Pattaya has the most specific reputation of any beach city in Thailand, and it is worth saying what it actually is before deciding whether to go. It was a fishing village until the late 1960s, when American servicemen on leave from Vietnam started arriving, and the sex industry that grew around that is still there, concentrated in a few named streets. It is also a city of about 120,000 with a Chinese and Russian package market, a good aquarium, an eleven storey temple built entirely of carved teak without nails, and an island half an hour offshore with better water than the mainland.
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Both of those things are true at once, and they are geographically separated, which is the single most useful fact for a woman planning a trip here. Walking Street and the Beach Road bar strip are about a kilometre of the city. Jomtien, Naklua, Pratumnak and the islands are somewhere else entirely and behave like ordinary Thai beach suburbs. This page is specific about which is which, because a general recommendation for or against Pattaya is not useful to anybody.
What Makes Pattaya Different to Pack For
Hot all year, with a short wet season
The Gulf coast here runs 29°C to 34°C by day with high humidity, and it barely varies. The cool season from November to February is the pleasant window with lower humidity. September and October are the wettest months, with heavy afternoon rain and occasional street flooding. April and May are the hottest, above 35°C.
The city is a long thin strip, and the districts differ completely
North to south: Naklua, then Pattaya Beach with the bar strip at its south end, then Pratumnak on the headland, then Jomtien, then Na Jomtien. Choosing the wrong one is the main way people have a bad trip here.
The mainland water is not the reason to come
Pattaya Beach itself is busy, built up and not clean enough to be the point. The good swimming is on Koh Larn, forty minutes by ferry, and on the quieter southern beaches.
Temples and a resort city in the same day
You will be in swimwear and then in a temple. That means carrying a cover-up, which is the recurring practical item here.
A merino wool base layer for women is not a tropical item and earns its place for the flight and the aggressively air conditioned malls, buses and cinemas, which in this city are genuinely cold.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
The Pattaya Packing List
Footwear
Flip flops and a pair of walking sandals cover most of it. The pavements are uneven, often broken, and motorbikes use them, so something with a sole you trust is better than something flat and thin.
Water shoes for Koh Larn, where a couple of the beaches are rock and shell rather than sand. If you go inland to Khao Chi Chan or take a day trip to the waterfalls at Khao Kheow, waterproof hiking shoes are useful, though nothing here demands real boots.
Clothing
Light, loose, quick drying. Two swimsuits. A sarong or light cover-up that does double duty as temple shoulder covering, which is the item you will use every day.
A packable rain jacket for September and October. Shorts and vests are completely normal in the resort areas and not appropriate in temples or in the Thai residential parts of Naklua and Jomtien, where covering shoulders and knees is the courteous default.
One smarter outfit if you intend to eat anywhere good, and a warm layer for the malls and the bus back to Bangkok.
For sun
A wide brim sun hat, high factor sunscreen and sunglasses. The beaches have umbrella and lounger hire, which is cheap and worth it, but the boat trips and the Sanctuary of Truth have no shade.
Practical
Cash in baht, since the songthaew baht buses and most food stalls are cash only. A zipped crossbody worn in front, which matters here more than in most Thai cities. Insect repellent, because dengue is present. A refillable bottle; tap water is not drinkable. A dry bag for the ferry. And a plug adapter for the Thai two pin sockets.
What to Wear at Key Sites
The Sanctuary of Truth
An entirely wooden temple on the shore at Naklua, over a hundred metres tall, carved inside and out with Hindu and Buddhist figures and assembled with wooden joints rather than nails. It was begun in 1981 and it is still unfinished, deliberately: the carving is continuous, which means there is always scaffolding and always a workshop on site.
Practically: shoulders and knees must be covered and a wrap is provided if you arrive without one, and hard hats are issued because it is an active building site. It is on the sea and fully exposed, so go early. Photography is allowed. This is the best thing in Pattaya and it is nothing like the rest of the city.
Jomtien and the southern beaches
Jomtien is a six kilometre beach south of the headland, with a Thai and long stay European population, a night market and none of the bar strip.
Practically: this is where to stay if you want a beach holiday. Swimwear on the sand, cover up walking to it. Na Jomtien further south is quieter again. Pratumnak, on the headland between Jomtien and Pattaya, has the small Cosy Beach and the Wat Khao Phra Bat viewpoint.
Koh Larn
An island 7 kilometres offshore with several beaches, clear water and a day tripper economy.
Practically: the public ferry from Bali Hai pier takes 45 minutes and costs very little; speedboats are faster and more expensive. Samae and Tien beaches are the good ones. Go on a weekday, because Thai weekend crowds are heavy. Take a dry bag, reef safe sunscreen and cash, and check the last ferry time, which is earlier than people assume.
Khao Chi Chan and the Silverlake vineyard
A 130 metre gold outline of the Buddha laser cut into a limestone cliff face, with a vineyard next to it, about twenty minutes inland.
Practically: shoulders and knees, since it is a religious site despite the setting. Full sun, no shade. Combines with the Nong Nooch tropical garden nearby, which is large, landscaped and has an elephant show that is worth skipping for the same reasons set out in the Chitwan guide.
The markets and the food
Thepprasit night market at the weekend, the Jomtien night market, and Naklua's fresh market in the morning, which is where the city actually buys its fish.
Practically: cash, flat shoes, and go hungry. Chonburi province food means seafood, and the som tam here is fierce. Naklua market at 7am is the most Thai hour of the week in this city.
Walking Street, said plainly
A pedestrianised street at the south end of Pattaya Beach, open from about 6pm, with go-go bars, clubs and a great deal of noise. It is the centre of the sex industry that gives the city its name.
Practically: it is not dangerous to walk down and a lot of women do, out of curiosity, usually once. Expect to be propositioned and touted at constantly, expect explicit touting, and expect to be uncomfortable if you go alone. Do not accept a drink, do not follow anyone anywhere, and know that scams are common in the bars, most often an inflated bill enforced by staff. If you have no interest in it, the simplest thing is to stay in Jomtien or Naklua, where you will not encounter any of it. Thailand's sex industry involves trafficking and coercion alongside consensual work; that is a reason to avoid patronising it rather than a reason to avoid the city.
What Not to Bring
Leave the assumption that the whole city is Walking Street, and leave the assumption that none of it is.
Leave swimwear as streetwear away from the beach. Leave valuables in the room safe, not on a lounger. Leave any interest in a jet ski rental, which is the most reliable scam in Pattaya: damage is alleged on return and a large cash demand follows. And leave a motorbike unrented unless you hold the correct licence, because the road casualty rate on this stretch of coast is among the worst in Thailand.
Essential Resources for Women in Pattaya
Emergency numbers in Thailand: 191 for police, 1669 for ambulance and rescue, 199 for fire. 1155 is the Tourist Police hotline and is staffed in English, which makes it the number to use first as a visitor.
Tourist police: Pattaya has one of the largest Tourist Police presences in Thailand, with a station on Beach Road and volunteers who speak several languages. They handle scams, bill disputes and theft reports, and they are considerably more useful to a foreigner than the local police station. Use 1155.
US Embassy: the US Embassy in Bangkok at th.usembassy.gov covers Thailand, about two hours away, with no consulate in Pattaya. Enrol in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program at step.state.gov before you travel.
Main hospital or clinic: Bangkok Hospital Pattaya is the main international standard private hospital, with English speaking staff, 24 hour emergency and direct insurance billing, and Pattaya Memorial and Bangkok Pattaya's smaller clinics also serve visitors. Public options include Banglamung Hospital. Private care is good and expects payment or an insurance guarantee up front.
Official health authority: the Ministry of Public Health at moph.go.th, with dengue present year round and peaking in the wet season. Rabies exists in Thailand and stray dogs are common on the quieter beaches, so do not approach them.
US State Department travel advisory for Thailand: current advisory level and detail. Read it directly rather than relying on this page.
UK FCDO travel advice for Thailand: entry requirements, safety and health guidance, including the specific warnings on jet ski and motorbike rental disputes, drink spiking and the penalties for drug offences, all of which name Pattaya among the places they apply.
Official tourism authority: the Tourism Authority of Thailand at tourismthailand.org, which runs a Pattaya office and publishes the ferry timetables for Koh Larn.
Solo women safety assessment: Pattaya is safer for a woman travelling alone than its reputation suggests, and the reason is that the reputation describes an industry rather than a threat to visitors. Thailand is broadly safe for solo women and Pattaya is heavily policed because tourism is the entire local economy. Violent crime against female tourists is rare. What is common is commercial: inflated bar bills, jet ski damage claims, rigged taxi and tuk tuk fares, timeshare touting, and the gem and tailor scams. Agree every price before you get in or sit down, refuse jet skis outright, and use Grab or the fixed route songthaews rather than negotiating. Drink spiking is a genuine and recurring problem in the Beach Road and Walking Street bars, more so than elsewhere in Thailand, so buy your own drinks, watch them poured, and do not leave them. Choose your district deliberately: staying in Jomtien, Na Jomtien, Naklua or Pratumnak means a normal Thai beach holiday, while staying on Beach Road or Soi 6 means bar noise until 4am and constant touting. Walking alone in Jomtien and Naklua in the evening is comfortable. On Beach Road and Walking Street at night you will be approached persistently, some of it explicit, and a firm no without engagement is the method; walk in the road rather than the shadows and take a Grab back. Avoid the beach itself after dark anywhere in the city, which is where most of the opportunistic theft and the few assaults happen. Street harassment as such is mild from Thai people and comes mostly from other tourists. The largest actual danger is traffic: this coast has a severe motorbike casualty rate, helmets are often not provided, and your travel insurance will likely not cover you without the correct licence. Rip currents are modest but there are few lifeguards, jet skis operate close to swimmers, and stray dogs are a rabies consideration on the quiet beaches.
Reading On
Pattaya is two hours from Bangkok and two from Suvarnabhumi airport, which is why it fills up, and the good version of it is a Jomtien base with the island and the Sanctuary of Truth. The Thailand travel guide for women is the parent for the country and the Thailand packing list for women covers a trip across it. North, the Bangkok packing list for women is the arrival city and the Ayutthaya packing list for women and Sukhothai packing list for women cover the old capitals. Further south and west, the Hua Hin packing list for women is the calmer Gulf resort, with the Koh Samet packing list for women the nearest good island and the Koh Pha Ngan packing list for women and Koh Tao packing list for women further down the Gulf. The travel packing guide for women is the parent for all destinations. For why a thin wool layer belongs in a tropical bag at all, the best merino wool base layers for women explains the fibre, and the Roman Trail collection is where the tops themselves live.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
