The East Cost

Home \ Destinations Guide \ The East Coast

The East Cost

There are no translations available.

Tracing the coastline directly east of Bangkok, there are a few resort spots that are attractive as much for their proximity to Bangkok as anything.
Closest is Pattaya, one of Thailand’s earliest holiday developments and famous for its wild nightlife, its sea of amber-lit, open-air beer bars, go-go spots, and hostess clubs. The town is always hopping’ late into the night and guys come from all over the world to live it up. But there’s a dark side: Despite efforts at prevention and encouraged use of condoms, AIDS and STDs are major problems among brothel workers, and the skin trade in Pattaya lures some pretty nasty elements such as child prostitution and drug activity. As such, much of Pattaya is too seedy for family vacations, but there are some fine resorts, plenty of shopping, and good golf courses. The main Pattaya beach is still overcoming the effects of years of pell-mell construction and the spilling of pollutants directly into the bay (there’s now a sewage treatment plant). The beach is also just a thin strip of coarse sand with too many motorboats buzzing offshore; but nearby Jomtien, just south of town, is good for swimming, and day trips to outlying islands are popular. Pattaya is a crazy love-it-ornate- it kind of place and the proverbial “One Night in Bangkok” pales in comparison.

Pattaya Walking Street

Continuing east from Pattaya, Koh Samet, in Rayong Province, is a small island with loads of affordable, makeshift bungalow resorts. It’s a low-lexes, laid-back little retreat reached by a short ferry ride from the mainland at the town of Ban Phe (via Rayong).
Though isolated, Koh Samet is popular with foreigners on a budget and gets very crowded on weekends with young Thai vacationers from Bangkok. Koh Chang, the last stop before Cambodia to the east, has earned a hushed following among young budget travelers because its remote location has kept development to a minimum. The cement trucks are rolling though, and the island, Thailand’s third largest, has sprouted a few high-end resorts.
More upscale lodging is rapidly replacing the old coconut-wood bungalows. Koh Chang is reached via nondescript Trat some 5 hours east of Bangkok.

Thailand’s east Coast, an angled corner reaching some 500km (310 miles) from the mouth of the Chao Phraya River around to the Cambodian border, offers a wealth of attractions ranging from the ridiculous to the sublime. On the one hand is Pattaya, formerly the Kingdom’s premier beach resort but now a victim of developers’ greed; on the other hand are the tranquil tropical islands of the Koh Chang archipelago, as yet unspoilt. In between are pleasant, unexceptional spots for a quiet time by the sea, while inland are pretty views of a green hills and fruit orchards, None of the beaches is a good as those in the South, but they do not have the advantage of being within a 2-3hr drive from Bangkok along a modern highway.

Pattaya is now more of a fun city than a true beach resort. Increasingly it is becoming a sieve station for the ambitious Eastern Seaboard economic development programme, which so far has spawned industrial estate and port facilities at Leam Chabang and Map Ta Phut. Herein lies the future, but Pattaya can still is recommended as a resort quite unlike any other.

Bangkok to Bang Saen

The Bangna-Trat Highway offers fast but characterless road access to the East Coast; the old Sukhumvit Highway provides an alternative route which, if not picturesque, does display vestiges of local color.

Bangkok’s heavy traffic is left behind once beyond Samut Prakan, and klong runs down the left-hand side of the road. Small, old-style houses on stilts which ‘butterfly’ fish nets outside set a rural scene which endures in the face of mushrooming housing and industrial estates.

Ang Sila and Saam Muk

Beyond the uninteresting provincial capital of Chon Buri is the tiny fishing village of Ang Sila, known for its locally made stone mortars and pestles. The place makes no concession to the visitors, something sufficiently rare as to rank almost as a tourist attraction in itself. The seafood restaurant next to the fish pier can be recommended.

After Ang Sila the road passes oyster farms and follows the coast for about 5km to reach the tiny fishing village of Saam Muk. On the outskirts is Thamma Nava, a centre of vegetarian nuns and other seeking a spiritual retreat, while a grander sight is the revered temple of Sala Jao Mae Saam Muk. Backing onto the limestone cliffs and overlooking Saam Muk’s harbor, the temple is unmistakably Chinese, an intricate and colorful complex of galleries, terraces, glass-fronted shrines and Oriental baroque sculpture all dominated by a huge statue of Kuan In, goddess of Mercy.

Directly opposite Sala Jao Mae Saam Muk are Wang Muk and Thip Pramong restaurants. Both serve excellent crab and other seafood dishes in unpretentious surroundings.

Around the corner and up the hill from Saam Muk is Monkey Mountain, a hilltop inhabited by a troop of mischievous monkeys. This is also a vantage point for panoramic sea views. From here, the road continues downhill to reach Bang Saen.

Bang Saen

Located 96km southeast of Bangkok, Bang Saen is a beach resort the predates the tourism boom and retains local popularity. Although hordes of city dwellers descend at the weekends, a tranquil air prevails during the week, when the 2km grey-sand beach and Ocean World water amusement park are near deserted. Worth visiting is the small aquarium attached to the Institute of Marine Science, with fish tanks, two dolphins and a marine science museum.

Ko Si Chang

About 15 km further down the coast from Bang Saen is Si Racha, where ferries ply 12km to Ko Si Chang (first boat 07:00, last return 15:00) This sizeable inhabited island offers rugged scenery and a wonderful sense of escape, as well as a few intriguing sights, including a Chinese temple and the ruins of a summer palace built by King Rama V. Bungalow accommodation is available.