Catch Beach Club

Day pass and beds, from the club's own price list

First-row sunbed · ฿4,000

On the beach or by the pool, ฿4,000 for one person or ฿8,000 for two, 11:00 to 18:00.

Second-row sunbed · ฿6,000

For two people.

Pool sala · ฿6,000

For one or two people.

Chill cabana · ฿6,000

The club doesn't publish a headcount for it.

Seaview daybed · ฿6,000

For up to three people.

Cabana · ฿8,000

For up to three people.

DJ daybed · ฿6,000–8,000

Full day, 11:00 to 20:00. ฿8,000 in the front row, ฿6,000 in rows two and three.

Friday BBQ · ฿2,190

19:00 to 22:00, with a half bottle of wine and a fire show, plus service and VAT.

Sunday brunch · ฿2,490

12:00 to 15:00, with a half bottle of wine, plus service and VAT.

Sunset is the whole point here. The white daybeds face west across Bangtao, the DJ eases the volume up as the light goes, and by the time it's dark you're at a party rather than a lunch spot. If that's not what you want from a beach day, go somewhere quieter down the sand.

The kitchen is better than it needs to be, which isn't always true of places like this. Wood-fired seafood, sushi, wagyu burgers, eaten either in the glass-walled restaurant or on a bed with your feet more or less in the sand. Daytime is calm enough for families and there's a decent stretch of it, since doors open at 07:30. The character change happens somewhere around dusk.

The day pass is a minimum spend rather than a cover charge, and all of it goes on food and drink. On the club's own price list, a first-row sunbed on the beach or by the pool is ฿4,000 for one person or ฿8,000 for two, and a second-row bed for two is ฿6,000. Pool salas, chill cabanas and seaview daybeds are ฿6,000, a cabana for up to three is ฿8,000, and the DJ daybeds are ฿8,000 in the front row and ฿6,000 behind it. Beds run 11:00 to 18:00, or 11:00 to 20:00 on the DJ daybeds.

Two set meals are worth planning around. The Friday barbecue runs 19:00 to 22:00 for ฿2,190 with a half bottle of wine and a fire show on the beach, and Sunday brunch runs 12:00 to 15:00 for ฿2,490, also with a half bottle of wine, both plus service and VAT. The big night of the year is the White Party in late September, all in white.

Plenty of flashier rivals have opened along this coast and this one has outlasted them, mostly because the basics are handled properly. It's open 07:30 to midnight every day, with breakfast until 10:30 and the kitchen taking last orders at 22:30. There's no published dress code, beachwear by day and smart-casual at night. On a quiet weekday you can usually walk in for a table, but book a bed for weekends and high season, when they go early.