Pratumnak Hill at blue hour

Pratumnak Hill rises between Pattaya Bay and Jomtien, and from the viewpoint near its top the 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 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 curve of the bay lights up below.

That is the frame for a proposal 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. For a couple it also works as the last stop of an evening that began on a beach, a short drive from either side of the hill.

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, voices low, and the kiss kept for back down the hill. Mornings, before the heat, are the time to go. A drone needs registration and approval before each flight and may not fly over towns or crowds without authorisation, which rules out most of Pattaya.