All you need to know about the land of silk and smiles
Dusit Thani Resort Pattaya Beach
This luxury Pattaya resort has its own beach. First impressions are important and the giant lobby with its spacious atrium with gardens and waterfall cannot fail to impress the most seasoned traveler. The lobby is pictured below. This 457-room resort is a combination of conference hotel and family vacation resort. The selection of rooms includes 282 superior rooms with either sea view or garden view, 89 club rooms with higher quality facilities and access to the hotel’s club lounge on the eighth floor, 42 grand rooms which cover 80 square-meters each and have two queen beds and an outdoor shower on a private terrace. Room rack rates range from 9,000 Baht for a garden superior to 18,000 Baht for a grand room. Major discounts on these prices are available on the hotel’s website. All the rooms have flat screen televisions with satellite movie and news channels, IDD telephones, minibar, in-room safe, bathrobes and tea and coffee making facilities. The property has 14 meeting rooms available for social or business functions. The largest can accommodate 3,000 guests. The resort has three restaurants, two swimming pools, four tennis courts, a fitness center and full service spa. The restaurants include The Peak, a Chinese restaurant on the eighth floor with magnificent views, The Bay Restaurant provides Italian and BBQ indoor-outdoor casual dining and The Cascade coffee shop is located off the lobby. Room service is available around the clock. The Pattaya offices of Thai Airways are locat The hotel is a 10-minute stroll through gardens and onto Beach Road to the stalls, bars and restaurants of north Pattaya beach. This is a top quality hotel with super friendly service just away from the hustle of Pattaya. This is a hotel that we would highly recommend for older couples looking for quality at an affordable price. The dining here is excellent, but expensive. Fortunately there are numerous places to eat nearby. For 10 Baht you can take a bus across the street from the hotel to the center of Pattaya where fast food and quality restaurants abound. Contact details: 240/2 Pattaya Beach Road, North Pattaya. Telephone: 03842 5611, fax 03825 0496. www.dusit.com. 
ed on the southern corner of the property.
Hard Rock Hotel Pattaya
Big and brash and fits in perfectly with the Pattaya scene. The 320 rooms here have loud décor with lots of rock star pictures and blue or orange carpets. Each has a full in-room entertainment center with wall mounted Internet browser television and in case you forget where you are all the bed linens come with the Hard Rock logo. The rooms are small but well equipped with a modern bathroom, IDD telephone, tea and coffee making facilities, bathrobes and mini refrigerator.
Those spending more on king club rooms receive the benefits of a club lounge with evening cocktails and canapés and snacks and cold drinks throughout the day. There are always activities to appeal to all ages. Pictured on the right is the ever popular foam party.
Pattaya’s largest swimming pool is here, of course, along with a Hard Rock Café on the beachfront. Also on the nine acre site is a 280-seat restaurant with show kitchens serving Japanese, Mediterranean, Thai and Chinese cuisines, a deli counter, E-Bar (Internet cafe), banquet facilities that accommodate 380, Lil' Rock club for kids, gym, spa and massage salon, and a sand island for pool activities. The word peaceful does not appear in their promotions.
The room keys have a great security feature only allowing access to the floor where your room is located. The hotel has a variety of stores, an ATM and a special lingo of its own. Clients are known as stars, VIP guests are superstars, younger visitors are Lil Rockers and the employees are band members. The band members are a team of younger, energetic and helpful employees full of information to help you find your away around Pattaya. This is the hotel we recommend for younger couples who enjoy high tech and families on vacation. The 24-hour front desk can arrange for baby sitters and has information on local attractions that younger members of the family might enjoy. The beach across the street is not the finest in Contact details: 429 Moo 9, 
A wide, clean expansive beach and modern spacious rooms are among the attractions of this new 277-room luxury resort to the south of Pattaya on Na Jomtien Beach.
All the rooms have views over the three swimming pools or the Gulf of Siam and are fully equipped with a separate shower
and bathtub, flat screen television with satellite news and movie channels, IDD telephone, wireless Internet access, DVD player, coffee and tea making facilities, in-room safe, bathrobes, minibar, and a hairdryer. The expansive lobby houses the 24-hour front desk which can organize tours and has information on area events and attractions.
On-site restaurants include Raveena, an all-day dining spot, the Reva Beach Restaurant and the Reef Mediterranean Restaurant. There are also three bars, a fitness center and full-service spa.
The property is well suited for family vacations with a kids club and lots of beach space for sports and building sand castles. The resort is popular with Europeans wanting an away-from-it-all holiday. Be warned that the resort does attract Thai groups at weekends and can get busy. There is meeting space available for business or social functions that can accommodate 700 guests.
The property is out of town and there are no shops or restaurants within walking distance. There is a shuttle service available into Pattaya which is reasonably priced and takes about 15-minutes.
This is a nicely designed property with a team of friendly employees. It is in a new developing area and will probably remain quiet and not crowded for several years. The hotel is next to the Dor-Shada Resort which is described below. The properties are very similar in price and facilities. We preferred the décor here which was more in the style of traditional
Rack rates are competitive with similar properties in the Pattaya area are start at 5,000 Baht a night for a double room and climb to 25,000 Baht for a two-bedroom pool villa. There are special promotions available on the hotel’s website and at the time we visited this hotel walk-in customers were offered a 30 percent discount on the rack rates. Contact details: 246 Moo 4,
Dor-Shada Resort By The Sea
This 172-room luxury resort enjoys similar features to the neighboring Ravindra Beach Resort and Spa. This resort is new, located directly on the white sands of
This property has a lobby lounge, large swimming pool, Jacuzzi, pool bar, spa, kids club, fitness center, business center and a 400 square-meter conference room. There are two restaurants on-site serving both Thai and international cuisine. The 24-hour front desk can arrange for baby sitters and has information on area events and attractions.
The less expensive 104 deluxe room are located at the back property away from the swimming pool and beach. They are large, measure 54 square-meters and are equipped with flat screen satellite television with news and move channels, in-room safe, tea and coffee making facilities, separate shower and bathtub, IDD telephone, bathrobes and a hairdry
The property has a small six-hole golf course and operates a shuttle into downtown Pattaya.
At the time of writing, the hotel is offering a 50 percent discount on its website.
This hotel is well set up to handle family vacations or for couples seeking a quieter away-from-it all holiday. There are no shops or restaurants nearby and the resort can get busy at weekends with groups of Thai travelers from bustling
Contact details: 256 Moo 4 Najomtien, Sattaheap, Chonburi 20260
Novotel Rim Pae Resort
This resort is an hours’ drive from Pattaya but we list here because it is a great alternate from the hustle and bustle of the resort areas to the north. In the guidebook we have more information about Klaeng
This hotel is a hidden gem for many European and American visitors. Its main attractions are its low prices and a wonderful, wide beach with white soft sand. Room prices here start as low as 2,000 Baht a night and are clean and comfortable but not as spacious as the other hotels mentioned on this page. There are however larger rooms, and true suites which are more luxurious and offer great views of the
This is a hotel we would recommend for those touring
All the rooms have Internet access, minibar, satellite television with news and movie channels, hairdryer, in-room safe, bathrobes and slippers and tea and coffee making facilities. The less expensive rooms have a shower but no bathtub. There are five dining rooms and restaurants on-site serving Thai and international cuisine, an Italian restaurant, three swimming pools, a children’s playground, snooker room, small fitness center, six-room fu
ll service spa with sauna and whirlpool, lighted tennis court, a karaoke bar and a sunset bar on the beach. The 24-hour front desk can arrange for babysitters and provide limousines and personalized excursions. Most of the team of friendly and efficient employees speaks English.
For meetings and conferences the hotel has a ballroom and rooms available for business or social functions that can accommodate 350 guests.
The area where the resort is located is fast developing as a popular spot for new apartment buildings, resorts designed for Thai holidaymakers and some smaller less expensive resorts designed for European travelers.
Contact details: 4/5 Moo 3, Pae Klaeng,
