Introduction to Pattaya

Pattaya is 147 kilometers southeast of Bangkok, and faces the Thai Gulf. It is Asias premier beach resort, and caters with equal appeal to families, couples and single visitors. Pattaya's relaxing tropical ambience is synonymous with every ingredient for memorable holidays. Accommodation ranges from luxuriously appointed backside hotels with superb convention facilities to simple guesthouses. Sporting opportunities abound both on land and water, and include some of the finest golfing, game fishing, and scuba-diving anywhere in Asia. Theme and amusement parks, offbeat museums and lush botanical gardens offer numerous forms of leisure activities and cultural entertainment for all family members. And after dark, Pattaya offers all the allure and magic of a truly vibrant nightlife with a spectacular variety of restaurants, night clubs, bars, discotheques, cocktail lounges and cabarets. Pattaya can be brash, bold, beautiful and bucolic, and offers everything and authentic international beach resort can.

Major Events

● Wan Lai Festival
The heat in Thailand intensifies once the month of April comes. People of old were wise enough to initiate the Songkran festival to cool themselves off from the heat and celebrate it as the Thai New Year. In the central region, the festival is usually held on the 13th, l4th and 15th of April while in the East there is a difference as the water throwing activities commence on the l6th or 17th, 18th or 19th known as "Wan Lai" (Flowing Day).
Pattaya City holds its Wan Lai festival annually on April 19th with activities such as water pouring for the elders, processions and the fun of dowsing and another with water, a time for Thais and foreigners alike.

● Pattaya Festival
usually held at the middle of April to promote tourism and Pattaya's reputation. Floral floats are paraded along the streets. The Miss Pattaya Beauty contest is held as well as traditional aquatic sports competitions and construction of sand castles. A spectacular fireworks display takes place on the beach and fire crackers are also set off. Simultaneously, there are arts and cultural performances, exhibitions and souvenirs for sale.

● Chonburi Buffalo Races
is held in Chon Buri during October every year. The water buffalo is one of the mainstays in the life of a Thai farmer, but in this annual event it is put to more amusing uses than ploughing the local fields, such as buffalo races and contests pitting buffalo and man. Beauty contests add to the fun a festival that attracts crowds from nearby seaside resorts.

Pattaya Beer Bars

Although every bar has to have a licence issued before it can operate, and most do wait for the licence, there are no published numbers of bars in the Pattaya catchment area. A figure of over 3,000 beerbars in town may even be on the low side. Every time you turn a corner, you see new ones being built, so there is no accurate published number of how many really exist. There are several large areas where there are many bars, but there is a growing number of small venues, both in town, out of town and on the main roads from town to the highway. They are in Pattaya, Jomtien, Naklua - in fact anywhere were there are potential customers.
Even after Pattaya City announce Zoning back in late 2001, the explosion of beer bars has increased. On almost every small plot of vacant land now has a beer bar. There are some in Soi 12, Naklua, where it was jungle. The downside is that with reduced tourist numbers, there are not enough customers to go round. Then comes the equation - No income = No girls = No income.
The majority of the bars are in the main tourist areas, but often the bars slightly out of the way that are aimed at the Ex-pat customers can be less pressured and more friendly. Even the other side of Sukhumvit highway, there are a growing number, mostly for expats and tourists with transport.
Not surprisingly, due to the rigid enforcement of the 2.00am closing time in bars (In Bangkok it is 12.45am !!), many beer bars and other clubs are opening in the afternoon to claw back the lost trade. Sadly, without the darkness and flashing lights, stark reality takes away some of the magic that was once Pattaya.

Our best advice these days is when you get to Pattaya, just take a Baht Bus ride round the circuit. The main route is north up Pattaya Second Road to the Dolphin Roundabout and some then go on to Naklua. Others turn round and come back South on Beach Road to the end of Walking Street and then back to the Pattaya Second Road route. You will see many groups of bars on your journey and places to try. Try to pick up a copy of "The Bar Hoppers Guide" which gives you a good selection of places to drink and enjoy what we come for.
But before you think that is all, it is only the icing on the cake. Every road off the main route have bars and Soi Buakaow which runs behind Second Road has a life of its own.
The following section was written before the latest targeting due to the social order clackdown, so may now be historical information only. Check it you yourself for up to date information
SHORT TIME BARS
Apart from Agogo and Beer Bars, there is another group which are called "Short Time Bars". They are usually "Inside" bars as opposed to open air bars. In the old days, they had the older and less desirable bargirls, but in recent times, the market has changed. Now you will find some of the best looking girls working there, as they can earn as much in the day as going Long Time. They are usually open in the afternoon and while many close by midnight other stay open until the mandatory closing time. Many an Expat uses these places "On the way home" or for an "Afternoon out with the boys". There are good and bad, as in other places, but the good can be better than the best of the rest. Soi Yodsak and the newer Soi Chaiyapoon have the most, but others are dotted around all over the place, from Naklua to Jomtien and as far afield as the famous Butterfly Bar out of town on Soi Siam Country Club.
Due to the current "Social Order" directive, these bars have been told not to offer on-site accomodation, while others have been told to register as hotels, should guests wish to stay on the premises. Luckily, Pattaya being Pattaya, many places ignore such stupid instructions.