One of the questions I recently get asked quite a lot from readers is:

Which city is better in terms of girls, Bangkok or Pattaya? I think that’s quite an interesting topic to discuss in a full article, so that’s what I’m going to do today. Because I know that there are quite a lot of different opinions on whether Bangkok girls or Pattaya girls are better.

First of all, it’s important to be more precise: Better in terms of what? Better in terms of the number of hookers? Better in terms of attractiveness and service of hookers? Better in terms of prices for sex? Better in terms of finding a girlfriend or even finding a gik? I will discuss all of these points and more in just a bit, but there’s one more thing to clarify:

Are we talking about Thai girls better in terms of living or traveling in Bangkok or Pattaya? It makes a huge difference if you live in one of these two cities compared to if you visit there for a two week long holiday.

Being someone who lives in Bangkok and regularly goes down to Pattaya for extended weekend trips, I do have my opinion on all the different aspects mentioned above, so let’s go through them one by one:

Hookers

There’s no doubt that Bangkok has a higher number of hookers in general, but the majority of them are catering towards Thai men and most of the establishments (brothels and even karaokes in the local areas) are unknown and unfrequented by Farangs. And the main red light districts of Nana, Soi Cowboy and Patpong plus the beer bar areas like Soi 22 and Soi 4 aren’t nearly half of what Pattaya has to offer.

Pattaya is really a paradise for foreigners who want to have fun with Thai hookers. I know there are different opinions on this one, but I also feel that the atmosphere down in Pattaya is much more relaxed and easy going than it is here in Bangkok. Maybe it’s the ocean and better weather that make people feel good compared to the busy streets and traffic jams of the capital that make people feel stressed?

Pattaya girls generally do a much better job in entertaining their clients and make sure they have a good time (in Thai duu-lɛɛ, ดูแล, to look after). Or walk down Soi 4 in Bangkok past all the beer bars – most girls may smile at you at best, but not nearly yell at you in huge excitement as if you walk down Soi 7 in Pattaya. Or anywhere really.

Pattaya hookers are also more attractive than Bangkok hookers in general. I’m talking about the beer bars, go go bars and massage salons. The only type of place I think Bangkok has an advantage are the soapy massage parlors that really have more beautiful and more white skinned (but also more expensive) girls to choose from. But when I just think of Soi 6 in Pattaya where you can still easily bang a hot and thin 20 year old for 1,300 Baht that’s very very hard to find in Bangkok.

And that brings me to the final point of the first category: The price of sex. It’s generally cheaper in Pattaya. It might be very similar in terms of bar fines (around 500 Baht in the beer bars and 700-1,000 Baht in the Go Go Bars in both cities) but in terms of the actual price for sex the standard in Pattaya is 1,000 Baht for short time and 2,000 Baht for long time – which is still possible in Bangkok, but usually you need to bargain a lot more to get that deal and then usually the girl isn’t as attractive. The 8 or 9 girl in Bangkok would say 3,000 Baht and no Satang less.

To sum that up: The number, attractiveness and price of hookers is better in Pattaya and therefore:

• 1 Point for Pattaya Girls

Free Sex / One Night Stands

In order to answer the question which girls are better for “free” sex, it’s important to know the different methods for getting it: The traditional way to meet Thai girls for a casual one night stand would obviously be the bars and clubs. Well, in terms of bars it’s really hard in both Bangkok and Pattaya, you have either the beer bars with hookers who want to have money or the “normal” bars, but then that’s mostly Thai types of places who aren’t really interested in foreigners. The night clubs would be an option too, but more often than not you are running into a freelancer as well.

Second option, you could flirt with girls in everyday situations, like talk to the lady at the coffee shop, 7-Eleven or in the shopping mall. This is where Bangkok definitely has an advantage: The girls might be more shy at first, but if you do the first step and actually start talking to her it’s much more realistic that it can turn out to a date followed by sex. And maybe more. Of course you have nice girls working in the retail shops in Pattaya too, but the thing is a lot of them are working as freelance prostitutes part time when they are off work and even if they are not, in my experience they have Thai boyfriends more commonly than in Bangkok where you also got so many more places to go anyway because it’s such a huge city.

And then the third option, that’s easily the most popular for foreigners to meet girls really anywhere in Thailand, are the online dating sites. You can just do a search for both cities and you will not only figure that there are more than 3 times as many girls online willing to chat with you in Bangkok than in Pattaya, but also that there are much more “normal” girls with ordinary jobs in Bangkok than in Pattaya where more than half of them are hookers looking to stay busy before starting to work in the bar or massage. If you sum that all up we have a clear winner in this category:

• 1 Point for Bangkok Girls

Girlfriends / Wives

Let’s face it: Pattaya is a city full of hookers. Doesn’t mean only hookers, but it’s not easy to find a young and attractive woman who isn’t primarily out for your money. Even if she’s not working in a bar or massage salon – the fact that she sees all these girls being spoilt by their Farang boyfriends every day certainly doesn’t create a mindset of giving and receiving relationships.

Bangkok however is quite different. You could even live here and not get confronted with prostitution at all or at least to a much lower extent. Or let’s put it this way: You can avoid it here, which is impossible in Pattaya.

And apart from that, Bangkok is a city for young Thai women to come from all over Thailand to study at the countless of universities and colleges. And then you’ve got all the office ladies who make more money than the average Farang teacher here. Not to mention the hundreds of thousands of women working in all the retail shops, cafes, malls, restaurants, hotels etc that you can take as your girlfriend and have much better chances of her doing the housework and cooking for you compared to girls with similar jobs in Pattaya. The quantity and quality is better in Bangkok.

With all that taken into consideration, Bangkok is without doubt a much better choice for serious dating and relationships and therefore:

• 1 Point for Bangkok Girls

Giks

If you’re not familiar with the term gik, that’s basically the Thai word for “mistress” or basically sex buddy. You can find a more detailed explanation here. So again, of course Bangkok is the bigger city with more girls, but are they also better for taking as your giks compared to Pattaya girls? Honestly, I don’t see any big differences here.

Sure, a lot of girls in Pattaya want money on the first “date”, but then it’s not unlikely that she remains your friend with benefits as long as you pay her meal or drink whenever you meet. What I noticed with Bangkok girls is that they tend to be a lot more flaky in this regards, usually pretending to be so busy (which might actually be the case). But then again, you have so many more girls to choose from and can just try with the next girl you like on the dating site or in the shopping mall.

Long story short: If you know what you are doing, it should be easy to find a couple of giks in both cities.

• 1 Point for both Bangkok and Pattaya Girls

Friends

The first four points were basically all about romances and sex. But how about finding just normal friends in Thailand’s two most visited cities? If you look at Pattaya, it’s basically a complete tourist town. 90% of all Thais in this place are not originally from Pattaya and working in some sort of place that’s oriented towards tourists, be it a hotel, restaurant, shop, massage whatever. And that’s also how they will always treat you there – as a tourist.

That’s where I see a clear advantage of Bangkok. Here, you find girls who want to work on their future – some would study, some would do training at a new job, some would do a career in one of the big companies. They would stay here for years and of course also look for friends and not just boyfriends.

It’s not like in Pattaya where most girls just come to find a rich Farang and get out of there again as quickly as possible. Yes again, there are always exceptions, like you also got more or less smart women working in places like real estate in Pattaya – but those are really rare. And even these kind of ladies are nicer and better for friends in Bangkok than in Pattaya. No doubt on this one:

• 1 Point for Bangkok Girls

Everyday Life, Acquaintances

One thing I find really sad (or rather annoying) is that as soon as you started to chit cat with the girl in the cafe, cashier at the Tops Market or your favorite waitress at the Foodland restaurant – suddenly she’s not there anymore. You ask her colleague where she is or if it is her day off again and she says “ɔ̀ɔk bpai lɛ́ɛo” (ออกไปแล้ว) – she already quit her job, literally “out go already”.

It’s really a phenomenon how regularly people change their workplace here and while I wouldn’t blame it to them, they are certainly not lazy, at least in most cases, it’s rather because the working conditions in Thailand are not that employee-friendly at all compared to western countries, but that’s another topic. It’s just kind of sad when you see people you got familiar with suddenly leave their jobs, and that’s the same both in Bangkok and Pattaya.

However, what I think is a big difference between both cities, is that people (both girls and guys) in Pattaya are more friendly in general than in Bangkok. Just walk around Pattaya and you get more smiles compared to Bangkok where many people are not just stressed, but also look at you more in a way like “who is that guy, tourist or expat, what does he do, what does he want?” That kind of “duu-ɔ̀ɔk” (ดูออก) mentality of Thais where they think they can judge a person within seconds by just how he looks like, how he is dressed and how he behaves. Super annoying, especially in Bangkok. It’s different when you actually talk to them, then they can be nice of course, but it’s always that looking and judging here first that you need to get used to.

• 1 Point for Pattaya Girls

Bangkok Girls win 4:3

But as I said in the beginning – it really depends on what you are doing. Coming for a holiday? Then I’d say Pattaya is your better choice. More hookers and more fun. Coming to live here? Then I’d say Bangkok is your better choice. Better for friends and serious dating and still more than enough hookers to have fun with. Plus Pattaya is only a 2.5 hour bus drive away, so you can go down there for a weekend trip every once in a while (that’s exactly what I’m doing).

Of course, if you are a “beach person” and just don’t like big cities, then probably it would make more sense to live down there. But then you also need to figure out ways to make money, again that’s where Bangkok has its advantages with a lot more and better paying jobs and in my opinion also better opportunities to start your own business. Even if you are working online, then you have much better opportunities to network and meet like-minded people here.

Hope this cleared some things up for you!