Pattaya Thailand Guide

Ramayana Water Park: Thailand's Biggest Water Park, in the Hills South of Pattaya Most people picture Pattaya's water as the sea — a bay, a beach road, a ferry to Koh Larn. But about twenty kilometres south of the city, inland from Na Jomtien, there is another kind of water altogether: more than eighteen hectares of slides, pools and rivers built into a green valley, with a lake on one side and low mountains on the other, and the golden Buddha of Khao Chi Chan looking on from its cliff a short drive away. Ramayana Water Park, which opened on 5 May 2016, calls itself Thailand's biggest water park, and standing on the path at the entrance with the slide towers rising over the lawns, it is hard to argue. This is not a hotel pool with a slide bolted on. It is a full day out that has to be planned like a small expedition — tickets, transport, shade, food and timing all matter — and for families, and for anyone who has done the beach and the malls and wants a different Pattaya, ...

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 ...