Where to Stay and What to Do in Patong Beach
Patong is a big, busy, and let’s say messy city, and if this is your first time here, the geography of Patong Beach can be overwhelming, especially if you plan to book a hotel!
Patong Beach is a large and lively city, which can be quite chaotic for first-time visitors, especially when it comes to selecting a hotel due to its complex geography. The city is divided into four distinct areas, primarily determined by the roads that run parallel to the beach:
📍 Beach Road is the best place to stay, but it is often more expensive for obvious reasons.
📍 Ratuthit Road is a second road that runs 350 meters away, parallel to the beach. It offers a good alternative price-wise because you are actually near the beach, shopping and nightlife.
📍 Sai Kor Road, located 650 meters parallel to the beach, is the third road. It’s busy with cars and bikes and is not particularly attractive.
📍 Nanai Road, situated further inland, is approximately 1 kilometre away from the beach. It’s a narrow street with crazy traffic and no sidewalks. It has a lot of small bars and restaurants because this is often where expats live.
A lot of streets run perpendicular to the beach, connecting these 4 roads, and apart from the famous Bangla Road, it is usually the only name people remember because this is where the nightlife scene is. The price of the hotels is, of course, higher when close to the beach, depending on their star rating, but prices also decrease when the distance to Bangla Road increases.
The Beachfront Road
Patong Beach Road is a 2-kilometre-long one-way road with the beach on one side and a non-stop line of hotels, restaurants and shops facing the ocean on the other side. The central part of the beachroad is the busiest, mostly because this is where the famous Bangla Road starts, home to a frantic nightlife. The street is very busy day and night, with just a tiny sidewalk for pedestrians, lined with Tuk Tuks parked all along.
Popular Hotels on the Beachfront
Popular Restaurants on the Beachfront
The list of restaurants on the beach road is as endless as it is varied and it would take forever to review them all. You will find many longest established restaurants in the small street perpendicular to the beach road, including some popular small Thai restaurants.
Ratuthit Road
Hotels on Ratuthit Road (the second road) are often cheaper. Note that some hotels listed on this page appear on both streets because they stretch from the beach road to the second road. Rathutit Road is mostly lined with restaurants, massage parlours, shops and a couple of night markets and night bazaars. The main attraction on Ratuthit Road is the immense Jungceylon Shopping Centre that stretches all the way to the 3rd road. The intersection where Bangla Road end is the busiest crossing of Patong Beach.
Popular Hotels on Rathutit Road
What to Do on Rathutit Road
Bangla Road
We have an entire page dedicated to Bangla Raod, the heart of Phuket’s nightlife and party. There are just a couple on hotels is this street and all you will find in Bangla are bars and clubs, open until 2 or 3 in the morning.
Popular Hotels on the Bangla Road
If you wish to stay around Bangla to have direct access to both nightlife and parties, there are a handful of hotels, The Kee Resort being the most attractive.
Map of Patong Beach
Sai Kor Road
Sai Kor Road sees a lot of traffic but not so many pedestrians. This is where you will find a lot of affordable multistory hotels, usually 3 to 4 stars, not very sophisticated but good value for money and a short tuk-tuk ride from the beach. This is often where travellers stay when they don’t plan to spend too much time in the hotel and rather use it as a base to spend lots of time on the beach, exploring the island and party. The main attractions on Sai Kor Road are Jungceylon Shopping Mall and Baanzan fresh market and a seafood night market and Bangla Boxing Stadium.
Nanai Road
Nanai Road is a residential narrow road at the feet of the hills in the back of Patong. You will mostly find small guesthouses here and no particular attractions, just small shops and restaurants.
