What beaches and islands are the best ones to go to ?
The most developed beach resorts in Thailand are Pattaya and Phuket, which both receive millions of tourists every year. Phuket has some very nice beaches, but every year it is getting more and more crowded and is very expensive compared to almost anywhere else in Thailand. Pattaya is much cheaper, but has a mediocre beach and dirty water. Most visitors here come for the bars, discos and prostitutes for which Pattaya is internationally famous/infamous. Phuket’s Patong beach seems to be rapidly developing into a mini Pattaya. Due to the amount of tourists there, both have developed into very good areas for all kind of watersports. Ko Samui is another international beach resort, but is still quieter than Phuket – this is probably the best place for a family beach holiday. Chaweng is the best and most developed beach, and there is plenty of nightlife though not on the scale of Patong beach on Phuket. North of here is the backpacker dominated Ko Pha-Ngan, which is mostly pretty quiet and w
