Pattaya is a city built for fun on the northeastern coast of the Gulf of Thailand. It is situated in Chonburi Province around 150 kilometres south of Bangkok. In the Sixties, Pattaya was scarcely known, yet the American soldiers fighting in Vietnam started using it for R&R and it began to grow. Pattaya is most famous for its entertainment and its nightlife, but in fact it has a lot more than that to give.

As far as just sport goes, Pattaya offers horse riding, swimming, diving, wind surfing, golf, tennis and jet skiing among others. However, not like most sporting towns or cities, it does not start to go to sleep when the sun goes down.

The bars, restaurants, discos and strip bars start to open in abundance at around four o’clock. The bars are of each persuasion to suit every niche market.

There are Welsh bars, American bars, Irish bars, Lady Boy bars and each other type of bar you can think of. Likewise with the restaurants, there are specialized restaurants for every country. There are bush game restaurants, Chinese, Japanese, American, French, German and fish restaurants. In fact there are thousands of restaurants and bars all trying to become unique.

I am certain that you could stay in Pattaya for months without going the same bar or eating the same type of food twice. This is just as well because there are representatives from every country in the world there as well. You will hear English, Russian and each European and Asian language spoken in Pattaya on an everyday basis.

Pattaya receives over one million visitors a year. Most of these visitors are men, and the local government is trying to do more to attract women and families by relocating the girlie bars back away from the beach.

Despite it being fairly large, you can stay in your favourite part of Pattaya and find nearly everything you want near-by. However, if you do have to get about, nothing could be simpler. Most people just hop on a ‘Baht Bus’. These small open-backed pick-ups can be seen going around the city by fairly predictable routes when you understand the design of the city.

The ‘fixed fare’ is ten Baht for as far as you want to go on the route, although some drivers will attempt to get more out of you if you go a long way. Thais pay five Baht. If you do not feel confident enough to forecast where the bus is going, you could hire on one of the thousands of motorcycle taxis.

They are dearer at about forty to sixty Baht, yet they will go anywhere you like. Ask for a quote before you leave to avoid disappointment on both sides. If you do not want to hire a car, there are other alternatives. You could rent a motorcycle or motorbike. A motorcycle costs about 100 Baht a day at the cheapest, but beware the traffic in Pattaya it can get pretty chaotic.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on numerous topics, but is now concerned with Songkran – the old Thai New Year. If you would like to know more, please visit our website at Package Holidays to Thailand.