Bangla Road Nightlife in Patong Beach

Like all night owls, Soi Bangla awakens when the sun sets. That's when Patong's liveliest party zone becomes closed to traffic and ready for action!

Famous for its raunchy nightlife, Bangla goes all out to entertain with girls, beers and music that increases in volume as the moon rises. Jammed most nights year round, it's actually totally unthreatening and lively place to walk around as bars compete for customers.

The girls aim to please - dancing around poles, engaging in banter, or coaxing customers to play simple bar games like "Connect" or "Hammer the nail" to break the ice. The objective is to entice customers to buy drinks and hopefully, take them away for the evening.

Almost all of the bars are outdoors so the music from each one is deafening! Beers Bar occupy most of the street's length, with several a-go-gos and a few pubs, restaurants, discos and shops rounding out the attractions both on Bangla and down its side streets.

Soi Eric

Run by a professional and well-organized management team from Europe, Soi Eric has done a good job of bringing order from chaos. The first thing you notice is that Soi Eric doesn't sound like battle of the bands. There is one DJ who plays the records for the entire street, which cuts down on some of the noise and confusion of the other sois.

Of course, some like the confusion and with six different beats playing even the worst dancer is bound to find one by mistake. Soi Eric has also tried to cover all the bases, with a pharmacy and art gallery at the front, a restaurant at the back and a go-go bar as the anchor, Soi Eric takes care of most of your needs (the girls handle the rest).

Soi Easy

Best known for the upstairs Aussie Bar, which attracts a faithful crowd of (drum roll, please) Australians, Soi Easy is the bar soi closest to the beach on Bangla Road.

A two storey complex of flashing neon and loud music, Soi Easy has about 25 different bars to choose from but the aforementioned Aussie Bar and Dragon Club are the main hotspots to check out.

Soi Gonzo

Next to Soi Easy you'll find Soi Gonzo, a cool little place that often gets overlooked between the neon of Easy and the ladboys of Soi Crocodile.

Soi Gonzo is the place to go to enjoy all the enticements of Bangla Road without having to deal with the crowds. There are maybe ten bars on Soi Gonzo, such as the interesting-looking Black Cat, but the perennial favourite is The Wet Spot, the friendliest bar on the soi.

You know the song about going "where everybody knows your name?" Well, they might have been referring to this welcoming little spot.

Soi Lion

Located between Soi Tiger and Soi Seadragon, Soi Lion is the new kid on the block at Bangla Road.

With only ten bars, its compact size makes it a perfect destination if you want to drink your way from one end to the other, a practice that's almost guaranteed to have you doing the 'Technicolor Yawn' on one of the larger sois. 69 and Pum Pui seem to be the main attractions here.

Soi Crocodile

Also known as 'Soi Katoey' for the prominent stage where ladyboys shake everything they've got (and some things that were just recently added). This is the most consistently busy of the bar sois and even on a weeknight in low season there are plenty of punters around.

The Point Bar is always popular and The Rasta Bar at the back often has a large crowd of foreign ladies flirting with the reggae boys behind the bar (see, it does work both ways).

The Crocodile Disco at the end of Soi Crocodile burned down in early 2006 but there are plans to re-open it as a massive go-go bar by high season of 2006. Check back here for more updates.

Soi Seadragon

Lined on both sides with go-go bars, Soi Seadragon is the place to go to watch scantily clad maidens shake what they've got for all they're worth. Places like Playschool A-Go-Go, Lolita A-Go-Go and The Bang Bang Club offer plenty of eye candy, while those who would rather have a beer and a chat will find a home at Two Brothers, Crow's Nest and Mickey Mouse.

Scandinavian Bar is a perfect place to escape the bar girl scene and has hosted such luminaries as Noel Gallagher and Liv Tyler. Seadragon is one of the largest sois in Patong and has a guest house, a tattoo shop and a couple of eateries, as well as the bars.

Soi Vegas

Soi Vegas,has thebrilliantly named Katoys' R ' Us - featuring flamboyant dancing on the bar counter, competing with Big Spender and King Kong. On both sides several new snooker rooms opened lately.

At the end of Soi Vegas is Sala Muay Thai - a small Thai boxing stadium with nightly fights, more a tourist attractions than a real fight, but at least you can have a glimpse for tha price of a beer and decide you you want to see the real thing at Bangla Boxing Stadium.

Soi Sukhumvit Road

Named after Bangkok's Broadway, Soi Sukhumvit Road is technically not off of Bangla, being accessed from Rat-U-Thit Road right where it meets Bangla. This two level complex is a fairly recent addition and was known for years as Soi Moodies. This place has yet to take off like the rest of the bar sois, so it's a good place to relax and have some pizza or play a game of pool.

The Night Station is the biggest bar on the soi, and features lots of attractive go-go dancers who tend to show off a bit more than is strictly legal in Patong. It seems that with less people around they are willing to do a bit more to get your attention. This place also features a unified sound system to avoid the cacophony that is all too common in bar sois

Soi Tiger

Underneath the outrageous edifice that is Tiger Disco there are perhaps two dozen bars that make preludes or interludes to a night of boogie action. One of the few sois that is completely roofed, Tiger gets pretty steamy and crowded and the best refuge from a sudden rain squall.

The lines that divide one bar from another are even more vague here and it sometimes feels like one huge party. Sharky Bar, out front is always popular (it might have something to do with the girls in schoolgirl outfits dancing on the bar) and Hot Rock is like a go-go bar without the huge drink prices. Crazy Horse is always popular and if you want to see ladyboys head to Cocktail and Dreams Bar.