Pattaya Photoshoot Guide: the Sanctuary of Truth, Koh Larn and the quiet ends of the bay

The bay at sunset

The main beach runs along the curve of Pattaya Bay with the city directly behind it, and that is the reason to shoot it in one direction only: facing the water. In the late afternoon the sun sinks over the bay and drops into the Gulf, the moored boats turn into silhouettes, and the sea goes from silver to orange in a quarter of an hour. Frame the couple against that and the towers stay behind the camera.

The sun climbs and falls fast here, as everywhere in Thailand — it rises and sets between roughly six and seven o'clock all year — so the soft light is short. Be on the sand half an hour before sunset, not at it. Midday is for something else: the light is flat, the water is busy with speedboats and jet skis, and there is little shade on the open sand.

Wong Amat and Naklua, the quiet north end

At the northern end of the bay, past Naklua, Wong Amat is the calmer beach: a long strip of sand reached down side roads rather than from the main promenade, with fewer people on it and the same west-facing sea. It is the easiest place in Pattaya for a sunset walk that does not look like Pattaya — two people, the waterline and the sun going down over the Gulf. High-rise buildings line the back of the beach, so the photographer keeps the frame low and towards the water.

Naklua itself is the older, quieter side of the city, and its shore is where the Sanctuary of Truth stands.

The Sanctuary of Truth

The Sanctuary of Truth is the frame nobody expects from Pattaya: a hall about a hundred metres tall, carved almost entirely from wood, standing at the edge of the sea. Building began in 1981 and it is still unfinished, so carvers' work and scaffolding are part of what you see, and inside, where the work goes on, hard hats have been the rule for visitors. Its carvings are drawn from Hindu and Buddhist belief; treat it as you would a temple — shoulders and knees covered, no climbing on carvings, and the sacred figures photographed on their own rather than as a backdrop for a pose.

It is a ticketed site, and photo shoots there are arranged with the site directly: the photographer checks the current rules for sessions before the day. The wood is at its best in the softer light of late afternoon, when the low sun warms the carving rather than bleaching it, and the most complete frame of all is from the grounds, with the whole building behind you and the sea beside it. Check the opening hours before you plan around them.

Pratumnak Hill: the viewpoint and the Big Buddha

Pratumnak Hill rises between Pattaya Bay and Jomtien. From the viewpoint near its top, Pattaya Bay curves away to the north and Jomtien runs off to the south — the one place where you see the shape of the city at a glance. It is a sunset spot, which means it fills up at sunset; the better moment is blue hour, the quarter of an hour after the sun has gone, when the sky is still blue and the whole curve of the bay lights up below. That is the frame for a proposal in Pattaya if you want the city in it: arrive early, take a place at the rail, and keep the ring in a pocket until the lights come on.

On the same hill, Wat Phra Yai is the temple of the Big Buddha, an eighteen-metre seated image covered in gold, reached by a staircase guarded by naga serpents. It is a working temple, not a viewpoint: shoulders and knees covered, the image photographed on its own, nobody posing higher than the Buddha, and voices low. The kiss belongs back down the hill. Morning, before the heat, is the hour to go.

Jomtien, the long beach to the south

South of the hill, Jomtien is the long, quieter sweep of sand the city beach is not: kilometres of it, wide enough for a family to spread out, with the same western sea in front. It suits a session that needs room — children running at the waterline, a group lined up without strangers in the frame — and an evening there gives the sunset without the crowd of the main bay. The road runs close behind the sand here too, so frames face the water. Weekends bring visitors down from Bangkok; a weekday evening is calmer.

Koh Larn: clearer water, forty-five minutes out

Koh Larn is the island across the bay, about forty-five minutes by ferry from Bali Hai pier at the southern end of Pattaya Bay; speedboats are quicker. It has the clearer water and paler sand the city beaches lack. Ferries run to two piers on the island, so check which one you are on and where it lands.

Tawaen is the biggest and busiest beach, the one most day trippers head for. Samae, on the island's western side, is quieter and faces the open sea, and the west-facing coves are where the island watches the sun go down. Go in the morning, ahead of the day trippers, when the water is at its clearest and the sand is still empty; by midday the busiest stretches are full and jet skis work the water off them.

A sunset on Koh Larn is possible, but only after you have checked the time of the last boat back — timetables change by season and day — and planned the session to end well before it. Missing it is not a small problem.

For a family session in Pattaya, Koh Larn is the obvious morning: the ferry is half the fun for children, the beaches are sandy and gently shelving, and you are back on the mainland before the midday heat. The photographer keeps the children to a quieter end of the beach, away from the jet skis.

What the seasons change

November to February is the best of the year: cooler, drier air, a calmer sea, clear evenings for the sunset. The weeks around Christmas and New Year are the busiest, so book early. From March the heat builds to its peak in April, and a session moves to the first and last hours of daylight. The rains run from about May to October and are heaviest towards the end; a wet-season day is often bright between showers, but boats to the island can be rougher, and rescheduling for weather is free for both sides.

Songkran, the Thai New Year, is a public holiday from 13 to 15 April, when water is thrown in the streets and nobody stays dry, cameras included. In Pattaya and Naklua the water festival runs on for a few days past the national holiday — check the dates for your year and plan the session away from it, or join in with the gear protected.

Leave your own drone at home: flying needs registration with both NBTC and CAAT, insurance and approval before each flight, and not over towns or crowds without authorisation — which is most of Pattaya. Ask whether the photographer flies a registered drone.

Planning a Pattaya photoshoot

Choose the end of the day you want. A morning is Koh Larn or the Big Buddha; an evening is the Sanctuary of Truth in late-afternoon light, a sunset at Wong Amat or on Jomtien, and blue hour on Pratumnak Hill. Either can be a couples session in Pattaya, and either fits after a few days in Bangkok: leave the city after lunch, and the drive brings you to the coast in time for the evening light.

An hour covers one beach at sunset or the island morning done properly; two hours covers a sunset and the hill at blue hour. Bring a light shirt or a sarong for the temple and the Sanctuary, and shoes that slip off. A Koh Larn session with an island sunset needs the last boat in the plan.

A photographer who works the bay knows which stretch of Wong Amat stays empty at sunset, which pier the morning ferry leaves from and when the viewpoint fills. Read the destination page for Pattaya, see what a couples photoshoot usually covers, check how it works, and browse photographers online.