Pattaya: where it is, the areas and housing

Where Pattaya is

Pattaya (พัทยา) is on the eastern shore of the Gulf of Thailand, in Chonburi province, Bang Lamung district, about 150 km from Bangkok by the city’s own figure. It started as a fishing village in Naklua subdistrict; in 1956 the area became the Naklua sanitary district, 22.2 km² in size.

Since 29 November 1978 Pattaya has been governed by a special local administration, Pattaya City (เมืองพัทยา, pattaya.go.th), with the status of a large city municipality. The current Pattaya City Administration Act dates from 1999, and the mayor and council are elected.

The city covers 208.1 km², but more than two thirds of that is sea (154.7 km²). Land including Koh Larn island is 53.4 km², and Koh Larn itself 4.07 km². Pattaya City takes in all of Naklua subdistrict, most of Nong Prue (the rest belongs to Nong Prue town) and small parts of Huay Yai and Nong Pla Lai. The western boundary is the sea; the eastern one runs about 900 m east of Sukhumvit Road. To the south the city borders the Huay Yai and Na Jomtien municipalities, and Na Jomtien is already in neighbouring Sattahip district.

The city cites 15 km of sandy beaches. Pattaya Beach curves in a half-moon along a 3 km beach road, and Jomtien Beach lies 6 km further south, beyond Pratumnak hill.

Pattaya areas compared

Pattaya’s areas have no official boundaries: “Jomtien” or “Pratumnak” are names of a beach, a hill and streets, not administrative units. The valuation below is the median Treasury Department appraisal for condos in the subdistrict (tambon) that contains the area, from the 2024-08-05 snapshot, in our own calculation. It is used for taxes and transfer fees, not as a sale price. A subdistrict is bigger than an area: Nong Prue includes Jomtien, Pratumnak and the south of the centre.

Every Chonburi subdistrict with 5 or more residential condominiums with titled units in the Treasury register:

How we calculated it: all residential condo units, with or without a balcony (only separate balcony rows, commercial units and other areas are dropped); the median appraisal per floor, then per building across its floors, then across the buildings of the subdistrict. Chonburi has 921 such buildings with a median of THB 35,300/m², the middle half between 28,975 and 47,500; 16 buildings with no subdistrict in the register count only in the provincial total. For comparison, Phuket has a median of THB 48,250/m² across 286 buildings. New projects without unit titles are not in the register yet.

Weather by month

The nearest Thai Meteorological Department station with 1991-2020 normals is Phatthaya (index 48 461), in Pattaya itself. Temperatures barely move through the year; rain and visitor numbers do.

Rain and rainy days (0.1 mm or more) are TMD normals; occupancy is Ministry of Tourism and Sports data for the whole province in 2025. Phatthaya station gets 1,105.8 mm a year, less than half of Phuket town (2,271.5 mm). Sattahip station further south records 1,340.3 mm.

What this means: Pattaya’s rainy peak is shorter and later than Phuket’s. It falls in September and October, and by November rain is down to 5-6 days a month. Hotel occupancy peaked in April 2025 (86%) and bottomed out in June (71%). For trip planning, see Pattaya in October and Pattaya in November.

Holidays in Pattaya

Beaches, sights and where to stay are in our Pattaya travel guide. Island and park day trips are compared in the Pattaya excursions guide, and Nong Nooch garden has its own page. If you are choosing between resorts, see Pattaya vs Phuket for season, sea and flights.

Koh Larn island is part of Pattaya City. Boats run from Bali Hai pier in South Pattaya to Na Ban pier on the island: 8.5 km in a straight line (our calculation from the two piers’ coordinates in OpenStreetMap). The ferry takes about 45 minutes, a speedboat about 15 minutes (city data, 2019).

Getting there and getting around

From the airports. The nearest international airports are Suvarnabhumi in Bangkok and U-Tapao south of Pattaya, in neighbouring Rayong province. How to get to town: our Pattaya airport guide and Bangkok to Pattaya.

Road distances from the centre of each area to the passenger terminal, without traffic (OSRM router on OpenStreetMap data, 2026-10-17):

The further south the area, the closer U-Tapao and the further Suvarnabhumi, though the gap is within 12 km and 10 minutes.

Around town. According to the city in 2019, Pattaya has no regular city bus. The main public transport is the songthaew (baht bus): pickup trucks with two benches that loop along Beach Road and Second Road, with routes out to Naklua, Bang Lamung and Na Jomtien. The city gave an average fare of 10 baht per ride and 20 baht for a full route; that is February 2019 data and we found no newer official fare. There are also motorbike taxis, ride-hailing apps, and rented scooters; licence rules are in can I ride a scooter with a car licence.

Visitors and residents

In 2025 the tourism ministry counted 27.7 million visits to Chonburi province: 16.9 million by Thais and 10.7 million by foreigners. These are trips, not unique people: someone who comes twice is counted twice. Foreign visits fell 8.1% from 2024 while Thai visits rose 4.6%. Visitor revenue was THB 338.2 billion and average hotel occupancy 78.7% (Ministry of Tourism and Sports). The ministry does not publish separate figures for Pattaya, the province’s main resort.

Pattaya City has 116,100 registered residents (DOPA, December 2025): 67,228 in its part of Nong Prue, 46,185 in Naklua and the rest in Nong Pla Lai and Huay Yai. It also has 180,400 registered addresses (houses and flats), more than residents. In 2019 the city estimated the unregistered population at 4-5 times the registered one: foreigners on visas and workers from elsewhere do not appear in DOPA figures.

Property in Pattaya

A foreigner can own a condo unit freehold as long as foreign ownership in the building stays within 49% of the total unit area. Land generally cannot be bought, so houses and villas are bought through a land lease (leasehold). The details, with the legal texts, are in our freehold and leasehold guide, and the 75% and 99-year myths are covered separately.

What the government registers show:

• The Treasury register has 381 residential condominiums in Nong Prue and 65 in Naklua, together 48% of all such buildings in the province
• Naklua’s median valuation (THB 47,100/m²) is above Na Jomtien (42,000) and Nong Prue (39,600), but the spread within each subdistrict is wider than the gap between them
• The highest valuation in the province is South Point (เซ้าธ์พ้อยส์) in Nong Prue at THB 119,300/m²
• Treasury valuations are used for taxes and fees, not as transaction prices

Our Pattaya property catalogue lists 72 projects for sale as of 18 October 2026, with developer-stated data and a check date. By area:

Not every project has a starting price; for the rest it is to be confirmed. Registry cards for Pattaya projects (confirmation levels L1-L2) are not on the site yet. New buildings that went through environmental impact assessment are listed on the Jomtien and Pratumnak pages.

Living in Pattaya

For stays longer than a holiday:

• DTV visa: 5 years, up to 180 days per entry, a bank balance of at least THB 500,000. Visa-exemption rules changed in 2026, see how many days visa-free
• How to buy a SIM card and paying by QR code
• Which dollar notes to bring
• Common scams and how to avoid them, vapes are banned
• Hospitals: City Hall counts 6 hospitals in Pattaya, one state, one municipal and 4 private; the private ones are licensed on the Ministry of Public Health (HSS) list of 31.07.2026. The largest is Bangkok Hospital Pattaya with 300 beds
• Schools: Bang Lamung district, which includes Pattaya, has 11 international schools licensed by the Ministry of Education (OPEC register, 17.10.2026); Sattahip district, where Na Jomtien is, has none
• Schools, hospitals, shops and transport are on each area page in the table above

Found an error or outdated fact? Tell the editors, we will fix it and update the check date.