Pattaya's skyline seen from the ferry in the bay · Photo: iMahesh, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
Pattaya lies about 160 km south of Bangkok on the east coast of Thailand, on the Gulf of Thailand.
Pattaya first appears in Thai history in 1768, when King Taksin withdrew after the Burmese attack on the capital Ayutthaya to gather new strength and troops in Chonburi province. Until the 1950s Pattaya was a small fishing village, one of many between Si Racha and Sattahip, valued by fishermen for its quiet bay. In the north of Pattaya, salt was made from seawater, which explains the name Pattaya-Naklua (= salt field).
Only in the 1960s did Pattaya grow from an unremarkable fishing village into a town. During the Vietnam War the Americans built an air base nearby (U-Tapao). The airport is still used today by the Thai air force, and by private airlines too. Nearby Sattahip (today a restricted military area) served the Americans as a naval base. While they were stationed there, American soldiers came to nearby Pattaya to rest and relax: the so-called R&R tours (rest and recreation). At that time Pattaya had only one hotel of international standard.
After the Americans withdrew from Vietnam in 1975, Pattaya did not go back to being a fishing village. It had already become a magnet for tourists and grew into a city. Visitors came not only from abroad but above all from Bangkok, and they still do. At weekends especially, Pattaya and Jomtien get very busy, as people escape Bangkok for the beaches.
Pattaya today
Pattaya, the resort on the east coast, has grown fast. It is said that up to a million people now live here, but nobody knows for sure, because in Thailand you do not have to register with the authorities when you move. What is clear is that the city grows every year. The number of hotel rooms shows how fast: in 1986 Pattaya had 8,000; ten years later it already had 30,000.
Tourists coming to Pattaya should not think they are seeing Thailand: the city has little in common with the rest of the country. To get to know the real Thailand, visit the area around Pattaya; our sightseeing page describes many places worth a trip. But as soon as darkness falls and the lights come on everywhere, the city comes to life like nowhere else!
A big plus of the city is that everything is available 24 hours a day, and only a few minutes' walk away. If you want cigarettes or a beer at three in the morning between Sunday and Monday, you will easily find them in one of the many shops (7-Eleven, FamilyMart). The opening hours of the big shopping centres speak for themselves too: some open at eight in the morning and close only at 11 pm or midnight. Sunday is a working day here, because the customer is king. There are no debates about closing times or Sunday trading.
Pattaya probably has the largest foreign community, in proportion to its size, of any city in Thailand. It is popular partly because so many foreigners live here permanently. Nobody need feel lonely here.
As early as 1991 Pattaya was declared an environmental control zone, and large sums have been invested in protecting the environment. The new sewage treatment plants are now in operation, and since the cleanliness of the water has improved greatly, all of Pattaya's beaches can be enjoyed without hesitation. New parks have been laid out and make the city greener. The southern part of Beach Road has been made a pedestrian zone.