Pattaya View Point

Pratumnak Hill's viewpoints, north to south

Cape Bali Hai

Khao Phra Tamnak Viewpoint, by the lighthouse where the hill meets the sea, about 1 km north and lower down.

PATTAYA CITY sign

The big letters and the lookout above them with City Coffee, about 500 m north.

This viewpoint

The top of the hill at Wat Khao Phra Bat, looking north over the whole curve of Pattaya Bay. Free.

Wat Khao Phra Bat

The small hilltop temple right beside the platform, open 07:00 to 18:00, with the Prince of Chumphon monument about 100 m away.

Wat Phra Yai

The 18-meter golden Buddha, under 1 km south along the ridge.

This is the viewpoint at the top of Pratumnak Hill, the headland between South Pattaya and Jomtien, right beside the small hilltop temple of Wat Khao Phra Bat. From the platform you look north over the whole crescent of Pattaya Bay, with the beach curving away under the towers of the city, and it's the classic picture of Pattaya from above. The Prince of Chumphon monument, for the prince remembered as the father of the Royal Thai Navy, is about 100 m away, next to a navy radio station on the hilltop.

Come for sunset or after dark. Reviewers who arrived around 18:30 or 19:00 rate the night view, with the lights running the length of the beach, as highly as the daytime one. There's a café across from the main platform, and one recent reviewer says a slightly higher spot a short walk on is worth the extra steps. Midday up here is hot and exposed, so I'd skip it.

It's free. Thailand's tourism directory lists the hill as open every day from 07:00 to 22:00, and Wat Khao Phra Bat keeps 07:00 to 18:00 on Google, so cover shoulders and knees if you step into the temple. The roads up the hill are steep, so the easy way up is a taxi, a Grab or a motorbike.

Pratumnak has several viewpoints that get mixed up. The lookout above the PATTAYA CITY letters, Phra Tamnak Mountain Viewpoint, is about 500 m north at the end of the hill facing Bali Hai pier, with City Coffee beside it. Khao Phra Tamnak Viewpoint is about 1 km north and lower down, by the lighthouse on Cape Bali Hai. Wat Phra Yai's 18-meter golden Buddha is under 1 km south along the ridge, so all of them fit into one trip up the hill.