Naklua is the downtown area past North Pattaya Road. It has its own very busy high street, full of high street shopping, branded restaurants and coffee shops, and now it is boasting the brand new Terminal 21 shopping mall with a 5 floor shopping extravaganza!!
Naklua Road is approximately 4km long starting from the Dolphin Roundabout at North Pattaya and heading north to the long established “Moom Aroi” (translated to mean Delicious Corner) beachfront seafood restaurant. This northern most part of the village is where you can glimpse back in time to when the city was a much simpler and slow-paced fishing village. Many 30 – 40 year old buildings can still be seen around these narrow side streets. There are wooden jetties that extend out over the water so that it’s still possible to moor a small boat, or fish from the end of the pier. Many come here for some amazing photo opportunities.
There is a fresh sea food market on the pier that has been there for decades and is still the place everyone visits today for their seafood. These narrow streets also hold the annual Vegetarian Festival which runs for a whole week in October.
Staying in this Northern area of Naklua you can also visit the stunning Sanctuary Of Truth temple that stands proudly on its own reclaimed shoreline position. It is a wooden hand-carved structure that is claimed to be the largest wooden carved structure in the world! It was built to represent the era of one of Thailand’s most revered kings, King Rama IX. Every inch of the temple has so much intricate detail that it is said the work on the temple is never done! You can be taken around the site by traditional horse and cart, and there are also hourly performances and shows that help to recreate a world that is long gone.
You can find plenty of hotels and guesthouses in this area. They tend to be cheaper here than in the centre of Pattaya City but only 1-2kms away with easy access to and from. Close to Dolphin roundabout are 4 beachfront hotels and resorts: Dusit Thani, BestBella Pattaya, Sunshine Garden Resort and Woodland Hotel & Resort.
Heading west towards the beach, Naklua then changes its name to represent the name of the beach (Wongamat beach).