Jomtien Night Market

The market is mostly food. Expect grilled chicken and pork skewers, som tam pounded to order, pad thai and noodle soups, fresh seafood cooked while you wait, Thai sweets and fruit shakes, with plastic tables set up between the stalls. A dinner for two with drinks comes to about 300 THB. The non-food stalls sell beachwear, T-shirts, sunglasses, phone accessories and souvenirs at prices a notch below the beachfront shops; bargain gently. It is clean, lively and unhurried, with a crowd of Thai families, long-stay residents and hotel guests.

Stalls set up from about 17:00 and the best food is between 19:00 and 21:00, when everything is fresh and the tables are full; by 22:30 vendors are packing up. It runs every day of the week, rain permitting. Bring small notes in cash, as few stalls take cards or transfers from foreign apps. The lanes are narrow and get crowded around 20:00, so pushchairs are awkward but not impossible.

Thepprasit Night Market, on the road between Jomtien and Pattaya, is the bigger market with far more clothing stalls and a Friday-to-Sunday schedule; Jomtien Night Market is smaller, nightly and closer to the beach, with the better ratio of food to shopping. If you are staying in Jomtien, this is your dinner spot; if you want to shop, go to Thepprasit at the weekend.