Thais enjoying Pattaya Beach at sunsetPattaya's main attractions are its beaches. Pattaya Beach is situated along the central city in close proximity to shopping, hotels and bars. The over-abundance of jet-skis and speedboats has contributed to the pollution of the water along Pattaya Beach.

Most sections of the beach are covered by rented deckchairs run by local beverage vendors during daylight hours so finding an available spot of sand is rather difficult and also unadvisable due to the poor condition (dog faeces etc.) of the beach. Visitors are advised to avoid the beach after dark. Although the Beach Road itself is busy and brightly lit, some criminal elements find the unlit beach useful as a cover for their activities. The local police have started to target this area in various ongoing clampdowns.

Jomtien Beach
 
Pattaya Park TowerJomtien Beach is divided from the main part of Pattaya by Pratumnak Hill, just south of the city. In contrast to Pattaya Beach, Jomtien is a popular spot for family vacationers and watersports enthusiasts. Jomtien is essentially a residential area with beachside hotels, bungalow complexes, condominiums and restaurants. A wide array of watersport activities can be found, including jet-skis, para-sailing and scuba diving. Dongtan beach, in Jomtien, is known as the gay beach, and is busy every day of the year.

Jomtien's most visible landmark is the 56-story Pattaya Park tower, part of the Pattaya Park entertainment complex which also features a water park, roller coaster, monorail and children's activities. This may soon be overshadowed by the proposed 91-floor Ocean 1 ("O1") Tower[1] construction of which is due to start "in late 2006", with completion scheduled for 2010. With an overall height of 367 meters, it would be the tallest building in Thailand and one of the tallest residential buildings in the world[2]. The Jomtien district is already home to one of the largest resorts in Asia, the 4000+ room Ambassador City Jomtien.

Islands
Ko Lan (Thai: ????????) is a small island situated 7.5 km west of Pattaya. Ko Lan is accessible by speedboat and ferry. The ferry departs hourly, and is a 45-minute ride costing just 20 baht each way. Speedboats are more expensive, but can reach the island in less than 15 minutes. Ko Lan has several beaches, which are known for their cleanliness, relaxing atmosphere, soft white sand and crystal-clear water.

Island groups
Off Pattaya there are two small island groups, the "Near Islands" (Ko Sak, Ko Krok) located close to the northern shores of Pattaya, very near Ko Lan, and the "Far Islands" (Ko Rin, Ko Man Wichai, Ko Hua Chang, and Ko Badan), located offshore directly west of Pattaya. These islands, especially the "Far Islands", are the primary scuba diving destinations in and around Pattaya.

Other Tourist destinations
Other activities include golfing at the area's many golf courses, and there are 21 golf courses within 1 hour of Pattaya, go-cart racing, visiting the construction site of an elaborate private wooden temple known as Sanctuary of Truth, and different theme parks and zoos such as Mini Siam, and Elephant Village.

The private Sri Racha Tiger Zoo features several hundred tigers and thousands of alligators as well as some other animals. It has often been criticized for the animals' living conditions, and a worker was killed by tigers in 2004[3]. There was a major bird flu outbreak at the zoo later that year[4].

Nong Nooch Tropical GardenThe Vimantaitalay tourist submarine takes customers underwater to see corals and marine life just a few kilometers offshore. There are many boat trips from an hour to all day trips available, mostly leaving from Bali Hai Pier, near Walking Street.

Nong Nooch Tropical Garden has one of Asia's best maintained botanical gardens and lively cultural shows.

Other attractions in Pattaya: The Million Years Stone Park and Pattaya Crocodile Farm, Elephant Village, Pattaya Park Beach Resort Water Park and Funny Land Amusement Park, Siriporn Orchid Farm, Underwater World Pattaya (world class aquarium), Alankarn cultural show, Sriracha Tiger Zoo, Bottle Art Museum, Mini Siam, Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum, and Walking Street.

Some tourists take daytrips to nearby Rayong for beautiful beaches, as well as Ko Samet island.

Shopping
Royal Garden PlazaIn recent years, new shopping malls, outlet stores and jewelry stores have opened up, which has helped in increasing the length of stay of visitors to the city. Among the shopping malls are:

Central Festival, Pattaya Second Road ? Indoor mall anchored by a BigC; also has a SF Cinema City branch.
Carrefour, Pattaya Central Road
Mike Shopping Mall, Beach Road
Royal Garden Plaza, Beach Road ? Three-story indoor mall with a Ripley's Believe It or Not! museum and an SF Multiplex cinema. Also has a Sizzler restaurant, Au Bon Pain, KFC, McDonald's, Auntie Anne's Pretzels, ZEN Japanese restaurant, Swensen's, Haagen Daz, Pizza Company, Delice de France, and a large food court. The Marriott Hotel is adjacent.
Tesco Lotus, Pattaya North Road
TukCom, Pattaya Tai (South) Road, boasts a large computer/IT complex offering reasonable prices.
Several new large malls are in various planning stages.

Pattaya has many large home improvement stores including Home Mart, HomeWorks, Home Pro, Kanyong and True Value.

The closest department store to Pattaya is Robinson's, located about 30 minutes away in Sri Racha.

There are several large nightly markets in different parts of town.

Nightlife and Prostitution
Pattaya beer bars along the waterfrontPattaya is renowned for its night-life, which caters primarily to foreigners. While some of this is unrelated to prostitution, the central Pattaya Beach Area is known as a destination for sex tourism (alongside several districts in Bangkok and Phuket). While prostitution is technically illegal in Thailand, it is widely tolerated.

The city has literally hundreds of beer bars, go go bars, and night-clubs/discotheques. Virtually all of these are venues for in some form. The nature of commercial sex varies widely; the standard system of "bar fines" is the most common, but there are many exceptions. Most notably, discos and nightclubs are venues for freelancers, while the bars on Soi 6 are essentially brothels. There are also several large massage parlors.

Since the "social order" crackdown of 2004, there are very few sex shows (such as the ping pong shows) although they can sometimes still be found. Depending on the enforcement climate, Go go dancers may be seen fully nude, topless or in bikinis on different days or weeks.

Muay Thai (Thai Boxing) matches aimed at the tourists can be seen at many of the open-air beer bar complexes.

Another important but understated aspect of Pattaya are the excellent foreign restaurants. Often run by expats, most offer excellent food at prices far below those found in Bangkok, Samui or Phuket. High quality German, British, American, Mexican and Indian food can easily be found.

Gay Nightlife
The Boyztown, Sunni Plaza and Jomtien Complex areas are famous for their many gay nightclubs, cabarets and go-go clubs. Pattaya is known for its cabaret revues featuring kathoeys (male-to-female transsexuals), with Alcazar and Tiffany's being the largest and most elaborate. Unlike some nightlife areas in Bangkok (particularly Nana Plaza and Patpong) there are not at present any dedicated kathoey go go bars, although there are some smaller bars which have kathoey staff.