Beyond night market

Come for the food, not the shopping. This is a compact night market in Patong, a fraction of the size of the big island markets, and that's rather the point. It's a calmer alternative to the crush of Bangla Street while still feeling like something is going on. Reviewers keep coming back to the same handful of things, which tells you what to order. Large fresh oysters. Noodle soup. Thai basil rice. Chicken spring rolls from the stall near the entrance. Fruit platters cheap enough that people staying nearby picked them up for lunch every day of their trip. Tamarind prawns turn up in reports too.

Two things I'd flag. The claw machines have been called out as rigged, so treat them as a way to lose money rather than win a toy. More seriously, one reviewer watched raw and cooked chicken handled together at the kebab stand. That's not a reason to skip the market, but it is a reason to watch a stall cook before you commit, which is sensible practice at any open-air food market anyway.