Pattaya Beach is a 2.8-kilometer-long beach that stretches from Walking Street and South Pattaya Road at the southern end, to the Dusit Thai Hotel at the northern end where Pattaya Beach Road meets North Pattaya Road and the Dolphin Roundabout.
Being easy to access from any area of downtown Pattaya (between North Pattaya Road and South Pattaya Road) makes Pattaya Beach a convenient and cheap place to chill out for the day.
Things to Do on Pattaya Beach
Renting deck chairs and loungers: You can rent chairs and loungers along the entire length of the beach. The vendors also provide snacks and beverages.
Most seats on Pattaya Beach are the lounger type (photo above) but some vendors also provide the traditional “fold away” deck chair. The loungers cost 100 baht a day, the deck chairs cost around 50 baht per day.
Hire a jet ski hire on Pattaya Beach: Jet skiing is a popular activity, for which you can expect to pay 1,500–2000 baht for 30 minutes.
The Pattaya Jet Ski Scam: It seems to have gone quiet these days, but who knows when it will rear its ugly head again, so think twice, and watch what’s happening before renting a jet ski in Pattaya.
Banana Boat rides and para-sailing (parachute towed by a boat) are available. Be sure to ask if the cost of para-sailing includes the boat ride to offshore pontoons used for take-off and landing.
Swimming & Bathing at Pattaya Beach
Is it safe to swim in the sea at Pattaya Beach? There are safe swimming zones on Pattaya Beach, so it’s safe to swim and bathe without worrying about jet-ski and boat traffic. The real issue is water quality, how clean—or dirty the sea water is in Pattaya Bay is debated often on local forums. My recommendation would be to bathe and keep your head out of the water, rather than swim.
Take a walk from Pattaya Beach to Naklua: In the photo (below) you can see the retaining wall of the Dusit Thani. During low tide, you can safely walk past the wall to Naklua Beach, from where you can continue to Wongamat Beach. From Wongamat you can either head back to Pattaya via Naklua Road or continue to Wong Prachan Beach then cut through one of the hotels and back to Naklua Road.
Pattaya Beach Rules
No smoking on the beach: The sign above says the fine for smoking and littering is 100,000 baht. Smoking areas and ashtrays are now provided on the footpath.
Hotels on Pattaya Beach
There are several true beachfront hotels in Pattaya but the only one on Pattaya Beach is the Dusit Thani Hotel.
There are, though, many hotels on Pattaya Beach Road, from 5-star luxury hotels with amazing beach and sea views to budget-priced hotels and guest houses, many of which are popular guest-friendly hotels.
The New Pattaya Beach
From early 2018 to late 2019 a major construction project called the “Pattaya Beach Nourishment Program” restored Pattaya Beach to its former glory. Before the project started, some areas of Pattaya Beach near Walking Street had been reduced to a width of just 3 meters by erosion.
The Pattaya Beach Nourishment Program eventually restored the width of Pattaya Beach to a minimum of 30 meters by laying a foundation of sandbags on the beach and then filling the beach with 360,000 cubic meters of sand dredged from the seabed around an island close to Pattaya.
Pattaya Beach Before and After
The most noticeable transformation was at the north end of Pattaya Beach. Here are some before and after photos (below) of Pattaya Beach at the Dusit Thani.
The photo above is of the beach in front of the Dusit Thai Hotel before the restoration program started.
And (above) a photo of the beach in front of the Dusit Thani after restoration was completed.
A huge area was reclaimed along the entire length of the beach, making it large enough to host events such as the Pattaya Music Festival and Kite On The Beach, and there’s more than enough room to kick a football or throw a Frisbee.
New Pattaya Beach Photos
The photos of the newly transformed beach around North and Central Pattaya were taken on 17th January 2019.
Old Photos of Pattaya Beach
The photos below are dated around the 1960s and 70s when Pattaya was transitioning from a sleepy old fishing village to the boom town it is today.
