A Day at Sai Kaew Beach

Hello everyone. Today we visited Sai Kaew Beach, which is more commonly known as a military beach. This beach is located near Pattaya and it's a wonderful place. Since the beach is within an active military base, we had to pass through a checkpoint to enter. We were asked to leave our documents there. You can leave your driver’s license or just any document will do. So, if you're driving, leaving the document is enough. You need to pick it up when you leave and it’s all done in a very convenient way. Then we headed towards the beach area, where there is a ticket booth. The entrance fee is 100 Baht and it’s paid at the entrance.

The area near the beach is beautiful, with large trees and a spacious area and military personnel are stationed here. It's very enjoyable to walk around. Also, there’s a large parking lot in the Sai Kaew area. It might be hard to find a spot on weekends, but since today is a weekday, there were plenty of spaces. The beach is very organized and the toilets and showers are free. There’s a café on the beach where you can eat and the prices are quite reasonable. Since this beach is very popular among locals, the prices are not inflated for them.

If you plan to visit, I would recommend not going on weekends or public holidays because the place gets so crowded that it becomes difficult to enjoy this beautiful spot. One of the reasons I love the military beach is that it is always clean and organized. You never see any trash or mess. Everything is neatly arranged with discipline.

If you have an internationally valid driver’s license, you can rent a car here. The rental prices start from 700 Baht and if you rent a car for more than 24 hours, you can visit Sai Kaew Beach and the Dancing Women Beach, which is also a military beach. There are many beautiful places and temples around Pattaya, so renting a car might be a good idea.

There are a few bungalows on the beach, but foreigners cannot stay here. Only locals can stay because foreigners must leave the military area by 6:00 PM. But I’m still happy that they allow us to visit because there’s another beautiful beach here, but only Thais are allowed to enter.

The café here is called Coffee tongue and the prices are very affordable. Cold drinks are 45 Baht, hot drinks are 55 Baht and desserts start at 65 Baht. We decided to have breakfast and I opted for a hot coffee. There are also delicious oat and chocolate cookies, which cost 65 Baht for a nice cookie.

The monkeys here take the food, which is a bit strange. They stole our first pack of cookies, which was due to our inexperience. 😄 Then one of them had a bag filled with bananas and dragon fruit and it went off to eat, while the owner of the bag just watched. The smaller monkey was a bit shy and only took the cookies we dropped and continued eating. We bought new cookies and quietly went to a corner to eat.

There’s also a nice rooftop café here, but the prices are a bit higher. However, on the other side in smaller places, food is available at more reasonable prices. The weather is beautiful, the sea is a bit wavy, but the water is very clear and beautiful. The sand is lovely, light and warm. The beach is not too crowded, as most tourists came by transfer, so the parking lot is quite empty.

You can rent a sunbed here for 40 Baht. However, if you return the sunbed, you get 10 Baht back, so the daily cost comes down to 30 Baht. Also, if you're interested in water sports, you can rent a kite surf or kayak. These cost 100 Baht per hour, but a deposit is required. You pay a 100 Baht deposit and can rent the equipment for 100 Baht per hour. The prices are three times lower than in Pattaya, making them really affordable.

If you want to rent a banana boat or jet ski, a 10-minute ride on the banana boat costs 150 Baht and a jet ski is 600 Baht. There was also a warning to be cautious of the monkeys, as they can steal your belongings.

Smoking on the beach is prohibited and special attention should be paid to the monkeys behavior. There are a few cafés with reasonable prices. Beautiful New Year decorations have created a lovely beach atmosphere and at the end of the beach, there is a great resting area where you can sit and watch the sea, enjoy a drink or a smoothie and relax.

At the end of the beach, there are great spots for photos, such as swings, beds and interesting shapes formed on the water. There’s a bit more natural waste, but the water is very clean and clear. Today, the waves were quite big, but swimming was very enjoyable. The water is warm and clean and the sand is pristine. If you love water activities, this is a fantastic place.

When we arrived at the café for lunch, we checked out the prices. Thai tea, frappes and fries cost 150 Baht, chicken nuggets are 120 Baht. European dishes are around 150 Baht, fried potatoes cost 100 Baht and Thai salad is 50 Baht. Overall, the prices on the menu are similar. For example, the podkopa I had last time was 70 Baht, but now it's listed as 60 Baht. This place is a bit different because some dishes don’t appear on the menu or seem like hidden items. For example, the podkao is said to cost 60 Baht but is not listed on the menu. However, all the European dishes we saw on the menu were around 150 Baht.

The prices are really good because, for example, you can get a small portion of fried rice for 60 Baht and a salad for 50 Baht. Also, a can of beer here costs 60 Baht, which is very reasonable. These prices are almost the same as at 7-Eleven, where a can of beer costs just slightly more than 50 Baht. The prices are good and eating here with this view is a wonderful experience. I definitely recommend it. Our food arrived and there was a monkey nearby waiting for us to finish eating. The weather was beautiful, around 4 pm, with a light breeze. The waves were a bit stronger, but one of the best things about the sea in Thailand is that there are usually no big waves, so this place is quite safe.