How About The Quality Of Beaches Around Songkla...

[Grover]

I'm moving to Thailand soon & would like to live close to the beach. I'll get a motorbike to make things easier. I've got my eyes on Songkla at the moment, because it seems to have the right city/countryside balance, but the big question for me is, are the beaches decent? Are the coastlines disapearing, etc. ?? Are there any other places in south Thailand I could consider? Thanks for any info.

[Macx]

Good post.

Actually, I'm also wondering if any of the beaches from Songkla right up Prachuap Kiri Khan is swimmable?

All I've heard from others and read on this forum so far is that the Gulf of Thailand side have lots of jelly fish and sandflies. Can anyone verify this?

I've been to Trang (Andaman side). The main public beach is Pak Meng, but it's way too shallow and a bit dirty. The other place is Had Yao, and it's not swimmable and full of nasty sandflies/no-see-ums. The nearby National Park beaches (Had Chao Mai & Yong Ling) are nice, but farrangs are charged 200bhat (soon to be 400bhat) per visit.

Thanks.

[Soph]

Well, I only spent a small amount of time around the beaches in Songkla, and they were very pretty indeed, although they were generally lined with pine trees, so there were lots and lots of pine needles. Also the water was shallow, not perfect for swimming. However they are all very lovely. Cant remember seeing too many dwellings near the beaches either, although the town is quite small, so your not too far away from the beach ever. Wish I was there right now actually. Boo hoo.

[my friend I]

The beach in Songkhla city is ok but not your classic tropical beach. The trees are casuarinas, not coconut. During December to Feb the sand is often washed away during the onshore storms plus lots of garbage & some oil covers the beach.

Theres a good beach a few miles south of town that is near a village with mainly muslims so not good for women in bikini

[Ajarn]

I'm moving to Thailand soon & would like to live close to the beach. I'll get a motorbike to make things easier. I've got my eyes on Songkla at the moment, because it seems to have the right city/countryside balance, but the big question for me is, are the beaches decent? Are the coastlines disapearing, etc. ?? Are there any other places in south Thailand I could consider? Thanks for any info.

I also wanted to live close to the beach in 1995, and chose Songkla because I remembered from holiday there many years ago that they had a nice beach. Yes, it is a swimmers beach. Nice beach, but if you live there, you might find it lacking another such interesting place...

My wife and I lasted a bit over a year there. Housing is very tight, food is low quality (when compared to Chiang Mai), and we just became tired of the 'missings' before moving back to Chiang Mai..

Edited November 18, 2006 by Ajarn

[Amir]

If you get yourself a bigger motorbike than a Honda Dream type, then you will enjoy the rides to the south direction Patani with empty, super clean long beaches.

There are 4 big bike shops in Hat Yai (3 of them will not over charge you if you are foreigner). You will find Honda CB 400 and kind of choppers which are more confortable if you want to ride over 20 km. The prices are quite ok if you don't need a brand new one...

In the north of Songkhla (Singha Nakhon and Sathing Prah) are also empty beaches (i mean empty of swimmers), exept shrimp hatcheries and 2 resorts you will not find too many peolpe there.

[bipbip]

But the question is if you dare to go to Pattani or not. I wouldn't go there considering the current amount of violence.

[nakhonsi sean]

Grover Posted 2006-11-13 16:34:03

I'm moving to Thailand soon & would like to live close to the beach. I'll get a motorbike to make things easier. I've got my eyes on Songkla at the moment, because it seems to have the right city/countryside balance, but the big question for me is, are the beaches decent? Are the coastlines disapearing, etc. ?? Are there any other places in south Thailand I could consider? Thanks for any info.

Could also try around Kanom, Nakhon Si Thammarat. Very nice beaches and few tourists.

[Hugh Jarse]

I'm moving to Thailand soon & would like to live close to the beach. I'll get a motorbike to make things easier. I've got my eyes on Songkla at the moment, because it seems to have the right city/countryside balance, but the big question for me is, are the beaches decent? Are the coastlines disapearing, etc. ?? Are there any other places in south Thailand I could consider? Thanks for any info.

Songkla is a fine place to be based in the south. The beach around The Samilla Beach hotel is a favourite of mine. The hotel is good too except for the breakfasts.SK has a small ex pat population also, oil workers, teachers and retirees. Check out the Irish Bar for local info (and draft Guiness and Irish stews to boot). Houses are chep(ish ) to rent about 10,000 bht per month gets you somewhere decent.

Another plus is that it is a university town so posible to get some teaching work. I like it a lot and am married to a native.The other big plus is that it is not to far from Satun and the pristine beaches of the Tarutao archipelago in the Andaman Sea.

The bottom line is what is good for you,so rent for 3 months to test the water, as it were.

Good luck

Hugh