Walking Street

GPS coordinates: 12°55’31.5″N 100°52’15.9″E (12.925418, 100.871086)

When I read in most of guide books that Walking Street is the must-see sight of Pattaya, I always doubt if the author has been there or if he was conscious enough. And let’s be honest: it’s definitely not the only heart of vice in this city, as Pattaya has quite many “hearts”.

I hardly can imagine someone visiting this street twice or more being sober – it’s nothing just an ordinary crowded and a bit dirty street full of bars, discos, go-go bars (= brothels), with some restaurants, stalls selling different tourist stuff and ambiguous shows (guess which will be fake and which one will be true). Music rumbles from every corner, barkers approach every tourist in order to welcome him/her to “the best place ever” while every place tries to show its “goods” in all beauty and light up the brighter neon lights over the entrance.

Everything you will find here can be found in other streets of Pattaya:

• cheaper,
• better,
• safer (at least the concentration of pickpockets will be less).

But other streets won’t offer you everything at once. Probably Walking Street can be visited in order to find a place to dance (like a disco or a night club) – everyone needs the right music and here’s the choice. Of course Walking Street is not the place that can be visited with children.

If you have been to Pattaya and you didn’t visit Walking Street, you have nothing to regret about.

I bet you wouldn’t recognize daytime Walking Street – only the arch with sign will remind you of where you are. Walking street is sleeping: almost all places are closed, cargo vehicles are unloading goods in front of doors, no music is playing and sleepy workers are cleaning up the rest of evening’s garbage.

Walking street turns to pedestrian zone only between 19:00-3:00.

The “fun and joy” finishes up by 4 a.m. I should warn you: it doesn’t matter that tourist police is on duty in Walking Street, this place doesn’t tend to become safer. I mean mostly thefts and various scam schemes. Be careful walking in the Walking street and leave all valuable things, passport and excess money in hotel’s safe and the key at reception desk, if it’s open 24/7.

Map

Take Pattaya map with you – just click the star and it will be saved in your Google account. Any locations in this region that I will add later will appear on your map.

Walking street is marked with thick brown line:

Sources of pictures without FalkTime watermark: Wikipedia and Walking Street’s website.