JomtienPattaya, Thailand · 2026 guide

Jomtien is the long, straight beach and resort strip that begins where Pattaya’s bay ends — over Pratumnak hill, about 3 km south of Walking Street — and runs four miles (6 km) south along Jomtien Beach Road to the fishing village at Na Jomtien. It is part of the same city, a ten-to-fifteen-minute baht bus ride away, and it is the answer to the question every first-timer asks on day two: “Is there a better beach?”

What it is. A wide, sandy, reasonably clean beach with a palm-lined promenade that was rebuilt and widened in stages through the early 2020s, backed by a beach road of hotels, condominium towers, restaurants and massage shops, and then a parallel Jomtien Second Road a block inland where the bars and the cheaper guesthouses are. The northern end, near the Thappraya Road junction and Dongtan Beach, is the busiest and best-connected; the further south you go, the quieter and more Russian it gets. Jomtien has a very large resident population of Western retirees and long-stay visitors, so English is easy and Western food is everywhere.

Nightlife (as of August 2026). Smaller and gentler than Pattaya proper, and clustered in three places:

• Rompho complex. A large square of 40–70 small open-air beer bars, restaurants and a night food market on Jomtien Second Road opposite Jomtien Soi 7. A live-music bar, pool tables, a couple of Western pubs, and a crowd of expats and holidaymakers in their fifties and sixties. This is the main beer-bar scene south of Pratumnak, and the most relaxed in the city.
• Jomtien Complex. A bar square off Jomtien Soi 3, near the Dongtan end, with cabaret shows, restaurants and bars. It is the centre of Pattaya’s gay nightlife and has been for decades; straight men are welcome and plenty drink there, but you should know what it is before you sit down.
• Jomtien Second Road and the sois. Beer bars, sports bars and restaurants strung along the inland road and the numbered sois between it and the beach, plus a handful of hostess bars. Nothing you would cross town for, but a pleasant evening if you are staying here.

Prices are the lowest in the city: beer $2–3 (฿60–100), ladies’ drinks around $4–6 (฿130–200) where they exist. No go-go bars. The Thepprasit night market, on the road up to Sukhumvit, runs Friday to Sunday evenings and is worth a visit for food and a wander.

By day. This is what Jomtien is for. Deckchairs and umbrellas at $2–3 (฿60–100), calmer and cleaner water than Pattaya, kitesurfing at the southern end, a beach you can actually walk along for an hour, and a sunset as good as Pattaya’s with a fraction of the jet-skis. Dongtan Beach at the northern end is the gay beach and is also the quietest stretch. Koh Larn ferries leave from Bali Hai Pier, fifteen minutes away by baht bus.

Who it suits. Men who want a real beach day between nights in Pattaya; retirees and long-stayers (a month here is cheaper and calmer than a month on Soi Buakhao); men bringing a companion for a few quiet days; couples. It does not suit anyone who wants the scene on his doorstep — every Jomtien evening that matters ends in a baht bus to Pattaya, and the ride back at two in the morning is the tax you pay for the beach.

Getting there. From Pattaya, the dark-blue baht buses that run south along Second Road and down Thappraya Road are marked for Jomtien; from Walking Street or the bottom of Second Road it is $0.60 (฿20) after the April 2026 fare rise and takes 10–15 minutes. A Grab or Bolt from central Pattaya is $3–5. From Suvarnabhumi airport, a Grab is around two hours and $35–55 (฿1,200–1,800), slightly more than to Pattaya. The Beach Road and Soi Buakhao pages cover the rest of the baht bus system.

Safety. Jomtien is calmer than Pattaya in every respect and the risks are the beach ones: sun, rip currents in the rainy season, and the same jet-ski damage scams as Pattaya (photograph the machine first, or skip it). At night the beach road is quieter and darker than Beach Road; take a baht bus or a Grab rather than a long walk if you have been drinking.

How it has changed. Jomtien has built upward since 2019 — condo towers all along the beach road — and the promenade works made it a far nicer place to walk. The Russian long-stay population grew sharply from 2022, the retiree population keeps growing, and the beer-bar scene has stayed roughly where it was: small, friendly and not the point.