The Beaches of Thailand

Pattaya

Pattaya is quite infamous for it's sex industry and if your after a relaxing beach holiday this probably isn't the best place to go, touts galore and lacking good water quality are it's good points, at the southern end of Pattaya you will find Bali Hai Pier where you can catch boats to Koh Larn Island, or visit the Pattaya Light House. Between Pattaya and Jomtien are several small beaches with cleaner water and very few visitors apart from weekends, these include Pattaya Park Beach, Cosy Beach, Asia Hotel Beach (also known as Hu-Gwang Bay), and a nice little one by Adriatic Asia Hotel off of Phratamnak Road.

Jomtien Beach

Jomtien Beach is a 10baht and 10 minute drive from Pattaya, it has about 7km of nice sandy beach, most taxies will drop you off by the Dong Tan police station, if you walk to the right you will be on Dong Tan Beach which is the gay friendly beach, around the area of the police station you will be pestered by many touts so you may want to walk further down the beach, jet skis, banana boat rides and parasailing are all available here.
You can learn more about Jomtien here or post your questions in our Pattaya Forum.

Koh Larn

Koh Larn is a 40 minute boat ride away from Pattaya, it has several beaches including Thonglang Beach, Hat Ta Yai, Ta Waen Beach, Thien Beach, Samae Beach and Nual Beach, the surrounding water is clean and clear, there are several coral reefs which can be viewed from glass bottomed boats or even a submarine.
A couple of the beaches are always quite deserted if you want to get away from it all, others are commercialized with bars, restaurants and hotels. A Koh Larn Vacation

Naklua Beach

The beach in Naklua is called Wong Amat Beach, (another Wong Amat Beach review)it is a nice scenic bay with a couple of seafood restaurants, as Naklua is mainly aimed at German tourists you may find a lot of the deck chairs already taken by beach towels. In the local area you will find many German restaurants and also bars aimed at German tourists, so if your looking for a good beer and had enough of Thai food this area is worth a visit.
Naklua also has a great wet seafood market if you want to do your own cooking.

Koh Chang

The days of staying on Koh Chang for a $1 a day are long gone, but Koh Chang is still worth a visit, just a short ferry ride away from Trat you will be able to enjoy some fabulous beaches, the most famous of these is White Sands Beach, nice long sandy beach with some nice expensive beach resorts and also low end but expensive beach bungalows, here you will also find some beer bars and even a 7/11, other beaches include Lonely Beach, Klong Prao Beach and Kai Bae Beach, near to Koh Chang are several smaller islands including Koh Kood. - Koh Chang Ferry Information. - Koh Chang Forum, Koh Kood Vacation.

Rayong

Rayong Province is 179km from Bangkok and is of course home to Koh Samet and Ban Chang which are the most popular tourist destinations, but Rayong itself does have some very nice beaches such as Mae Ram Pheung, Laem Mae Pim and Suan Son Beach, at these beaches you will find accommodation from basic guesthouses to high end beach resorts and restaurants to suit any pocket. A members review of Mae Pim Beach Resort & a review of Hin Suay Namsai Resort.

Koh Samet

Koh Samet is a small island off of the coast of Rayong, ferries leave regularly from Ban Phe, being a Thai National Park it does charge more for foreigners. Beaches include Vongduern Bay, Ao Prao Beach, Saikeaw Beach or White Sands Beach, Noi-Nha beach, Ao Phai Beach, Ao Wai and Ao Cho Beach.
Hat Sai Kaeo (Diamond Beach) is the longest and most popular beach on Koh Samet, it is lined with restaurants, guesthouses, beach huts and resorts, during long weekends you may find it difficult to get accommodation on the island due to many visitors from Bangkok and the surrounding provinces.

Koh Samui

Koh Samui is Thailand's 3rd largest island and is in the Gulf of Thailand, it has an area of 228.7 km2. Koh Samui has an airport so you can either fly to Koh Samui or take a boat, boats leave from Surat Thani which is about 35km away. Beaches on Koh Samui include Chaweng Beach, Lamai Beach, Big Buddha Beach, Bophut Beach, Na Hai Beach and many others. Tourism is now the main industry there nowadays but it wasn't that many years ago that coconuts and fishing were the mainstay of business in Koh Samui, here you can view members photos of Koh Samui in 1977. Koh Samui has many hotels, guesthouses and resorts so finding somewhere to stay isn't a problem. If your in the area during the full moon you may want to take a trip to Koh Phangan.

Phuket

Patong Beach is the most well known on Phuket, plenty of nightlife, bars and restaurants, other beaches include Karon Beach, Kata Beach, Kata Noi Beach, Nai Harn Beach, Nai Yang, Rawai, Kamala Beach, Surin Beach and Bang Tao Beach. There are many small islands around Phuket such as Phi Phi Island, Bamboo Island and of course the Similan Islands. With Phuket being a major tourist destination and having its own Airport just about every activity is available here. From Phuket you can also catch a Speedboat to Ao Nang in Krabi.
More on Karon Beach.

Phang Nga

Phang Nga is of course most famous from the James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun set on Phi Phi Island, but of course being on the coast and having many islands you wont be short of beaches to visit, places such as Khao Lak and many other unspoilt beaches are there waiting to be explored. Here you can learn more about the beaches of Phang Nga.

Krabi

Krabi and the surrounding area has many beaches and islands such as Koh Hong, probably the most famous beach is Ao Railay, other favourites are Ao Nang, Hat Noppharat Thara, Pra Nang Beach, Klong Muang Beach and the 50 odd islands that form the Lanta Island group. There are 4 national parks in Krabi and at the Khao Pra Bang Kram Wildlife Sanctuary you will find the hot springs that feed the Emerald Lake - Sramorakot. At present Krabi is pretty much unspoilt and still has many tourist attractions to keep you busy, including Tiger Cave - Wat Tham Sua, The Wat Khlong Thom Museum, Susan Hoi or Fossil Shell Beach and plus of course many caves you can visit.
More on Krabi Beaches & Islands.

Chumphon

Chumphon Province in Southern Thailand is home to many great beaches and small islands, the picture on the left is from Mai Sairi Beach, other beaches include Bang Saphan Yai, Hat Pha Daeng, Hat Pharadonphap, Thung Makham Bay, Ao Yai Ai, Thung Wua Laen Beach, Hat Sai Ri Sawi and Hat Arunothai, you can read more about Chumphon Beaches here. Islands in Chumphon include Ko Maphrao, Ko Mattra, Ko Thalu, Ko Chorakhe, Ko Khai, Ko Phithak, Ko Ngam Yai and Ko Ngam Noi, also Mu Ko Chumphon National Park is here and has many islands, Chumphon Islands.
Coastal Views of Chumphon.

Koh Tao

Koh Tao can be gotten to by boat from Chumphon, Surat Thani or Koh Samui. Apart from its beaches Koh Tao is famed for its scuba diving and big game fishing trips. Koh Tao translates to Turtle Island and between 1933 - 47 it was used as a prison for political prisoners, later on in 1947 Khun Ueam and his twin brother Khun Oh sailed from Koh Phangan and set up roots there. The 3 main beaches are Sairee Beach, Chalok Baan Kao Beach and Mae Haad Beach, these have resorts and restaurants.

Hua Hin

With Hua Hin only being 230km from Bangkok weekends and especially holiday weekends can mean that it will be quite busy. The most common complaint about the Hua Hin Beach is the dogs and Horse Riding, nobody seems to clean up after them, luckily there are many other nicer beaches outside of Hua Hin including Ao Manao, Bang Saphan Yai, Khao Sam Roi Yot Beach, Kao Kalok Beach and Wat Khao Ta Kieb Beach. Khao Sam Roi Yot Beach is located in the Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park for which there is an entry charge. If your looking for a Hua Hin Resort you will find The Anantara, The Hilton & a Marriott.

Bangsaen Beach

Bangsaen beach is the nearest popular beach to Bangkok so weekends it can be quite busy, the beach is around 3km long, plenty of deck chairs and Thai seafood available, around Soi 1 to 3 are many Cheap Guesthouses, Bangsaen also has several high end beach resorts such as the Bang Saen Resort Hotel if you really want to splash out.

Ban Chang Beaches

Ban Amphur Beach

Ban Amphur is about 15kms from Pattaya and 15kms the other way from Sattahip and the next main tourist beach along from Bang Saray, as you can see it's not a very long beach and has a lack of tourists, beach is pretty clean though. The main reason people go to Ban Amphur is for the Thai sea food restaurants, quite a few fishing boats here so the food is pretty cheap & fresh.

Bang Saray Beach

Bang Saray is quite a nice beach, never many tourists there, at one end of the beach there are some fishing piers which also have restaurants serving fresh Thai seafood dishes. The town itself has a scuba diving center and a couple of bars. In the surrounding area are Wat Yan or Wat Yan Sangwararam, Nong Nooch Gardens, Viharnra Sien and Khao Chee Chan.

Chanthaburi Beaches

Chanthaburi is still pretty much unspoilt by tourism and over development, here you will find quite a few near deserted beaches, these include Laem Sing Beach, Laem Sadet, Ao Yang, Ao Krathing Beach which has quite a walk down to it from the hills, Chao Lao Beach, Hat Khung Wiman, Hat Khung Kraben, or you can hire a boat to go to Koh Chula or Koh Nom Sao. Chanthaburi has 3 National Parks in the province, also worth a visit is Oasis Sea World and the old French Fort.

Sattahip Beaches

Most of the beaches in Sattahip are under Thai navy control so some will only be open during the weekends and also some ID has to be handed over on entrance, these include Hat Sai Kaeo, Hat Nang Rum, both these are very picturesque beaches, also you can take a boat out to Koh Samasaen and hope to see some turtles.

Ranong Beaches

Ranong is on the Kra Isthmus, the narrow strip that connects mainland Thailand with the Malay Peninsula, so there is plenty of coastline there, also there are several as yet unspoilt islands such as Chang Island and Koh Phayam. More on Koh Phayam.

Trang Beaches

Trang is the one of the southern provinces of Thailand, at the western shore of the Malay Peninsula to the Andaman Sea. At present its coastline and islands are pretty much unspoilt. there are 46 islands in Trang Province including Koh Libong with beaches such as Tup Beach, Chu Hoi Cape, Thuat Cape, and To Chai Cape. Other Islands with less tourism include Ko Muk, Ko Kradan, Ko Chueak, Ko Waen and Ko Ngai. Ko Muk is the most outstanding attraction in the Trang Sea and also home to the Emerald Cave. More on Trang Islands here.