Cha-Am Beach

Running from north to south, Cha Am Beach faces east and catches the morning sun as it rises over the Gulf of Thailand.

A road runs the complete length of the beach with pine trees acting as a barrier between the two. At places this barrier is only a few meters while at others areas it could nearly be called a forest. This makes some stretches of sand more busier than others with the ease of access. The hotels, resorts and restaurants run up the landward side of the road and provide easy access.

For a quick cooling off after breakfast this is extremely convenient. If your after a bit more relaxation than fun then quieter stretches of the beach can be found a short walk up or down the road. We found the northern end of the beach much more deserted and of better quality.

The northern end of Cha Am beach nearly completely deserted apart from a few people under the trees.

In close up these turned out to be Buddhist Monks taking the solitude to contemplate something spiritual.

The busier places of the beach are the places for fun. Sitting under the shades hired for the price of a few Bhatt or taking and exhilarating ride on the inflatable's plus much more and all this is just a few steps from your resort.

While we can’t honestly say Cha Am beach is the best beach in Thailand is does score lots of points for it’s ease of access. Just a few hours from Bangkok along with a good range of affordable accommodation. Spend a just little more money and you have a luxurious resort like Baan Pantai where we stayed for a relaxing few days.

The beach slope was quite gently and there was never much risk of suddenly falling in to a hole and being over your depth. At the time we too to the waters a few jelly fish were spotted. These seemed to be quite harmless and the only stinging we had was from salt water in our eyes as we pretended to be 20 years younger and had a little fun in the waves.