Theme parks & attractions

One of the most enjoyable indoor attractions in the resort is Ripley’s Believe It Or Not (daily 11am-11pm; B380, kids B280, joint tickets with other Ripley attractions from extra B100), on the third floor of the Royal Garden Plaza on Pattaya Beach Road. It’s part of a worldwide chain of curiosity museums inspired by the bizarre collections of the American cartoonist and adventurer Robert Leroy Ripley, and display lots of outlandish objects and novelties from Thailand and further afield (such as models of the world’s tallest, smallest and fattest men), as well as an exhibition on sharks. The Ripley’s third-floor empire also includes Ripley’s Haunted Adventure plus a 4D movie-screen simulator and an infinity maze.

Advertised as the only one of its kind in the world, the Museum of Bottle Art (daily 11am-8pm; B100), 100m south of the bus station of Thanon Sukhumvit, contains three hundred pieces of miniature art in bottles, including Dutch windmills, Thai temples, Saudi mosque and a British coach and horses. To see them take an eastbound baht bus along Central Pattaya Road, get off as soon as you reach Thanon Sukhumvit, and walk 200m south.

The hugely ambitious Sanctuary of Truth, also known as Wang Boran and Prasat Mai (daily 8am-5pm; B500, kids B250; daily dolphin shows at 11.30am and 3.30pm), is also a kind of replica, but on a 1:1 scale. Conceived by the man behind the Muang Boran Ancient City complex near Bangkok, it’s a huge temple-palace designed to evoke the great ancient Khmer sanctuaries of Angkor and built entirely of wood. It was begun in 1981 and is still a work-in-progress. The sanctuary is located behind imposing crenellated walls off the west end of Naklua Soi 12, close to the Garden Sea View hotel; from Central Pattaya, take a Naklua-bound songthaew as far as Soi 12, then a motorbike taxi. Built in a fabulously dramatic spot beside the sea, the temple rises to 105m at its highest point and fans out into four gopura (entrance pavilions), each of which is covered in symbolic woodcarvings. The carvings on the north (seaside) gopura are inspired by Cambodian mythology, and include a tower above the gopura that’s crowned with an image of the four-headed Hindy god Brahma; those on the east gopura refer to China, so the Mahayana Buddhist bodhisattvas have Chinese faces; the carvings on the west gopura evoke India and include scenes from the Hindu epic the Mahaborate; and the southern entrance has images from Thailand, such as scenes from the Hindu tale, the Ramayana.

There are several theme parks, “culture villages” and wildlife parks on the outskirts of Pattaya, all well signed off the main roads. Mini Siam (daily 8am-10pm; B100, kids B50), just north of the North Pattaya Road/Thanon Sukhumvit intersection, is just what is sounds like: the cream of Thailand’s most precious monument reconstructed to 1:15 scale, plus miniature replicas of international icons suck as the Sydney Opera House and the Statue of liberty. Nong Nooch Tropical Garden (daily 8am-6pm; B550), 18km south of Pattaya off Thanon Sukhumvit, is a 600-acre botanical park that’s said to have the world’s largest orchid garden; in addition it puts on performances of traditional dancing and elephant-rides. The Elephant Village, 7km northeast of Pattaya offers sixty-minute elephant “treks” round its parks for B900, and there’s also an elephant-training show every afternoon (2.30pm; B500). Underwater World, close to Tesco Lotus just south of the Thep Prasit junction with Sukhumvit road (B360, kids B180 or free if under 90cm tall), is a small expensive, but rather beautiful aquarium comprising a trio of long fiberglass tunnels that transport you through three different marine world; easiest access by songthaew would be to try and hail one traveling from Jomtien along Thep Prasit road.

Don't miss the world famous "Walking Street" - nightlife and entertainment area of Pattaya. Neon lights, beatiful girls and wild ladyboys.