Beaches in Bangkok
A visual guide from the Bangkok travel guide — see all posters in Visual Guides.
Bangkok sits about 30km up a muddy river from the sea, and the water at the river mouth is brown, warm and not for swimming. What the city does have is easy access to the Gulf: Bang Saen in ninety minutes, Pattaya's islands in around two hours, Hua Hin in three, Ko Samet in about four if the ferry cooperates. Weekend traffic is the variable that ruins plans, so an early departure matters more than distance. For clear water you need an island; for a beach day with lunch and a bus home, the mainland does fine.
The realistic day trips
Bang Saen, near Chonburi, is where Bangkok itself goes: a long curved bay, deckchairs and inner tubes for hire, grilled squid, and almost no foreign visitors. Buses leave from Ekkamai Eastern Bus Terminal, right at the BTS station, and take roughly ninety minutes outside rush hour. Ko Larn, about forty minutes by ferry from Pattaya's Bali Hai pier, has the nearest genuinely clear water, with Tawaen the busy beach and Samae and Nual quieter. Ko Si Chang, reached from Si Racha, is rockier and stranger, with the remains of a royal summer retreat on the slope above the harbour.
If you have a night
Hua Hin repays an overnight stay: about three hours by train from Krung Thep Aphiwat Central Terminal or by minivan, with a long shallow beach, a busy night market, and hotels ranging from the 1920s railway era to current resorts. Ko Samet is closer to a proper island, reached by bus to Ban Phe and a short ferry, with fine pale sand on the eastern bays and a national park fee collected on arrival. Ko Chang and Ko Kut lie further east and suit three nights or more. Sea conditions on this coast are generally calmest between roughly November and April.