planning to take our 11 year old on a family trip to Thailand this May (early stages of planning, so if it wont work out in May, we will aim for August).

we've been to Thailand in 2006, and went to Koh Samui for our "beach part" of the trip. this time, as we are 3 travelers, we are considering either Hua Hin or Pattaya, as they wont require domestic flights.

any recommendation of whats better? we want a place thats vacationy with lots of activities to do (i see Pattaya has water park, ripley's museum etc.) so we thought it might be better suited for a trip with our boy, but i would love to hear about the pros and cons to each of the places (HH vs. Patayya).

c'mon fodorites!!!

never been to either Hua hin or Pattaya and trying to figure out which is a better place to take our 11 yr old son.
we like adventurous travel, water sports, water parks? fun things to do with him (we'll do all the elephant and jungle stuff in Chiang Mai) - please guys, can you explain the diff between HH and pattaya?

we have hilton and sofitel points which we can utilize in our stays, but dont need that necesarily, as we'll stay at the hilton in BKK and sofitel in CM - most likely...

need pointers!!

Pattaya does have a lot more activities and amusement parks but it also a lot more seedy bars and crimes. The beaches at Pattaya are not that nice but it's facing West so you do get fantastic sunsets. If it's water sports and amusement parks that interest you then I would say Pattaya definitely. Go to the outer islands, about 1 hour boat ride, and spend your days there(swimming, snorkeling, diving fishing etc.) and then come back to the city at night for all the other activities.

Hua Hin has a fantastic beach with fine soft sand but the water is not very good to swim in. The town is just right, in my opinion, and quite safe to walk around. Less restaurants, shops and bars then Pattaya but more "authentic". The only water sport around Hua Hin is kite boarding, your son will be too young, and when the sea is calm enough you can rent jet skis or go skiing.

Hope this help.

Hua Hin is very quiet. It is a very nice place for a respite from the freneticism that is BKK. Pattaya is much more built up.

thanx you guys for the postings...
i'd love to find a place which is peaceful but completely enjoyable. meaning, we want to relax, but arent sit-at-the-beach-all-day kinda people.

can i get a comparison to Koh Samui (the island i'd been too)? we had a nice time in Koh Samui last trip w/o my son, but it was quite touristy which wasnt so nice...we loved the peace and beauty of chiang mai... so maybe Hua Hin is better for us than Pattaya?

I'm not a fan of Hua Hin at all. Pattaya is not one of my favorite places either, but it would be my choice between the two.
You ask for comparison with Samui....well, it very much depends on which part of Samui you have visited but generally I would say that Pattaya is most similar. Beach time in Thailand for me means good sea swimming and my experience of Hua Hin does't fit that bill. However, from Pattaya you can visit Jomtien beach around fifteen minutes drive, for some very nice snorkeling.

I would opt for Hua Hin. Within 30 - 45 minutes drive from Hua Hin you can visit Sam Roi Yod national park which has some wonderful scenery, quaint little restaurants, and beaches(also the site where many Hollywood movies were shot). Hua Hin town itself has a small but modern mall which should entertain your son a little but the real charm is the old town. If you do decide to go to Hua Hin let us know and I can recommend some restaurants for you.

I've found this short video of Sam Roi Yod park so if you're interested click on the link below. Be aware that the trek up to the cave on the video is very strenuous! The boat ride around the mangroves is wonderful and your son will enjoy that. I've seen huge water montiors there up to 6 foot long!

I would opt for Hua Hin. Within 30 - 45 minutes drive from Hua Hin you can visit Sam Roi Yod national park which has some wonderful scenery, quaint little restaurants, and beaches(also the site where many Hollywood movies were shot). Hua Hin town itself has a small but modern mall which should entertain your son a little but the real charm is the old town. If you do decide to go to Hua Hin let us know and I can recommend some restaurants for you.

I've found this short video of Sam Roi Yod park so if you're interested click on the link below. Be aware that the trek up to the cave on the video is very strenuous! The boat ride around the mangroves is wonderful and your son will enjoy that. I've seen huge water montiors there up to 6 foot long!

http://www.truveo.com/Yuis-Guide-to-.../id/3942736524

Leigh,

Many people here keep writing about snorkeling around Jomtien beach - where? I keep a boat in Pattaya and I learned to scuba dive around the islands off Pattaya so I'm very curious on where you guys think is a good place to snorkel around Jomtien?

There is no snorkeling at Jomtien Beach, as Hanuman says you have to go to the dive areas off the coast. You can spend the day or Koh Larn.

Pattaya/Jomtien area certainly has more activities, lots to do, but if you want a relaxing time then Hua Hin would be a good choice ( we drive 'from' Jomtien down to Hua Hin for weekends/longer quite often ) and although not so many 'commercial activities' there are still enough places to visit.

Sam Roi Yot ( already mentioned ) is a huge national park running along the coast. There are wetlands with birdwatching ( a major place for migrating birds - more interesting than you would expect, some absolutely amazing birds that don't seem that bothered about humans ! ). There are also mangroves and the Pranburi River. You can head inland to Palau-U Waterfall, not great, but gets you out of town into a natural setting.
You can go-kart, ATV, Elephant ride etc.
There are jet-skis, beach volley ball, boat trips and fishing trips around uninhabited small islands from Khao Takiab ( 5 mins past Hyatt HH)

30 mins south is Dolphin Bay and boat trips around Monkey island to look for Pink Dolphins ( never been lucky ! ) but it's a very rural coastal area with villages etc.

If you want to snorkel it only takes about 2 hours by road to Bang Saphan where they take you by boat to Koh Talu where there is 'acceptable' snorkeling, you get seafood lunch, good day out trip.

The town is very nice for walking around in the evenings. The old fishing port area still has many old style Thai houses and shops, lots of restaurants, some nice arts and crafts places. Also Silk Village place now. There are enough bars and restaurants, couple of disco pubs with live Thai bands and singers.
Sasi Restaurant does a good 'Dinner and Show' that is Thai dance and music plus culural performances. Also the HH Thai Show near the night market.
You can go up Khao Takiab and climb the steps up to the top temple, good views. There are also temples around the edges of town.

Some excellent Thai restaurants, a night market with food stalls. If you need to shop ( apart from Bangkok ) there is a large shopping malls with eateries, food hall, bowling, cinemas etc etc.

I would keep souvernir shopping to BKK and Chiang Mai.

May or August weather there should be fine, hot but rarely excessive,it has very low rainfall anyway ( Sept to Nov in our experience only bad times for rain ).

Hilton HH is a very tall tower and the beach there not good, you have to walk along to the Sofitel area. There is also a Marriott, Hyatt Regency ( great for kids !! - ), a new Sheraton. The Courtyard by Marriott ( north of town ) is due to open by '2nd Qtr 2008'-according to Marriott.
You would not find HH as commercialy 'tourist orientated' as othwers, 80% or more ( could be 90% ) are domestic visitors.

I can't knock Jomtien and for those who want a busy lively place near Bangkok fine, but seems to me HH would suit you. You 'can' do train but takes 4 hours plus, but for the novelty factor some enjoy the trip ( afternoon long haul trains best )

Hanuman, there are loads of short trips to some excellent snorkeling sites from Jomtien beach. Koh Khrok and Koh Lan are just a couple.

Leigh,

Your original post made it sound like there are snorkeling sites at Jomtien beach. Those islands are accessible from both Pattaya and Jometien so don't understand when you wrote that it only takes 15 minutes driving from Pattaya to get to the "very nice snorkeling"!

Hi Hanuman and JamesA,
maybe one of you might be a specialist for Bangkok and the other one for Bang Saphan and Chumphon because you are living around there.
But I spent at least 5 years of the last 10 in Hua Hin and are asking you now: where the hell is there an old town in Hua Hin? Did you mean those dozen or so of half wooden houses or the few renovated ones, now occupied by restaurants and shops? And again quoting that 80% or more of the tourists are locals is ridiculous! Maybe you mean Cha Am and changed places. I think if a Thai from Isaan visit HH in December/January, he might be thinking to be in Europe and the Thais around just serving the farang. Or could be that you went to Hua Hin only at weekends, when many daytourists from Bangkok are here. But seen over the whole week the figure might be 80% foreigners (and 70% of them Scandinavians) and 20% locals.

Wolf,

The "old town" that I was referring to is just the central market area with all the old buildings all the way to the fishing piers.

Hua Hin population is not that big and it's a resort town. Most of the condos and houses are occupied during the weekends, especially the long weekends, by their owners who are predominantly Thais. Hua Hin has gotten very popular with the foreign tourists so it might look like they are the main visitors and perhaps that is the case during the weekdays. We have a house in Hua Hin for the past 40 years and we only visit there during some weekends and we've seen the changes throughout the year. IMO the development of Hua Hin is getting out of hand.

Hanuman- thanks for posting the video of Sam Roi Yod Park. We are considering HH in July and that area looks really interesting. My son(also 11) would particularly like all the bird watching opportunities.

hey all, thanks so much for the information. so i got to thinking that Hua Hin might be right for us, as we want something on the quieter side... However - are we missing anotehr option?

we'll be flying in to BKK and hope to directly take a flight up to CM for 5 nights. then we will either fly back to BKK and cab it to Hua hin. however, that sounds like a hassle, and maybe we should just fly from CM to an alternate beach destination, and not have to deal with flight plus 203 hrs by car in same day...? any recomendations?

tnnc2,

For your son - http://www.thaibirding.com/locations/west/ksry.htm

Hanuman, thanks for the explanations. Hopefully we ll see eachother at the GTG in Bangkok.
I also know the Hua Hin of 20 years ago and therefore the HH of today is not >my kind of beer<.
Thats the reason a moved to Pranburi 3 years ago.
Regarding the percentage of foreigners I meant peak season (November to March) and what you see walking around and at the beach.

we;ve decided on Hua Hin!!! we'll spend 4 nights at the Sofitel (point stay)... i'm real excited as HH sounds beautiful and calm...5 weeks to countdown!!

Have a great time. You'll love the Sofitel.