Only one hour from Bangkok’s new Suvarnabhumi Airport, the bubbly Pattaya, also referred to as the country’s naughtiest town, has everything you need for an amusing weekend. Famous for its nightlife, Thailand’s unique tourist resort presents a wide variety of fine restaurants, bars, discos and shows, as well as several establishments offering diverse dodgier types of night entertainment.

Dining

Since Pattaya’s night activities don’t commence before about 22:00 it’s best to sample the food first.. An enormous selection of restaurants and vendors serve everything Thailand’s kitchens have to offer, while a huge number of international dining places provide cuisine from all over the planet, including a local ‘chippy’ catering to visitors from the UK.

A huge selection of eateries, many of them open until dawn, can be found around South Pattaya and along the pedestrianised Walking Street. Pattaya unfortunately doesn’t provide the most genuine Thai dining know-how, with international menus and steakhouses pampering the foreign hordes instead of the low-key, affordable Thai eating places found elsewhere. There are a few gems, however.

Pubbing

The vibrant bar scene in Pattaya features a colourful assortment of styles and tastes, and with over 600 establishments on hand, it shouldn’t be a problem to discover something appropriate. From pub restaurants to go-go bars, to stylish, crowded discos and world renowned transsexual cabaret shows, Pattaya nightlife presents it all. Besides, this town is great for pub crawling since plentiful diverse bar types are situated close to each other.

Flanked by a multitude of bars, the neon-lit Walking Street is a great point for starting the night off. The town’s most famous nightlife area is closed to vehicles from 18:30 until the next morning and is packed with restaurants, beer bars, massage parlours and go-go bars. There are also a handful of discos which are normally crammed and deafening.

The nearby Pattayaland features more bars, with a selection of both straight and gay go-go bars. Furthermore, a large number of drinking holes filled with hostesses are placed in the open-air ‘bar beers’ on the lanes off Beach Road. In addition, there are a couple of wine bars as well as a German brew house performing live music every night. At the northern point of Beach Road (soi 6, 7 and 8), you will come across various popular expat hangouts, with more bar girl loaded venues situated near some of Pattaya’s top English and Irish pubs.

Clubbing and music

Pattaya also has several discos and live music venues located in among the bars off Beach road or along the Walking Street. In North Pattaya is the well-known Alcazar Cabaret and the Tiffany Cabaret which present glamorous shows featuring stunning transsexuals in beautiful costumes, and are very popular with tourists.

Apart from the flashy side, however, Pattaya also has several other night entertainment venues. A number of bars occasionally host Thai kickboxing events, two cinemas present films with English soundtracks, and there are three bowling alleys at Jomtien, while Ripley’s Believe It or Not features diverse entertaining highlights over and above its weird displays.

Should all the hustle and bustle in and around town become a little too much for your senses, you still have the alternative of simply strolling along the illuminated bay promenade and watching the passers-by as a more peaceful option of enjoying the night scene in Pattaya.

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