Located just one and a half hours’ drive from Bangkok, Bang Saen Beach is touted as one of the best beaches near the capital for a quick getaway.
How though does it compare with nearby spots like Hua Hin and Pattaya? And is it worth the drive?
Well let’s just say the answer is somewhat nuanced.
Table of Contents
What is Bang Saen Beach?
Bang Saen is a small coastal town in Chonburi Province with a population of roughly 40,000, though weekends see that number balloon thanks to Bangkok escapees. Historically it was a low key fishing village before being developed into a domestic tourism hub in the 1960s. Today it caters almost entirely to Thai visitors, with beach promenades, seafood restaurants, and a modest nightlife scene.
Nearby attractions include Khao Sam Muk hill and local temples, while Burapha University brings in a younger crowd during term time. This is not an international resort. It is a Thai weekend beach town built for locals wanting cheap seafood and a sea breeze.
Bang Saen Beach
From a distance the beach looks decent enough, sitting along a long promenade packed with entertainment and stalls selling street food and assorted useless crap. In the evenings it becomes a social hub, with locals coming out to sit by the sea and escape the heat.
On closer inspection the sand is covered in plastic, food waste, and general garbage, making it one of the worst beaches I have seen in Thailand. It fits my smiling assassin view of the country perfectly. Everything looks OK from far away, but because this beach is aimed at locals it simply is not maintained.
There are no smoking signs everywhere, yet dumping trash is clearly acceptable.
So yeah. Bang Saen beach is pretty shit.
Street Food Bang Saen Beach
As stated there is a huge promenade with street vendors. Most of them seem to be selling cheap Chinese crap to local tourists, but this is Thailand after all so many are also serving up a street food feast. And while this is not exactly Phuket, the street food scene here can be described as decent.
There were actually a ton of options from salted fruit to Thai BBQ, with me instead doing BBQ chicken which was melt off the bone and a huge plate of squid. Said squid cost me 300 baht, roughly $8 USD, but was quite literally a whole squid. You gotta give the Thais their credit when it comes to squid.
The real highlight though was that there were two 7-Eleven stores within six minutes walk of each other. Again something Thailand truly has nailed.
Oh and I git durian too!!!!
The Hotel Scene
That there are cock all hotels here should really tell you what you need to know. There are basically three, two of which are high end.
I personally went for The Heritage Hotel Bangsaen which offers private villas, some of which have pools.
I will give this its own article later, but this was superb. Standard rooms and basic villas run around 2,500 to 4,000 baht per night, roughly $70 to $115 USD depending on season. Private pool villas come in closer to 6,000 baht, about $170 USD per night.
Rooms are large, clean, modern, the grounds are quiet, parking is easy, and if you are coming to Bang Saen at all, this is where you stay.
Is it worth visiting Bang Saen Beach?
NO.
Haha, OK, I gotta give you more than that right?
Overall I’d say it’s not worth coming here, even if the journey takes less than two hours and costs about $30. I will caveat this with the fact that if you get a private pool villa at Heritage and just go to eat at the beach it is still kinda cool as a short getaway.
Overall though, if you don’t mind dodging ladyboys and ageing hoes then Pattaya or Hua Hin respectively make more sense.
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