Pattaya Beach Nightlife

Beer Bars

They're ramshackle, cheap and loud but often a lot of fun 'Pattaya's beer bars are legendary! Some are found in enclosed shop houses, but most come jam-packed together inside tatty open-plan corrugated sheds, each comprised of little more than a few stools and raised speakers assembled round a rather sorry-looking central bar.

There are literally hundreds scattered around town, with many opening from around midday onwards and serving beers (during happy hours especially) for around the 50 baht mark.

Each 'establishment’ employs numerous hostesses to lure you in, serve you drinks and flirt with you. Be warned, their mission is to (1) make you feel a 'handsome man', and (2) to get you aroused to the point of no return. Can you guess what (3) is? If the conversation is a little stilted, and their seductive strokes don't smooth things along, they'll try connecting with you on another level: with a game of Connect 4 to be precise, or, failing that, Jenga. As with go-go girls, for a fee you can relieve a girl of her duties (usually a smaller fee), after which you both settle on a price and place. If you have no intention of picking up, most will happily just chat with you, but you'll be expected to drink more than water.

You find them all over Pattaya, but the densest concentrations are to be found in and around Walking Street, lower Beach Road, at various points on Second Road (around Soi 2 and 3, between Soi 7-13), and Sois 6, 7 and 8. Many commence dispensing their irritating-to-some, irresistible-to-others mix of cheap beers, frenetic Isaan (Northeastern) music and shouts of “Hey handsome'long before midday, though many of the girls don't look so good in daylight. In addition to beer bars, Soi 6 (also known as Soi Yodsak) is also renowned for its many 'short-time'bars (we don't need to spell it out do we?).

Gay Nightlife

A resort for all tastes, Pattaya Beach ensures muscle boys, bikers and boy toys are kept happy. Gay-only bars and go-go joints are centred around the aptly named Boyz Town (Soi Pattayaland 1 & 3 and Soi 13/4). Highlights along these busy, noisy, neon-lit streets include Throb/Splash (325 Pattayaland 3). In addition to being a conventional go-go bar, this also has a fish tank in which well-toned guys glide and dive gracefully through the water in very tight pants. After that there's a storming cabaret show. Sunee Plaza is just off the strip, quieter and more private. 

Go-Go Bars

These enclosed bars in which scantily clad girls strut, shuffle and sway seductively around steel poles, are the reason many come to Pattaya. The rules are easy to grasp: Entry is free, photography forbidden, music loud, booze flowing, girls available. Nudity in Thailand is illegal, but here in Pattaya's go-go land rules are made to be broken. Prices for drinks average around 100 baht for a beer or shot and mixer, with drinks for your half-naked host coming in at slightly more. If you go ga-ga over a girl and want to relieve her of her menial duties, a bar fine will be payable (usually between 300 and 600 baht). After that what you pay, and for what, is your and her business.

Most are clustered along Walking Street and its adjoining sois, between 40 or 50. There are far too many to list, but well-known establishments include Happy A-Go-Go (Soi Happy), Super Baby (Soi Diamond) and Angel Witch (Soi 15). The latter has well-choreographed and seductive shows involving everything from live snakes to sticky UV paint and full nudity. Club Boesche (Soi 16, Covent Garden Complex) a relative newcomer, is also proving popular, chiefly for its large floor-sunk Jacuzzi occupied by rotating pairs of uninhibited young ladies.

There are more slightly further north on the three quieter 'sois'(streets), Pattayaland 1, 2 and 3. Favourites here include rock-n-roll themed Tahitian Queen (Beach Road, Near Soi 13), Misty's (Pattayaland 2) and Classroom A-Go-Go (Pattayaland 2), which features girls in ponytails, white socks and gymslips. A handful can also be found on Sois 6, 7 and 8, including Silver Star 2.  

Alcazar

Beautiful transsexuals mime old and new favourites, deliver comic impersonations and dramatic skits while dressed in glitzy outfits. Tourists by the busload. 

Malibu

A low-key, open-air ladyboy cabaret nestled amidst a cluster of beer bars on Second Road. No entry fee, just roll up and order a beer. 

Tiffany's

A Pattaya institution and must-see suitable for all ages. With over 30 years of lip pouting, eyelash fluttering and hip swiveling under its garter, this is Southeast Asia's oldest, and perhaps most opulent, ladyboy cabaret. Performances at 18:00, 19:30 and 21:00 each night take place inside a palatial 1,000-seat theatre as dazzling as the show.