About Pattaya                             This page is best viewed at 1024*768 screen definition.       If the page does not fit on your screen, click No Frames.   To regain the Links column, click Frames.                         For the best hotels deals in Pattaya and Thailand, book on-line:                   The Kingdom of Thailand draws more visitors than any other country in southeast Asia; with its irresistible combination of breathtaking natural beauty, inspiring temples, renowned hospitality, robust cuisine and ruins of fabulous ancient kingdoms. Pattaya is Thailand's fun paradise, with beaches, diving, windsurfing, island trips, lawn bowls, numerous golf courses, a renowned nightlife and now ... bridge!           The Pattaya bridge club meets 3 times a week, check the link for details. The Pattaya bridge club can also organise a bridge holiday for your club. Note that gambling is illegal in Thailand and playing cards is sometimes frowned upon, but the Pattaya Bridge Club is fully registered and legal.           If you like playing bridge and enjoy the easy going beaches of Pattaya, you'll surely like playing bingo. Most hotels in Pattaya have internet high speed access and there are also numerous internet cafes whare you can play bingo online and try out all sorts of variations to this classic. Although, it doesn't involve the same level of strategy as bridge, bingo is a loads of fun, and playing online will allow you to rediscover this classic game.           Pattaya is undoubtably an extreemly popular tourist destination but more and more Europeans, Americans and other nationalities are finding Thailand as a better alternative to the crowded Spanish costas and the expensive Caribbean as a place to retire to. The good weather, very affordable housing prices and low cost of living are just some of the reasons people decide to retire here. It's fairly easy to apply for a retirement visa in Thailand if you are 50 or over and many of my friends are retired here. A good many others spend the summer months in Europe/North America and the winter months in Thailand when the Thai weather is probably at its best. You can find information on the various visas avalilable on the Thai Visa.com web site. There are a couple of web sites about retiring in Pattaya included in the links at the bottom of this page and the book on the right is full of useful information.

The weather is warm throughout the year and Thailand has three seasons. A 'cool' season from November to March, a hot and mainly dry season from May to July and a humid monsoon season between July and November. Temperatures range between 25 and 34 degrees Celcius and air-conditioning is widely used.     One very big advantage of Pattaya compared with many other tropical countries is that there are no serious natural disasters here. Pattaya is immune from tsunamis and there are no volcanos, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornados or whatever. The heavy downpours during the rainy season sometimes cause some flooding, but nothing too serious.           One of the main advantages of living in Thailand, apart from the climate, is the low cost of living. Whether you wish to buy a property or rent, it's inexpensive either way. Properties in Pattaya range from one bedroom condos to penthouses on the beach or private detached villas with pools. You can get an idea of current property prices at Pattaya Mail Classifieds and you can convert into your local currency at the current excange rates.           As far as shopping for food is concerned there are a multitude of choices. There are a number of local markets and also loads of convenience stores such as dozens of 7-11's. A few years back there was a distinct lack of supermarkets and the first real step forwards for Pattaya was when Foodland opened on Central Pattaya Road. Since then there has been an influx of larger stores including two Tesco Lotus branches, two Big C's and one Carrefour. All are open 7 days a week and Foodland is open 24 hours a day.

Health care is of a very high standard and there are three large international hospitals; Bangkok-Pattaya on Sukumvit road, Pattaya Memorial hospital in central Pattaya and PIC hospital on Soi 4 near the beach road in North Pattaya. Doctors are highly trained and speak english well. The hospitals also offer some interpreting services if your native language is not English.           The dentists are known to be among the best in the world, with prices far less than those in Europe or North America and no waiting lists. Indeed, some tourists come here and pay for their holiday with the money saved on dentist fees!           In Thailand people drive on the left - but that is rather a loose statement. The standard of driving is very poor and the average Thai driver hugs the right hand lane forcing people to overtake on the inside. If you don't want to drive yourself there are many other ways of getting around. There is an excellent bus network connecting the cities and a decent rail system that unfortunately does not include Pattaya. Pattaya itself has a limited internal bus service and most people use the infamous 'baht bus' or else a motorbike taxi. For more detailed information, have a look at the blog Getting Around in Pattaya which describes transport in Pattaya in detail.   Pattaya itself has a limited internal bus service and most people use the infamous 'baht bus' or else a motorbike taxi if you want to risk that. Recently the more notmal type taxi has been introduced and there are numerous companies that offer both taxi srevices to/from/within Pattaya and also cars for hire. For more detailed information, have a look at the blog Getting Around in Pattaya which describes transport in Pattaya in detail.         Pattaya 4 Leisure - For online taxi bookings, Pattaya golf and Pattaya information.         Taxi Service Pattaya offers car services in and around Pattaya for reasonable prices.         A rapid and reliable service which specialises in catering for transfers in and around Pattaya.           There are plenty of sporting and entertainment activities to keep you busy. Apart from bridge, there are numerous golf courses and loads of other sports including tennis, badminton, squash, freshwater and deep sea fishing, horse riding, diving, sailing, windsurfing, water skiing, cable water skiing, ten pin bowling, lawn bowling, bungee jumping, crazy golf, paintball, shooting range, go carts, motor racing... in fact just about anything you can think of except skiing or ice skateing!           Apart from sporting activities there are loads of other attractions. These include Pattaya Park, Siracha tiger zoo, Nong Nooch tropical village, Khao Khieo Zoo, Underwater World, The Million-Year Park and Cocodile Farm, Ripley's believe it or not etc.           The Pattaya bridge club plays in the clubhouse of the Bowling Green. The Bowling Green offers you the full facilities of any lawn bowls club found throughout the world with all the equipment that you need to play made available. It is not necessary to be a member to play and the playing fees are very modest. The Bowling Green has full waitress service, indoor or outdoordining and bar facilities, pool table, a quiz league team, darts and, of course, bridge three times a week. The Bowling Green is located near the xyte disco, see link for map.               A day at the beach. Pattaya has two main beaches - Pattaya beach and Jomtien beach; plus a number of smaller ones. Activities include paragliding, wind surfing, sailing, banana boat, water skiing, jet ski etc.     Set up in a beautiful natural atmosphere approximately 30 km outside of Pattaya, the Siracha Tiger Zoo is undoubtably one of the best day attractions in the Eastern Seaboard. It features a large number of Bengal tigers, bred successfully by the farm itself. The zoo also has several other animals such as crocodiles, ostriches, single hump camels, kangaroos and an aviary of exotic birds. Exciting shows are crocodile wrestling, Kenya aerobics, amazing Circus and pig racing.         Nong Nooch Tropical garden is a fascinating tourist destination renowned for its wide-ranging orchid species, plam-, cycad, cactus-, bromeliad and bonsai gardens and countless flowers and plants from all corners of the world. Authentic Thai houses, mini zoo and cultural performances with classical dancers, traditional ceremonies, Thai boxing etc. and a spectacular Elephant show are the highlights of this enchanting complex.     At Pattaya Park you can enjoy not only dipping in the sea, but also challenge the thrill of entertainment on our giant Water slides, swim around the whirlpool or tanning your skin on our private beach. The park also has an entertainment complex including a roller coaster, rocking Viking, family swinger, demolition derby, musical carousel, monorail, Samba tower, tower jump, speed shuttle and cable car.         Underwater World, Pattaya's newest tourist attraction, is the largest and most modern ocean aquarium in Asia, boasting a 100-meter-long, 6.4-centimeter-thick acrylic pedestrian tunnel through an underwater environment filled with dozens of marine species. The aquarium houses more than 4,000 marine animals, comprising more than 200 different species from the region as well as some rare creatures from overseas.     Pattaya's nightlife is well known. As well as the hundreds of restaurants, food courts, bars and clubs there are other activities such as pool leagues, darts leagues, quiz leagues, snooker halls, cabaret shows, jazz bars, karaoke bars, Ripley's believe it or not, cinemas and lots more including a number of shopping malls that stay open till late.             For more things to do in Pattaya and things to do in Bangkok, see the links.     For more reading material, see books about Pattaya and books about Thailand     For tips and facts about Thailand, refer to the link.     For information about Bangkok, refer to the link.

Pattaya guide         www.pattaya.com. A site dedicated to Pattaya. It's a good site with loads of great graphics but it's very big, be sure you have a speedy download mechanism.   It has a Thai/English language option. Click on the bouncing ball.

This really has to be the best site for Pattaya links, a great site with links off to 'everywhere' in Pattaya. Since it has well over 1000 links this is the place to look for a Pattaya link.             A Search Engine and directory of Thailand Websites.             Living in Thailand? ... or thinking of doing so? ... there are two distinct ex-pat clubs in Pattaya: -       The (excellent) web-site of the Pattaya ex-pats club with loads of useful information. Pattaya Ex-pats is another link from the same club, I beleive. The club meets every Sunday at the Grand Sole Hotel at 11.30.           Pattaya City Expats Club is all about 'expats helping expats'. Each week they have an interesting speaker talking about some aspect of living in Pattaya. This club meets every Sunday at Henry J Beans restaurant and grill at 10.00.           So two excellent clubs to choose from, but I do know of a number of people who are members of both clubs. Anyway, neither should be confused with www.pattayaexpat.com which is an uninteresting page of hotels and advertisements that is not worth a visit. It's only listed here to avoid confusion.           For many foreigners who are living or planning on living in Thailand it can be difficult. Runs to the border for visa renewals, quarterly reporting to immigration, 7 Thai partners to open a business, stringent work permit requirements, no rights to land ownership, minimum income requirements for foreign workers, foreigners married to a Thai. These are just a few of the problems the Association of Foreigners in Thailand will try to address         "Pattaya has, we believe, more 'farangs' per square meter than any other Thai city". A web site full of information (property, pensions, legal matters etc.) for those retired in, or considering retirement in, Pattaya/Thailand. .Retire to Pattaya This different link gives similar information about retirement in Pattaya.           Pattaya International Ladies Club. No web-site, but you can click on the e-mail address. pilc262@yahoo.com The club meets on the first and third Tuesday of each month. Contact Sharon Tibbitts   (038 306135 or 06 0956928) for the venue.             A charitable organisation organising golf and other sports. Supporting local charities remains a key objective of the club and as the club has grown, so has their ability to donate.  Their focus is on needy children, the handicapped, and the underprivileged.         The Father Ray foundation. This charitable organisation encompasses an orphanage, school for the deaf, school for the bind, school for the handicapped, vocational school, helping street kids etc...         Ron Small Ron Small's site. Of particular interest to those concerned with charities etc. such as the Pattaya Orphanage. It also contains a lot about Bridge.           There are four or five Pattaya-based Rotary clubs, the web-sites of the ones I know are: - Rotary-Pattaya , Rotary Jomtien and Rotary Taksin-Pattaya . There is a summary of the clubs in Pattaya area Rotary Clubs summary               And I guess that it will come as no surprise to you to learn that there are also at least four Pattaya-based Lions clubs. The latest information that I have is: - Sattahip Branch: http://lions-sattahip.lionwap.org Jomtien Branch: http://www.jomtienpattaya.lionwap.org             And for the latest news about Pattaya we have: -           Pattaya's weekly dual language (Thai/English) newspaper.           Pattaya's oldest and well-established weekly newspaper.           www.pattayatoday.net. A newer local bi-weekly newspaper. This is a different site to the rather poor www.pattayatoday.com.                 There are two main English Language newspapers in Thailand: -                     Pattaya's own TV news station on cable TV.             Here's the Star World TV schedule for Thailand. Simply select the date in the drop-down menu.         And this link gives you the BBC World Schedule. In this page you select 'Thailand' in the time-zone drop down menu and then the date in the date drop-down menu.         Banglamung TV. One of the two TV cable companies covering areas of Pattaya. The web site is mainly in Thai.         Sophon Cable, Pattaya's other cable network. Click for the weekly pdf program schedule.           www.thaiwebsites.com searches the web specifically for english language sites about Thailand.         The Thailand Yellow Pages                 For more links about Pattaya and Thailand, refer to:   Pattaya Banners page 1     Pattaya Banners page 2     Pattaya links     Thailand links