PATTAYA MINIGUIDE

IN north Thailand you can find some hidden gems like Pattaya. don't miss it.

Have you ever heard of Pattaya? It's a city on the east coast of the Gulf of Thailand, about 150km from Bangkok - roughly a 2-hour drive.

For us, the Pattaya area has two must-visit places if you're traveling to Northern Thailand: the paradisiacal beaches of Koh Larn island and the incredible wooden Sanctuary of Truth.

Let's discover these places and all the useful information you need before going there:

What to see in Pattaya

PATTAYA CITY AND KOH LARN ISLAND

We took a day trip from Bangkok, where a van picked us up in the central Sukhumvit area to head to the Phra Tammak Mountain Viewpoint to see the views of the entire bay of the city of Pattaya. After this approximately 30-minute stop, we headed to the port area to board a speedboat that would take us to Ko Lan island (also known as Koh Larn). The boat journey takes between 15 and 30 minutes.

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The island of Koh Larn has very beautiful beaches and vegetation. However, we have to admit that the main beach in high season can look like a theme park, it's full of jet skis for rent, bananas and all kinds of water activities for rent. It's a well-known island among Russian and Chinese tourists.

So if you want to discover the most local and quiet area of the island, you will need to rent a scooter. Keep in mind that it's easy to get around the island.

Wondering when is the best time to visit Koh Larn? As it happens throughout the entire country of Thailand, the best time to visit the island is during the dry season, which runs from November/December to March/April, to enjoy the most pleasant temperatures and no rain.

However, don't let the rainy season scare you if you're traveling during the wet season because the rains often last only 10 minutes or half an hour, and then sun appears and you can keep enjoying your day.

If you want to visit Koh Larn on your own, you can get there by bus from Bangkok, which usually leaves every hour, and the journey takes 2 hours and costs a little over 3€. Once in Pattaya, you would need to take the ferry to Koh Larn island, as an economical option, otherwise, you have the speedboats to get there faster.

If you go on your own and have enough time, you can also spend a night on the island and enjoy it leisurely, where you will find several accommodation options and some modern bars and cafes with sea views, many of which are very Instagrammable.

In case you want to have an organized trip, these are some recommendations we give to you:

From Bangkok: Pattaya Beach & Coral Island Small Group Tour

Pattaya: Full-Day 3 Island Tour on Catamaran with Lunch

From BKK: Pattaya Island Trip with Drone Photo by Speed Boat

Day Trip to Pattaya City & Koh Larn Island Tour From Bangkok

✽ Here we want to explain a little bit about our experience. We booked a shared excursion with a small group that we ended up being alone as the other people didn't show up in the meeting point in Bangkok. That was great, because we paid for a shared trip although we were alone as in a private one. On the other hand, our guide did his best, but his English level was very low, and we had trouble communicating with him. What we liked least is that once you board the speedboat from the port of Pattaya to the island of Koh Larn, they stopped us on a floating walkway in the middle of the sea where you could hire all kinds of activities (jet skiing, parasailing, scuba diving, etc.) and the worst part is that if someone in your group hired something, you had to wait for everyone to finish before heading to the island. This made us very angry because we had not been informed, and because we wanted to arrive as soon as possible and enjoy the beautiful beach, not to be waiting seated on that floating platform. We managed to get onto a speedboat from another group and finally reached Koh Larn. So this is our piece of advice: if you go there on an organized trip or hire a speedboat, pay close attention to this intermediate stop, which is a tourist trap.

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SANCTUARY OF TRUTH

The Sanctuary of Truth is an unfinished Buddhist-Hindu castle in Pattaya. And what's special about it? Well, it's completely built of wood, even the nails used in its construction or the last detail you can see are made of wood. Furthermore, its location near a beach with sea views makes it even more beautiful.

The sanctuary was commissioned by the eccentric millionaire Lek Viriyaphan in 1981 and it is supposed to be completed around 2025. The idea behind the Sanctuary of Truth was to honor Buddhist and Hindu values while preserving and supporting traditional Thai wood carving techniques.

Its architecture is inspired by temples in Ayutthaya, and you'll see that there's no artificial light inside, but it's designed to be admired with the sunlight filtering through its openings.

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And where is the Sanctuary of Truth located? It is located in North of Pattaya, about 15 minutes from the city center. If you're not going on a guided tour, the easiest way to get there is by motorbike or taxi (Grab).

It's open every day from 8 am to 6 pm, and admission costs 500 baht per adult (around 13€) and 250 baht per child. Keep in mind that admission includes a guide, and visitors enter every hour. If you want, you can also visit at your own pace, as we did.

Pattaya: The Sanctuary of Truth Admission Ticket

Remember to adhere to the dress code, keeping your shoulders and knees covered. If you forget to dress appropriately, don't worry, they can provide you with scarves to cover up when you enter.

The aspect we found most unfavorable about this location is the presence of elephants nearby, where tourists ride around the sanctuary. PLEASE, DO NOT PARTICIPATE in this business where the elephants are tied up and mistreated. If you want to interact with them, you can do so in a much more ethical and responsible way in the Chiang Mai area, where there are several elephant sanctuaries that allow you to feed them or bath with them in an environment where the animal is free.

In summary, we loved visiting this wooden castle; it's a beautiful place that is very impressive due to being entirely made of wood, so if you're visiting Bangkok, don't hesitate to plan your visit to the temple! Here you can see some photos we took, but we promise that it is totally worth it to see it directly through your eyes!

And remember, if you're visiting North Thailand soon, we have a complete blog entry about what to see and what to do in Bangkok, you can read it here.

Last but not least, as a reader of @santiandlali, you have a 5% discount on all Iati insurances clicking here!

Don't take risks and travel protected, so that any unexpected event during your trip doesn't ruin your experience.

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* We would like to point out that no company, hotel or restaurant has paid us to mention them in this blog. We simply recommend what we booked and paid for ourselves, considering that we enjoyed it enough to recommend it.