Pattya or Pukhet

Hi

Advice please. We are a 40s couple looking to go to Thailand for first time. We want a beach holiday and a hotel which is close enough to walk into town for a little nightlife but we are not 24 party animals.

We have read about Pattay and Pukhet any suggestions

Thanks

Pattya or Pukhet

hi sanddancer i like to party and been to both.With what you wrote i would say phuket its smaller than pattaya but the beaches are alot better and night life not as large as pattaya.When are you going rainy season seems to start roughly from june onwards.I think the best time is nov to april.Also phuket is for couples i would say, but pattaya is still great place to visit.Hope this helps

Pattya or Pukhet

I have been Thailand many times and when asked best place to go, I usually reply Phuket for firt time. Phuket has got better beaches and more tropical resort than Pattaya. Plenty nightlife if you want it and also more variety of trips than Pattaya.

Hi sanddancer, I have lived here in Pattaya for over six years and would only reccomend to couples like yourself GO TO PHUKET! , the beaches here in pattaya are the biggest let down for holidaymakers, they are crowded with deckchairs making it resemble clacton with the sun , the water qulity is poor, I have never been swimming in the sea here and never intend to, and the nightlife apart from Jomtien is in your face, for single men and increasingly some single women it is a great place to meet the opposite s*x and enjoy two weeks of getting pissed and partying.

I have been to Phuket three times and would reccomend staying at Kata beach it is a long wide sandy beach with sun loungers the water here is great for swimming and there is enough choice of restuarants and bars suited to couples like yourself, also you can take day trips out to the islands like Koh Phe phe and go sea canoeing or scuba diving, you can go to a great show one evening at Phuket Fantasea and if you want it a little more lively can take a trip into Patong and also do some shopping, you want your first trip to Thailand to be one that you don%26#39;t want to forget for the right reasons, Pattaya is the Blackpool of Thailand.

Pattaya is more oriented for shopping and nightlife and Phuket is more beach oriented, Pattaya is cheaper than Phuket. Patong beach in Phuket is about 15 Km to Phuket town and from april to october it raining more in Phuket than Pattaya.

Sanddancer,

Phuket, Phuket, Phuket! Not to villify Pattaya, but Phuket is oriented much more to the 40+ age group. My wife, who is Thai, and I have been to both many times, and can only say that Pattaya is for partying, and Phuket is for relaxing. Don%26#39;t get me wrong, there are places in Phuket that party just as hard as Pattaya, but it is more the exception than the rule.

On a side note, be advised that things in Phuket tend to be a little more expensive than other areas in Thailand. Also, there is far less bartering over prices, to include Tuk-Tuks. One last thing, the best time would be Dec, Jan, Feb, its cooler then than other times of the year.

I would say that your equirements would be much better met a Phuket.

Pattaya is very urban and the beaches are not up to much.

NB - all Thai beaches suffer from pollution to some degree.

I am going to shovel some (beach) sand against the tide here!

Pattaya is only around 2 hours from Bangkok by bus for a price of around 117 baht (that%26#39;s what I paid last week.) Phuket you have to fly to or take a long bus ride!

Hotels are cheaper in Pattaya. Most hotels, even those who have prices beginning around 800 baht often have pools.

Yes, the beach is practically useless for actual swimming. Okay for sun bathing, shopping, walking, etc. Lousy for swimming! However, you can do ';beach type'; swimming at nearby Jomtien.

Transportation within Pattaya City is only 10 baht per passenger when you use baht buses on their set routes. Wave one down, hop on, get to where you want to be, ring buzzer hop off pay 10 baht! Thai%26#39;s pay 5 baht!

Yes, lots of bars. But you can ignore the bars or go in and have a drink. Decent restaurants, several malls to shop at, lots of street vendors and now three movie theaters showing current movie releases - cheaper than back home! Easy walking if you want to stretch your legs a bit!

Travel agents have lists of tours you can take to fill your time.

Phuket has the better beach but if all you want to do is relax in a beach holiday - Pattaya will do! Best thing is if you don%26#39;t like Pattaya it%26#39;s only a tiny bit of money to head back to Bangkok and fly to Phuket - the money you save on hotels alone will pay for the ride back to Bangkok!

Good luck.

';. We want a beach holiday and a hotel which is close enough to walk into town for a little nightlife but we are not 24 party animals.';

So it looks like they want a BEACH holiday.....

I agree with the above a factual except for one point....Jomtien beach on the last figures I saw was actually MORE polluted than Pattaya. Wind and tides coupled with the positioning of sewage outlets can shift pollution all over the place a couple of years ago raw sewage was leaked into Jomtien beach for several weeks.

Wong Amat near Pattaya also has a sewage outlet.

And don%26#39;t be fooled by ';clear'; water...many pollutants are clear too. Clear water also means no plankton (based of the food chain) and no plankton usually means pollution.

This of course also applies to the beaches around Phuket. - Over development and lack of infrastructure means that all Thai beaches are increasingly under threat from pollution.

Hi

Thanks to everyone for your advice and opinions.It looks like we will settle on Pukhet.

Cheers

yes just to lie on the beach it is phuket - but evrything will be vastly more expensive than pattaya. Whilst not actuwlly in the question - isn%26#39;t hua hin a viable alternative. Went at new year and thought the beaches had been cleaned up a lot from when i went before, and now has agood choice for nightlife. food etc