Pattaya
Two hours from Bangkok, and the easiest beach city in Thailand to reach. Pattaya has a reputation built almost entirely on its nights, which is accurate and also incomplete: the same city holds a botanical garden the size of a town, four distinct beaches, and enough indoors to survive a wet afternoon. This page is the overview — each part of it has a page of its own.
The shape of the city
Beach Road runs the length of the bay, Second Road one block inland, Soi Buakhao another block behind it. Walking Street is the southern tip and North Pattaya the quieter top end. Jomtien is the next beach south, past Pratumnak Hill, and Naklua is north. The whole thing is about ten minutes end to end by baht bus, which is why the choice of where to stay is about atmosphere rather than about distance.
The beaches
Pattaya Beach is the busy one, at the centre of everything and never quiet. Jomtien is longer and calmer, better for swimming and the obvious base if the sea is why you came rather than a bonus. Pratumnak sits between them on the hill and is the quietest of the three, close enough to walk into town from and far enough that you cannot hear it. Naklua, to the north, is where the city stops being a resort and starts being a town, with a working fish market to prove it.
What there is to do
The Sanctuary of Truth, an all-wood temple still under construction after four decades. Nong Nooch, a botanical garden that takes most of a day. Koh Larn, a short boat ride offshore with water clear enough to snorkel. The viewpoint on Pratumnak Hill, which is free and takes twenty minutes and explains the whole city at a glance. And when the sun wins, several museums and a waterpark.
Eating
Three areas and three prices: Walking Street for dinner with a show attached, Central Pattaya for range and for the widest choice within a short walk, Jomtien for a table by the water and a meal that takes as long as it takes. The night markets carry some of the best food in the city for a fraction of what a restaurant costs, and they are worth planning an evening around rather than treating as a snack. Street food here is a normal way to eat, not a risk to be managed.
Nights
Walking Street is the centre and the most expensive, and it is worth walking once end to end whatever you make of it — there is nothing else like it in Thailand. Soi Buakhao, LK Metro and Tree Town are quieter, cheaper and less insistent, and are where people who stay a while end up. Beach Road is where an evening starts rather than where it ends: a drink facing the water while the light goes, and then a decision about which direction to walk.
Staying
Central Pattaya for a first visit, North Pattaya for quiet, Jomtien for the beach, the Walking Street end if you want the nightlife downstairs. Because the city is small, the area decides the character of the trip and almost nothing about how far you have to travel. November to February is the dry season and the expensive one, and the months when booking ahead actually matters; outside them you pay less and share the beach with fewer people, at the cost of some rain.