Jomtien Beach: Pattaya's Quieter Six Kilometres of Sand
Jomtien Beach: Pattaya's Quieter Six Kilometres of Sand Every visitor to Pattaya finds the beach in the middle of town first — the famous curve of Pattaya Beach, with its speedboats, its promenade and its non-stop hum. Fewer find the beach that local residents, long-stay visitors and Bangkok families actually use, and it is only ten minutes away. Go south, over the green shoulder of Pratumnak Hill, and the city exhales. The towers thin out, the road calms down, and a long, straight, tree-lined beach opens up and runs for about six kilometres toward the horizon. That is Jomtien. Jomtien Beach — Hat Jomtien in Thai, sometimes spelled Chom Tian on road signs — is Pattaya's second beach, and for many people it is the better one. The sand is wider than in the centre, the water is generally calmer and cleaner for swimming, the sunsets face straight out over the Gulf of Thailand toward Koh Larn, and the whole strip has a lived-in, unhurried feel that central Pattaya never quite ma...