Pattaya is a popular resort on the North Gulf
Coast of Eastern Thailand, 150 km south-east
of Bangkok.
Most famous for its go-go and beer bars, it's
also one of Thailand's best locations for all
manner of sports and activities. Some of the
beaches are lacklustre (by Thailand's high standards)
and rampant over-development has long since
destroyed any natural charms it once had, but
its plethora of hotels and guesthouses and convenient
location with quick and easy access from the
capital make it a popular weekend getaway. Catering
for over 5 million tourists yearly, Pattaya
is also able to offer an excellent range of
eating choices and a wide variety of things
to do and see.
Pattaya's name was originally Thap Phraya,
meaning Army of the Phraya - commemorating the
surrender of Nai Klom's army to that of Phraya
Tak (later King Taksin the Great), without a
fight. Thap Phraya became Phatthaya (the name
of the north-easterly wind at the beginning
of the rainy season), and then Phatthaya (the
true phonetic spelling).
Since 1978, Pattaya has been administered under
a special autonomous system with a status comparable
to that of a municipality by the mayor of Pattaya
City, who has overall responsibility for policies,
public services, and supervision of all City
Hall employees.
Tourism
Once a sleepy fishing town, Pattaya first boomed
as an R&R spot during the Vietnam War and
has been a sex tourism destination trying to
improve its image ever since. Currently, Pattaya
is booming again: TAT claims 5,338,000 visitors
for 2005 (up 6.5% from 2004), of which two-thirds
were foreigners, and the takeover by the new
Suvarnabhumi Airport (located to the east of
Bangkok, alongside the expressway to Pattaya)
from the more distant Don Muang Airport at the
end of September 2006 will undoubtedly make
further increases in tourism revenues inevitable.
Pattaya is popular not only as a beach resort
and for its entertainment, nightlife and shopping,
but also for the broad selection of pastimes
it caters for, from golf and horseback riding
to bungee jumping, karting and shooting - not
to mention a wide variety of watersports such
as scuba diving, jet-skiing, sailing, water
skiing, windsurfing and kitesurfing, and a whole
lot more. Pattaya is also very popular as a
conference, convention and seminar venue, and
the grapevine hosts rumours of future developments
of varying degrees of plausibility, such as
a horse racing track, casinos, and a tram system.
Districts
"Greater Pattaya" occupies most
of the coastline of Banglamung (one of the eleven
districts that comprise Chonburi Province).
It is divided into a larger northern section
which spans the areas to the east of Naklua
Beach (the most northern beach) and Pattaya
Beach (the main beach) plus the Buddha Hill
headland (immediately south of Pattaya Beach),
and a smaller southern section covering the
area to the east of Jomtien Beach (which lies
directly south of Buddha Hill) including Dongtan
Beach. Jomtien's beaches are much broader and
generally in better shape, and the atmosphere
locally is more sedate and family-oriented,
than at Pattaya Beach.
For information about Jomtien, see the Jomtien
guide.
Sub-districts
South is central, Central is north
Pattaya's sub-district names sometimes cause
confusion, usually when the official Pattaya
Bay area titles (North Pattaya, Central Pattaya,
South Pattaya) are misunderstood. These names
don't relate to Pattaya as a whole, instead
they refer to the sections of Pattaya Beach
to which each sub-district is aligned.
Pattaya's coastal side is divided longitudinally
into five contiguous sub-districts (or six,
if also including Jomtien). Each one is named
after the section of beach or headland at its
seaboard.
In the middle are the three Pattaya Bay sub-districts,
which share the main Baht Bus route (so most
places are within 5 minutes / 10 baht of most
other places, at any hour) and have much else
in common, and hence in combination make up
the main quasi-downtown zone:
North Pattaya (Pattaya Nua)
- not the northern-most part of Pattaya (as
Naklua lies further north), but the section
of Pattaya adjacent to the northern end of
Pattaya Beach and extending inland to both
the north and south of North Pattaya Road.
Does not include Naklua.
South Pattaya (Pattaya Tai)
- not the southern-most part of Pattaya (as
the Buddha Hill headland, and then Jomtien,
lie further south), but the section of Pattaya
adjacent to the southern end of Pattaya Beach
and extending inland to both the north and
south of South Pattaya Road. Includes Pattayaland
and Walking Street. Does not include Buddha
Hill or Jomtien.
Central Pattaya (Pattaya Klang)
- not the dead centre of Pattaya, but the
section of Pattaya adjacent to the middle
of Pattaya Beach and extending inland to both
the north and south of Central Pattaya Road.
Some maps/guides disregard the Central Pattaya
convention, and instead extend North Pattaya
and South Pattaya to meet each other along
Central Pattaya Road; sometimes, Beach Road
is described with a similar division, and
the respective halves given "North Beach
Road" and "South Beach Road"
monikers.
Flanking the Pattaya Beach sub-districts
are:
Naklua - immediately north of
North Pattaya, and with quick, frequent, and
inexpensive transport to and from the rest
of Pattaya; Naklua is popular with visitors
whose native language is German. In terms
of tourism-related locations, it's the smallest
and least significant sub-district, the main
attractions being the beaches (which are quieter
than Pattaya Beach) and the Sanctuary of Truth.
Buddha Hill - named after the
Buddha Hill landmark and sandwiched between
South Pattaya (to the north) and Jomtien (to
the south); to the east, South Pattaya and
Jomtien meet directly.
In practice, exactly where each sub-district
ends and the next begins is a very grey area
as none of the boundaries lie along major
roads (and none of the many readily available
tourist maps attempts to define boundaries
at this level); nevertheless they do provide
a handy rough guide to approximate latitude.
Further inland, the sub-district names are
used less, and locality/road names take precedence
- for example, an address might state "Sukhumvit,
Naklua" which is useful in that it makes
it clear the location is to the north of the
Sukhumvit / North Pattaya Road intersection,
however the exact same place would not normally
be described simply as being "in Naklua"
as that would give the misleading impression
of it being in the main beachside/tourism
area further west.
Pattaya Information
