entry fee of 450 Baht for adults and 225 Baht for children. The timings of this spot are from 8 AM to 5 PM.
3. Walking street:
Walking Street is located at the Southern end of Beach Road. It is the biggest and busiest party hotspot in the whole of Thailand.
This walking street stretches from the Beach Road end to the Bali Hai Plaza end. All the buildings you will see here are either nightclubs, go-go bars, beer bars, or restaurants.
This is a place where a person of any taste can enjoy the peak. Pattaya’s walking street is so densely packed that if you spend every night here for a week you will still end up finding new places.
At about the halfway point is the famous Walking Street Tree. Around this Walking Street Tree, you will find mostly ladyboy bars and clubs.
Walking street is a place where you should not go with your family because there are hundreds of bars full of prostitutes. The ladies behind the bars will try to get your partner to go off with them.
Here, you will find girls from all around the world. Beware of the people approaching you to watch sex shows. They will show you the menu with an image of a woman on it.
Do not get trapped in this as most of the tourists get ripped and regret it later. If you want to enjoy the go-go stuff at the bars then there is a lot for you including beet babes, bikini body dance, fun live music bar, club girls, pole dance, and much more.
You must visit the walking street after 7:30 pm as all the go-go bars are open.
The average price for the escorts here in Walking Street is 500-1500. Moreover, you will get a lot of options to choose your night partner.
4. Nong Nooch Tropical Garden:
This 2.4 square kilometers of the garden is fully packed with some of the most remarkable flowers, displays, and landscapes in the whole of Thailand.
You will find this garden as a theme park. You can enjoy daily cultural shows and delicious traditional dishes at several restaurants.
This garden is a house of fascinating species-specific gardens such as cactus and succulent plants, orchids nurseries, tropical palm gardens, bonsai, and topiary gardens.
The orchid nurseries are a must-visit which are the house of 670 native species and hybrids all in one place. Another attraction at this spot is the 1.1 km elevated walkway that takes you through the topiary garden, European garden, tropical palm garden, butterfly hill, and a Stonehenge garden.
You can also enjoy the daily shows at the Thai Cultural Hall. The times to visit this garden are from 9 AM to 5 PM.
5. Wat Phra Khao Yai:
This temple is also called “The Big Buddha Hill“, located on Pratumnak Hill. The height of Buddha located here is 18 meters, positioned 100 meters above sea level.
The mountain on which this temple is located separates the Pattaya and Jomtien beaches. The staircase leading to the temple has golden dragons running along the entire handrail.
At the foot of the stairs, seven-headed mythical snakes called Nagas emerge from the dragon’s mouth.
Once you are on the top you can take pictures with Buddha figures (lying down, standing, and sitting) which represent the days of weeks. On the way to the temple, you will find many traders selling birds enclosed in cages.
Ringing the line of small bells with a stick is another activity you can enjoy here.
Food to try in Pattaya:
1. Som Tum:
This dish is made with garlic, chilies, green beans, cherry tomatoes, and shredded raw papaya, which makes it an extremely sweet, sour, and spicy dish.
You can enjoy this dish with salted crab, dry shrimp, and peanuts.
This dish is available everywhere you can see a distinctive large pestle and mortar, including some street vendor carts.
2. Yum Woon Sen:
Yum Woon Sen dish is also known as ” Spicy Glass Noodles”. This dish is considered a salad or diet food in Thailand.
This dish uses plain glass noodles as its base. Yum Woon Sen dish is a combination of a wide variety of ingredients including garlic, dried shrimp, peanuts, onion, limes, Chinese celery, lots of chilies, and ground pork.
All these ingredients together give this dish a crunchy, spicy, and very sour flavor.
How to get around Pattaya:
A songthaew is the most common and one of the cheapest modes of transport in Pattaya. Songthaew will take you to most of the tourist destinations on a ticket worth 5 and 30 Baht depending on the route of travel.
Another affordable way to get around Pattaya is the bus, which costs around 30 Baht. If you want to hire a personal vehicle then you must consider a ride of Tuk-tuk.
Tuk-tuk can take you to places where buses and songthaew can not reach. For more comfortable rides you can hire private taxis and cabs.
They usually charge more than any other mode of transport.
How to reach Pattaya:
1. By flight:
The nearest airport to Pattaya is U-Tapao Airport, located about 30 kilometers away from Pattaya.
Another way by which you can reach Pattaya is the Suvarnabhumi Airport of Bangkok which is about 120 kilometers away from Pattaya.
You will get taxis from Suvarnabhumi Airport to Pattaya at a very reasonable price. It takes about one and a half hours to reach Pattaya from Suvarnabhumi Airport.
2. By train
You can approach Pattaya from Bangkok via train. Several daily trains operate between the main train station in Pattaya and the Hualamphong Station in Bangkok.
You can buy a ticket at the station itself. The ticket must be bought 30 minutes before the departure.
