Nong Nooch Tropical Garden: Pattaya's French Gardens, Cactus Garden and Dinosaur Valley
Nong Nooch Tropical Garden: Pattaya's French Gardens, Cactus Garden and Dinosaur Valley Most day trips from Pattaya head out to sea, to Koh Larn and its beaches. Nong Nooch goes the other way. About twenty kilometres south of the city, on Sukhumvit Road at kilometre 163 in Na Jomtien, Sattahip district, stands one of the largest botanical gardens in Southeast Asia: a privately owned, family-run garden of roughly 1,700 rai — about 2.7 square kilometres — that mixes a serious plant collection with clipped French parterres, a Stonehenge replica, a skywalk through the palms, cultural shows, and hundreds of life-size dinosaurs. It is big, it is hot, and it is more theme park than quiet garden, and that is exactly why it works. Plan it well and it is one of the best half days in the Pattaya area, with children or without them. This guide does it in order: what the garden is and how it started, the gardens worth seeing first, Dinosaur Valley and the Garden in the Sky, the shows and the ...