Welcome to sin city Thailand … that’s the reputation of Pattaya and it has been that way since it became a “rest and recreation” (R&R) spot for US marines during the Vietnam War. I don’t plan to make any judgements about what’s right or wrong here, or who’s exploiting who … I’ll leave that up to you.
These days lots of young, single guys (and a few married ones too) still travel to Pattaya in search of love based on it’s sin city reputation. The Thai girls in Pattaya know this too and they are not entirely shy about it. But there are lots of traps and pitfalls for the uninitiated, so we’ll try to give you some tips to finding love in Pattaya.
Whether you’re considering the Thai girls in Pattaya for sex, for a holiday romance, for a long-term relationship or even to find a wife, the rules are similar. First you have to figure out where to find the Thai girls and then you have to figure out why they’d be looking for you.
Where to find Thai girls in Pattaya
The simple answer is “get outside your hotel or resort!”. There are girls literally everywhere in Pattaya and many of them have come in from the rural towns and villages looking for some fun, to earn some money or even to meet a cute Western guy and fall in love … but we’ll get to that later.
The place most Western guys go looking for Thai girls in Pattaya are the “Go Go Bars”. You’ll rarely find any kind of relationship coming out of these bars, but they are a place to find sex and the prices are not all that steep. There are typically two price ranges for female company in a Go Go Bar … 1000-1500 Bt for a good time or 2000-3000 Bt for a long time.
“Beer bars” are similar to Go Go Bars but the focus is more on drinking and you pay a “bar fine” for your female company. The typical bar fine in Pattaya is around 300-500 Bt for an hour or two, 1000-2000 Bt for a longer stay.
If you’re looking for more than company, but less than a relationship, they say that a street called Soi 6 has the action you’re looking for. Most of the places here are beer bars so you pay a bar fine of 300 Bt to the bartender and then you can take a girl upstairs. You still have to pay the girl for what happens next and that can range from 500-1000 Bt depending on what you want.
You’ll also find some massage parlours in Pattaya, especially down on Second Road near the Big C Supermarket, where you can have what’s called a “soapie massage” for around $1500-2000.
Outside of the beer bars, go go bars and massage parlours there are “freelance” girls who hang around in the nightclubs and party bars and will usually make themselves known to you (they’re hard to tell from the office girls most of the time). If you go off with them, expect to pay around 500 Bt for a quick encounter or 1000 Bt for an overnighter.
Take an irreverent and funny trip behind the bars on Walking Street in Pattaya for a look at what really goes on…
What are the Thai girls in Pattaya looking for?
The bright lights of Pattaya attract Thai girls almost as much as Western guys and many of these girls are genuinely looking for love. Of course love has many definitions and sometimes only lasts for one night, or until a cuter one comes along. Sometimes it lasts until the guy runs out of money or goes home or moves on to the next destination. Sometimes it lasts a lot longer and many Thai girls accompany their Western boyfriends to other places, even other countries, often even back home to get married.
Some of the Thai girls in Pattaya are just looking to make a living – life can be hard in Thailand and they might be the only “bread winner” in their family. There are certainly some who are looking for a way to scam one or more tourists out of their money and even their life savings. There are lots of stories of foreign guys who’ve married Thai girls and bought a house or a business in Pattaya only to find themselves on the wrong end of a law suit, or worse, and losing everything. In between are girls who want you to buy something for their family or their village, so you need to have your head screwed on, not screwed off.
It might sometimes appear that the bar girls in Pattaya prefer older western men over younger ones. This is not really true, it’s just that the older men are usually much better off financially and much more willing to spend real money on the girls both in the bar and out of it. If a young guy comes along who appears to have similar financial prospects, you can bet the older guy will find himself out in the cold very quickly. In fact, Thai girls are becoming less and less likely to want to hang around with men twice their age.
Some Thai girls in Pattaya are actively looking for western guys with a view to marriage. It’s tough but fair to say many Thai men are lazy, uncaring and likely to cheat on their wives and girlfriends. They are also often “cheap” and stingy in how they treat their women. But again the truth is not quite what it seems and while many Thai girls in Pattaya have lost interest in finding a Thai guy, they are quite keen to hook up with guys from other parts of Asia, especially Koreans and Japanese, and will prefer them over “western” guys.
If you’re trying to find a long term relationship with a bar girl in Pattaya, you need to ask yourself what you’re expecting them to give up and why they would do that. The best bar girls in Pattaya earn around 10-15,000 Bt per month and that’s good money in Thailand. You need to be able to show you can replace the lifestyle that buys them and their families. But you also need to show you’ll be a caring, loving person who will look after them and possibly the kids they’re hiding at their parents’ home.
What are the traps, scams and pitfalls for Western visitors?
Always negotiate and fix the price before you leave the bar or nightclub as these girls always have someone looking after them who might try to squeeze you for whatever you have. Also, don’t take more cash than you need as someone might go through your wallet while you’re otherwise distracted. If you take a bar girl or a freelancer back to your hotel, watch out that they don’t leave with more than they came with – like your smartphone or your camera.
If you’re going to a beer bar or a go go bar looking for sex, don’t waste a lot of money buying drinks for the girls. It’s not like you need to get them drunk or win them over, just figure out which one you want to be with and start negotiating.
Bachelor-friendly and guest-friendly hotels in Pattaya
If you plan to find yourself a girlfriend in Pattaya or even take a girl home from a bar or nightclub, you need to make sure your hotel or guest house is not going to turn your girl away at the door. Many will, and others will want to charge you an extra “guest” fee which can be quite steep. But if you choose a hotel that doesn’t mind extra guests in your room, it’s all good.
Here’s a selection of hotels in Pattaya, organised by location, known to accept “extra guests”. Note that management teams and management attitudes can change – these hotels were guest-friendly at the time of writing this post and we’ll do our best to keep the list up to date. If you find anything not correct, please let us know!
Walking Street hotels
The Green View, Pattaya 
2000Bt – 175/51 Moo 10 Walking Street Soi 15 – a good location near Club Electric Blue and half a minute’s walk to Walking Street but still reasonably quiet. Recently renovated rooms, simple and clean with good wifi.
Grand Hotel Pattaya 1300Bt – 103 Moo 10, Soi 14, Beach Road, South Pattaya – great location right off Walking Street but the cheaper rooms have small bathrooms and showers. Good wifi. 24 hour reception desk. Higher level rooms have ocean views.
Diamond Beach Hotel 1400Bt – 499 Beach Rd, Walking Street – right on Walking Street but just a block off the beach, with its own bar and nightclub and smack in the middle of the girl zone of Pattaya. Rooms facing Walking St are quite noisy.
South Pattaya hotels
Intimate Hotel 
5500Bt – 397/42 Moo 10, Soi 14, Pattaya 2nd Road – Used to be called the Tim Boutique Hotel and was the most popular bachelor hotel in Pattaya. Not as intimate now as when Tim ran it, but still pretty good. Centrally located near the Central Shopping Plaza and a short walk to the beach. Rooms are clean and good value for money.
LK The Empress 3000Bt – 240/1 M.10 Soi.12, Pattaya Beach Rd – great location right in the heart of Pattaya but also quite noisy. Good size rooms, well furnished, nicely maintained. Beach front rooms are the best.
Camelot Hotel 1200Bt – 373/17 Moo 10 Pratamnak Road – close to Walking Street with large 45 sq.m. rooms even if a little dated and in need of a lick of paint. Reports that they are charging extra for overnight guests.
Naris Art Hotel 950Bt – 162/234 Soi 5 Thappraya Rd, Pattaya East – a little further away from the hectic nightlife but great views from the upper rooms and a nice swimming pool. 1.5 km walk to Walking Street (or 10 Bt on the bus).
Sunshine Hotel and Residences 1200Bt – 217/1 Moo 10 Soi 8, Pattaya Beach Rd – good size clean rooms but does suffer a bit from noise from the nearby clubs and bars. Two minutes walk to the beach and close to everything.
Areca Lodge Pattaya 2000Bt – 198/21, 198/23 Moo 9, Soi Diana Inn, Pattaya Sai Song Road – ideally located for all the attractions of Pattaya and excellent value for money. Evergreen wing at rear is new and much quieter.
Pattaya Centre Hotel 2000Bt – Moo 10, Soi 12 Beach Rd – nice hotel but getting a bit tired. Great location close to the beach. Not getting many good reports about this hotel at the moment so don’t recommend it.
Mercure Pattaya Hotel 2000Bt – 484, Moo 10, Pattaya 2nd Road, Soi 15 – large and clean rooms with firm beds and can be a little noisy. Good wifi. Close to Central Mall and 5 minutes walk to the beach.
If none of these really suit your tastes or budget, check out other hotels in Pattaya on TripAdvisor. There are always lots of special offers on hotels in Pattaya including free breakfasts, room rate discounts, early bird booking discounts and lots more to save you money that can be better spent elsewhere.
