Isaan, Thailand and beaches near Bangkok
 

Has anyone traveled extensively there, able to tell about life and cost of living, etc. What are the major cities there?

What are the nicest beach towns "near" Bangkok? This could be 2 or 3 hours away.
Is Phuket really much nicer than the Gulf of Thailand?

Major towns in the N.E. are Udon, Ubon, Khonkaen & Korat(biggest there).

Nice beach town within 2 - 3 hours of Bangkok are Hua Hin and Pattaya - not much beach and polluted but the islands near there are nice.

Aren't you the person taking the teaching job? Are you being given options for schools outside the greater Bangkok area?

Phuket and the Gulf of Thailand have differnt weather patterns. So when it is monsoon season in Phuket, the weather is good in the gulf of Thailand. The beaches along the mainland are not as nice as those in the islands Phuket, etc and Koh Samui on teh gulf side), but I find the Hua Hin area to be a perfectly acceptable beach area with some lovely hotels.

pattaya is really not very nice....jontiem beach next door is nicer...

hua hin is my favorite... as said about a 3 hour ride from central bkk. pattaya is closer, but i don't think the water is clean there, jontiem is better by far...

The beaches in the Gulf can be pretty polluted. jomtien water quality was rated worse than Pattaya a few years back - largely due to positioning of sewage outlets and susceptibility to wind and tides washing the stuff back onto the shoreline.

There are no beaches "really" near Bkk.

The first (and therefore nearest) down the coast towards Pattaya - is Bang Saen - a resort town, very popular at week-ends with people from the big smoke. lots of deck chairs, fried rice on the sea front and plastic bags floating in the water.
Sri Racha has no beach itself but a small island called Koh Si Chang which again is crowded at the week-end.

The headland between Pattaya and Jomtien has less urban beaches. Koh Laan is the most popular island - about a 45 min boat ride out.

Beyond Pattaya things get better, Bang Sare, Ban Amphoe, Sattahip all have passable beaches. Next province Rayong has some too but the dire pollution problems of the Map Tha Phut Industry may make swimming undesirable.

On the other side of the Gulf Hua Hin is reasonably clean but boring. Southerly beaches there are quite nice and down further into Prachuap Kiri khan there is quite a selection - all this is rather a long way from Bkk though.