Pattaya Newbie Guide
Welcome. This is your starting point for a first trip to Pattaya, written with the newbie in mind, though if you’ve been once or twice already you’ll probably still pick up something useful.
Pattaya is on the Gulf of Thailand, about 150 km (93 miles) south-east of Bangkok, roughly a two hour drive depending on traffic. A lot of people think Pattaya means Walking Street. Walking Street is the famous bit, but it’s a small slice of a much bigger scene that spreads across beer bar sois, go-go strips and gentlemen’s clubs all over town. Whatever your taste runs to, there’s a bar in this city built for you.
How to Use This Guide
This page begins a series designed to be read in order. It is presented in an order that replicates your timeline to Pattaya.
At the bottom of this page, and every page after it, there’s a link through to the next chapter. Follow those and you’ll move through the guide the way it’s meant to be read.
If you’d rather skip around, there’s a menu in the sidebar on the right that jumps straight to any section of the site. On mobile, that menu usually moves to the end of the page instead.
Why Pattaya?
Dating back home has turned into a grind for a lot of men. Weeks of swiping for a handful of matches, half of whom vanish without a word, and if you do land a date you’re often auditioning for weeks before anything happens. Whatever’s driving that, and there’s plenty of argument about it, it’s made places like Pattaya considerably more appealing than they used to be. If any of that sounds familiar, keep reading.
You can spot a man on his first trip to Pattaya from a hundred metres. He’s got a look in his eye like he can’t quite believe what’s happening around him. It’s genuinely hard to explain Pattaya to anyone who hasn’t been. People call it Disneyland for adults, and that’s about as close as any comparison gets.
Picture a place where the usual rules around sex are reversed. Women do the chasing, and you decide how often it happens and with how many partners. Walk down the wrong (or right) street, and women will call out asking you in for a drink; if you hit it off, she may spend the rest of the night with you. What you give her the next morning is largely up to you, though don’t expect “up to you” to mean small change. Those numbers have moved with inflation like everything else since guides like this were first written. I’ll give you the actual current figures, area by area, in the Bar Areas and How Bars Work chapters (coming soon). For now, just know it costs more than it used to, and budget accordingly. None of it needs to be complicated if you follow a few simple rules, which is most of what the rest of this guide is for.
It’s Not All Bars
Nightlife aside, there’s more to fill your days than most newbies expect. Pattaya is a legitimate golfing destination, with several courses within an hour’s drive. There’s diving, jet skiing (read the Scams chapter before you hire one) and parasailing if you want to get on the water, plus tropical gardens and a decent handful of temples worth the trip inland. The islands off the coast are also worth a day trip if you want a break from the strip.
A Couple of Misconceptions
Before you land, it’s worth clearing up a couple of things people get wrong about this.
Western media loves the “sex tourist” framing, along with the implication that only losers or failures come here for it. In my experience plenty of the men coming to Pattaya are doing very well for themselves back home. Coming here isn’t a sign that anything’s gone wrong.
The other misconception, and a much darker one, is that men come to Thailand for access to children. It happens, as it does anywhere in the world, but it’s rare and completely abhorrent, and it’s not what this guide, this site or the Pattaya nightlife scene is about. As an ordinary visitor you’re extremely unlikely to ever come across it. It’s heavily policed too: anyone travelling with that intention faces severe prison sentences and zero tolerance from Thai authorities and the local community.
Thai attitudes to sex work aren’t the same as Western ones. Thai Buddhism takes a fairly practical view, and if the money supports a family back home, it isn’t seen as the moral failing it might be elsewhere. Prostitution isn’t strictly illegal here, doing it in an “open and promiscuous manner” is, though in practice that has no bearing on you as a visitor. The foreign-facing side of the industry gets all the attention, but it pales in comparison to the local market. Worth remembering: anyone under 20 is off limits, no exceptions.
Fair Warning
One thing before you go further. A lot of men come back from their first trip changed. Old hobbies fall away, spare cash starts getting earmarked for the next flight and a night out at home suddenly feels pointless by comparison. I’m not going to pretend this is rare. If anything it’s the norm. Go in with your eyes open.
Whatever you’ve made of all this so far, it’ll look different after your first trip. Older guys often find it reignites something they’d forgotten they had. Younger guys find a place to properly let loose without having to charm anyone first. There’s room here for both, and everything in between.
What’s Next
Before you hit the bars, you need your logistics sorted. We’ll start with what you need to enter Thailand. Afterwards, Pattaya Essentials will help you get your head around cash, ATM traps, SIM cards, and the ฿15 baht bus loop.
Once your bed, cash, and arrival are squared away, head into Phase 2 for the bars, the ladies, and the cultural rules that dictate how your nights actually go.
From here, you’ll discover the women and entertainment options in Pattaya.
If you’d rather have all of this with you on the ground, I’ve put the guide together as an ebook for US$10. It’s not a money spinner, just there to cover costs and give you something to read on the plane. Details are on the eBook page.
